[0:00] Well, good morning to everyone. Look at here. Sunday school, early. Good night. You're looking good. I'm glad you're here. Shake hands, bump elbows, whatever it is you do with somebody real quick.
[0:19] All right. Once you have greeted someone, you can look for your seat. This is going to be a very special Sunday, I believe.
[0:32] There's a lot of things special about it today. We have Brady and Sarah Van Winkle back with us Sunday morning. And they have been in Turkey and learning the language and adjusting and adapting and learning culture.
[0:53] And so you be sure to meet them. And I'll have him lead in prayer in the second hour when more people are here so that everybody can see them. We have the Spanish church with us. Hold your hand up, Spanish church. Levanten la mano.
[1:05] All right. Glad they're in here. I think this will be a blessing to them, too. And there were supposed to be some older kids in here. I'm not sure if they're in here or not. But Greg's in here. Does that mean they're in here or they're not in here?
[1:16] They're not in here. Okay. And let me see. There was something else I was going to tell you. Oh, I want you to know that Greg Keelan is jailbait.
[1:27] I'm sure you saw it on Facebook. But Greg and Marcus were knocking on doors and dressed sharply, carrying the gospel.
[1:42] And they witnessed to a guy who apparently didn't like them. So they got down the road just a little further, and a policeman showed up, put his hand on his gun the whole nine yards.
[1:53] And because they said that these two black men had guns on them. And the guy pulls up to get him. And, of course, once Greg handles it like a Christian and a mature man, the cop calmed down, got very nice.
[2:10] And Greg showed him his business card. He's a children's pastor at Vision Baptist Church. The guy got real nice. So we might just get us a cop in here. Say amen about that.
[2:21] I was really proud of Greg and Marcus. First of all, they was out knocking on doors. Amen. And then second off, the way they handled it. The way they handled it.
[2:32] I'm so proud of that. Proud of you. Thank you for being here. You're going to hear Brother Ashley here in just a second. He is a sweet man of God.
[2:44] Very young. Very, very young man. He's my age. My age. Very young man. Very young man. Hey, hey. Compared to the president, he's young.
[2:58] Your new president is like 11 years older. I just want you to know, I plan on pastoring until I'm 112. And I just want you to know, I'm a very young man. Very young.
[3:08] Too young. President would call me a boy. Just want you to know. All right. Brother Ashley, I want you to come on up. You get to meet the sweetest group of people.
[3:20] I get to spend every Sunday morning. Sunday school is my favorite time. My little Sunday school class right back there in the back. We're in competition. Brother Frick. Brother Maya is there on this side. We just see who can yell the loudest.
[3:30] But we're in here together today, and I'm excited. I really believe, Brother Ashley, is going to be a blessing today. So open your Bibles and your hearts, and let the Lord speak to us. Thank you, Pastor. God bless you. It is a blessing to be here.
[3:40] Thank you, Pastor, for having us. It's a long time coming. We planned on coming here in May. Man, everybody knows what happened at Vision Baptist Church in May. Amen. But we thank the Lord that the Lord worked it all out, and we are here today.
[3:55] And we're excited to be here. I want you to open your Bibles this morning to Job chapter 1. The book of Job in chapter number 1 is a blessing. It was in March when you folks were up at Emmanuel?
[4:08] Yeah, February of March. Yeah, somewhere. Right. Yeah, right before everything happened. And got a chance to meet your pastor and a lot of the missionaries that are here. And it's just a blessing.
[4:19] Our son, Bob, and his wife, years ago, went to Vision before you moved into the new building. And he loved this church. He loved this church.
[4:29] And then he ended up moving away. And now he's back, got his heart right, and he's back up in Michigan by his parents and his children. Amen. Amen. Job chapter number 1 and verse number 13 is where we're going to start reading.
[4:43] Job chapter 1 and verse 13. Bible says, and there was a day. And I want to stop right there. There was a day.
[4:54] Have you ever had one of them? There was a day when you got up and the sun was shining. Birds were chirping. The life was going well. You had plans for the day. And before you peddled your head that evening, your life had been changed.
[5:07] That's what we're about to read right here, what happened to Job. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them.
[5:21] And the Sabians fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven and have burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them.
[5:40] And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away.
[5:51] Yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.
[6:04] And I want to stop there for a second. Imagine what's happened here in Job's life. One servant after another comes and tells them what is going on.
[6:15] What has happened? You've lost your sheep. You've lost your camels. You've lost your asses. You've lost all your livestock. And not only that, he's lost the servants. And if you read it, Job was a very wealthy man.
[6:26] And many, many people worked for him. And no doubt he employed many different people. And he was probably friends with many of the servants that worked under him. And then a servant comes in and says words that I'm sure cut him to his heart.
[6:41] Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. In my mind, I can only imagine Job thinking, Don't say another word. I don't want to hear what you are about to say.
[6:54] The Bible says again in verse 18, And while he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house.
[7:08] And it fell upon the young men, and they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped.
[7:19] And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
[7:33] I want to teach or preach a message this morning. Trusting God in spite of the unexpected. Trusting God in spite of the unexpected. Let's pray.
[7:44] Father God, we come to you now. And Lord, we are so blessed and so privileged to be able to gather together here this morning. And Lord, this group of people have come out this morning to hear from you, not from me.
[7:56] So God, I pray you'd speak through me this morning. Oh God, use me to encourage those that need encouragement. Lord, help those that need help. Lord, by the word of God, rebuke those that may need rebuke today.
[8:09] But Lord, I pray that you would get glory from this Sunday school hour. Lord, speak through me, I pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now, the book of Job is my favorite book in all the word of God.
[8:22] Because that book has helped me personally through many, many, many trials. May 1st, 1987 was the most unexpected event that had taken place in my life happened that day.
[8:34] And that was the day our youngest son, Johnny, was born into our family. And Johnny was born with many, many unique malformations. And I'll tell you more about that in the morning service.
[8:46] But it was unexpected for us because there was no indication that anything was wrong. We had no idea that he had all these physical problems with him. But that was my first real encounter with the book of Job.
[8:58] Because the word of God talks about the patience of Job. And in my mind, I'm thinking, this guy's superhuman. Amen. He must be able to walk through walls.
[9:10] Amen. Because he went through such pain and such heartache that nobody save the Lord Jesus Christ that I can think of has ever been through. Yet he stayed faithful to God. He did not let his problems deter his faith.
[9:23] He did not let his grief deter the faith that he had in God. He lost everything, including his health. His friends that came to help him end up accusing him of sin in his life.
[9:36] And that's the reason why you're going through all that you've gone through. Even his wife tells him, curse God and die. Yet Job stayed faithful. You know, the unexpected happens to all of us.
[9:48] Amen. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 27, verse 1, I mean, that was a verse that my wife and I adopted through the years because we had a lot of times where things changed throughout the day.
[10:06] The death of a loved one. A loss of a job. An accident. A diagnosis. A phone call. Man, our lives can change and they can change in a moment. They can change permanently at that time.
[10:19] Our desire as the children of God should be that we would react the same way that Job did. That our faith would stay true.
[10:29] We would keep our integrity. Look at Job chapter 2 and verse number 3. The Bible says, And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him, without a cause.
[10:50] This is after Job had lost everything. And God says of him, He still kept his integrity. Look at chapter 2 and verse number 9. This is after he's got, now he's got boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
[11:03] In chapter 2 and verse 9 it says, And his wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. That word integrity has the idea of innocence or wholeness or entireness.
[11:17] And it brings me to mind, I was in the Navy and never set foot on a ship, but in boot camp they taught us all about ships. It was kind of neat, you know. But how a naval ship has got compartments everywhere and if it takes a torpedo or if it gets hit with a bomb, they can seal off compartments so it'll maintain its integrity and be able to continue to sail on.
[11:41] There was a ship in the Second World War called the Abner Reed. And recently, a few years back, they found the back 75 feet of the ship in the Bering Sea up by Alaska.
[11:53] It had hit an underwater mine and it blew off the back 75 feet of the ship. But they were able to keep it afloat, pull it into port, fix it, and then get it back into war.
[12:05] However, child of God, you and I need to keep our integrity. Someday, we're going to take our torpedoes, we're going to take our bombs, we're going to take the hits in life. But man, someday, friend, we're sailing into port, amen?
[12:18] We're going to be going into port, we're going to be going home, but we've got to keep our integrity until that day. So I want us to take a look and see how in the world Job kept his integrity.
[12:28] How did he keep his faith? How did he continue to go on in spite of the great pain and hurt that he had to experience? And then I want us to apply those principles so that you and I can maintain our integrity.
[12:42] First of all, Job was ready for the unexpected. He was ready for the unexpected. The Bible warns you and I that we're going to have trials. We're going to have problems.
[12:53] We're going to have heartache. First Peter chapter four, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. You know, unexpected events, by their definition, means we're not expecting them, right?
[13:09] So you say, well, how can we prepare for something we don't expect? Have you ever gotten on an airplane? You go on an airplane before you ever leave the ground. What do they do? They tell you to pull out your little placard and they tell you where the emergency exits are.
[13:22] They tell you where flotation devices are. All those things, they warn you about it. They're not telling you, hey, we expect the plane to go down and this is how you get out or this is how you're going to be able to live.
[13:35] They're not telling you that. If you go on a cruise ship, they have you muster by your lifeboat, right? Before you ever leave port. What are you doing? You're preparing for the unlikely or unexpected events that will happen that could possibly happen.
[13:51] So the best way for you and I to be prepared for the storms of life is to walk with God before they ever come. Be prepared. The Bible says that Job walked with God.
[14:06] God's testimony of him is in chapter one, verse one. The Bible says, there was a man from the land of Uz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.
[14:17] Drop down to verse number six. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them and the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.
[14:33] And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil. Well, the Bible says that Job was perfect.
[14:45] Now that doesn't mean he was sinless. That means he was developed. He was mature as a man of faith, as a man of faith. He was complete in his faith. Job, you gotta remember, Job did not have the word of God like we do today.
[14:58] He didn't have the word of God. So everything that he learned had to be, either may have been some written record about the things of God or a personal relationship or vocal stories that people would have told about the Lord.
[15:09] But in order for you and I to be ready for the unexpected, you and I need to be developed as a believer in Christ. Have knowledge of God. It's more than just knowing facts about God.
[15:21] You can read your Bible and learn an awful lot about the Lord. You can know facts about God. But friend, we need to know God, not know about God, if we're gonna be ready for the unexpected.
[15:33] You know, it doesn't mean that you've necessarily been saved for a long time to be mature in your faith. I've known people that have been saved a very short period of time and have a great maturity in their faith, have a great belief in the word of God and the things that God can do in their life.
[15:49] And then I've known people that have been saved for a long time that aren't very mature. They've not been very developed. You need to know God. Philippians 3.10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
[16:05] The Bible also says that Job was an upright man. He was a man that was honest. Amen. He was a businessman and he was still honest. Isn't that great?
[16:16] He was a businessman. You know, you and I need to be people of integrity. People that our word means something. You know, we give somebody our word, we should follow up on it.
[16:26] We should say, if we're gonna do something, we should be people that are doing. People could count on us. We should have a good report among others. We need to be honest.
[16:36] We need to be the most honest people that others around us know as a child of God. You know, my boys, I like to golf. I like to, let me rephrase it. I like to try to golf.
[16:47] I'm not very good at it. And the crazy thing about when I go golfing, I count every stroke. You know, I don't have a mulligan and you don't have this and you don't have, and every time I try to strike the ball, I count that.
[17:02] My boys would joke, oh, dad, you don't need to count that stroke. Well, I tried to hit the ball. So if you try to hit the ball, you're supposed to count that, right? Right. So, you know, they laugh at me.
[17:13] They call me Honest John. And I thought, well, okay, if my kids could call me a whole lot worse, amen? And one of them will be here a little later and you can ask them, amen? But then the Bible says that Job feared God.
[17:27] Job had a reverence for God. It wasn't that Job was afraid of God, but he had a healthy respect for the Lord. You know, the problem with today's world is there's no fear of God. There's no fear of God in the world.
[17:39] But the sad truth is, friend, there's not a whole lot of Christians that have a fear of God in their hearts anymore. Too many of God's people don't fear the Lord like they should.
[17:50] We need to have a healthy respect for the Lord. Hey, electricity is a wonderful thing. Used properly, it gives us lights. It gives us air conditioning. It gives us all these comforts that we enjoy.
[18:01] But it can hurt you if it's used improperly. You need to have a respect for it. I was a pipe fitter for 29 years and I worked in heights all the time. I tell you, I had a respect for heights.
[18:12] I wasn't afraid of heights, but at the same time, I had a respect for it. Hey, you look at this body, it don't bounce when it hits the ground, amen? So you gotta have a reverence. You gotta have a healthy respect for the Lord.
[18:26] Know that he cares, amen? Know the Lord loves you. Know that he cares. But also know that he convicts. And know that he will correct you if you refuse to get right. Then the Bible says that Job eschewed evil.
[18:40] That's an old English word. It means to shun or avoid. He stayed away from evil. He stayed away from those things that would cause him to fall into sin. He avoided those situations.
[18:52] You know, many times, our problems in our life are self-inflicted. Because we want to get as close to the world or as close to a sin as we possibly can.
[19:03] And we don't avoid it. We don't shun it. We kind of stare at it and get close to it as we can. And we have problems after problems. And the fact of the matter is, friend, is we need to stay away from there as far as we possibly can.
[19:18] Amen. You know, some of you young people that are here today, you think your parents, you think the preacher, you think your Sunday school teacher, your godly friends are all just trying to ruin your life.
[19:33] Trying to keep you from having a good time. No, friend, what they're trying to do is to keep you from that line. Keep you from the evil that waits for you if you go that far. So, you know, when the preacher's preaching, when the Word of God's convicting you, when the Holy Spirit's talking to you, it's trying to get you further and further and further away from that line.
[19:54] And if you're over here, that line is a long way away, isn't it? You're going to have to get by that conviction in order to get closer. You're going to have to get by the Word of God to get a little closer.
[20:07] You're going to have to get by the things your parents tell you to get a little bit closer. You're going to have to get by what the pastor preaches and tells you and your Sunday school teacher and your godly friends that may be warning you, trying to keep you from evil, to find yourself here.
[20:22] We've got to be like Job. If you're going to be ready for the unexpected, friend, the world has nothing for you. The world has nothing but heartache and grief waiting on you.
[20:34] If you refuse to follow all those that stay away from the evil that waits for you, friend, you're going to find yourself in trouble. And then you're going to have to try to get right with God.
[20:45] And then you're going to have to try to get your heart right when you fall into all these situations. The Bible says Job also had a witness. Look at Job chapter number 3 and verse 25.
[20:55] Verse 25. Job wasn't a nominal believer.
[21:22] Job was a man of faith. He had an active faith. Yet trouble came. You know, we have this idea that if I'm doing everything right, if I'm serving God and I'm doing the things that I'm supposed to do and I can check off all the boxes, then I should never have any problems.
[21:36] Friend, nothing could be further from the truth. The closer you get to God, the more you walk with God, the more you desire to be prepared for the unexpected in your life, the devil's going to fight against you.
[21:51] The flesh is going to fight against you. The world's going to fight against you. You're going to have some problems. You know, it's popular preaching to tell people, oh, you're not going to have any problems in life if you just trust God.
[22:05] 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 7 says that the trial of your faith being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
[22:16] too many Christians treat God as a spiritual Santa Claus. Well, you know, I've been a good boy. I've been a good girl, so give me what I'm asking for.
[22:29] Give me what I want, Lord. Or a genie in the bottle. Take God down off the shelf when you need him. Rub the lamp, get your three wishes and then put God back in a different place.
[22:42] Friend, that's just not the case. We need to be people that are walking with God. You know, when Joanne and I, when Johnny was born, my wife and I were doing everything that you would say was right.
[22:53] We were in church, we were faithful, we were doing what God would have us to do, yet trouble came. Yet trouble came. You know, Job took risks in his witness, too.
[23:04] The Bible says he was not in safety. He was not in safety. He didn't live behind the scenes. He was out front in his witness. Amen, brother? He took risks. With his witness.
[23:16] You know, we need to be people that are willing to put ourselves out and take a risk for our witness, identifying ourselves as a child of God. Willing to take a little ridicule or have a police officer come and question what you're doing.
[23:30] Amen. Too many saved people try to live the safe Christian life. Amen. I got my ticket to heaven punched. I'm good. I can relax and just wait until the Lord comes and takes me home.
[23:44] You know what? We need to be serving the Lord. Job was a tireless servant. He said, neither had I rest. He didn't rest in his blessed assurance. He served God. He helped people.
[23:55] He taught others. Taught others about the Lord. to be ready for the unexpected. We need to be busy serving the Lord, not resting. Doing what you can.
[24:08] Serving God. Every step closer to the walk with the Lord is going to be met with resistance. But if we maintain a witness through our trials, God can use you in great ways, friend.
[24:20] God wants to use you in great ways. Then the Bible says he was not a, he was a vocal witness. Neither was I quiet. You know, he spoke of his faith in God.
[24:31] He spoke of his faith in the Lord. You know, we need to put our Christianity on display. We need to, we need to put ourselves at risk. We need to serve others. But eventually, we need to speak. We need to tell others about the Lord.
[24:44] Tell others about, that they can be saved. Don't be a secret disciple. Then I want us to see Job's reaction to the unexpected. He was ready for the unexpected, but then there's the reaction to the unexpected.
[24:57] Look at Job chapter 1 and verse 20 again. Bob says, Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped.
[25:08] And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
[25:22] The Bible says that Job worshipped God. I want to stop for a second here. In verse 20, it says, Then Job arose. And there's a lot of different discussions you can have about why did Job have to get up and then fall back down.
[25:37] One of the things that the Bible tells us that Job did, his habit was, when his children got together on their day, when they got together, that he would go and sacrifice.
[25:52] He would go and worship. He would go and pray for his kids because he was worried that they might curse God. In my mind, and again, there's no way to prove this, but when this happened, where were they?
[26:10] They all got together in their eldest brother's house. And wouldn't it just be like the devil while Job's praying for his children on the ground, prostrate before God, that he takes his children home?
[26:29] That'd be just like the devil, wouldn't it? And I believe Job got up. The Bible says he worshipped God. I cannot imagine the pain that he was experiencing at that moment of loss.
[26:39] the pain that he went through. We can see the process of grief starting in his life. There's a quote that I read in a book that after our son Johnny went to be with the Lord.
[26:52] It says, grief is the process of facing the death of a dream, the death of a future. And we can grieve over a lot of different things in life. Like I said earlier, we can grieve over the loss of a loved one, yes, but there's also the loss of a job, you know, a loss of a relationship, there are other losses that we can go through in life, a diagnosis.
[27:15] You know, Job's reaction to his loss was to worship God. You know, the Bible doesn't say that he praised God. The Bible doesn't say that he thanked God. As a matter of fact, you can't find the words praise or thanks in the book of Job.
[27:29] They're not there. The Bible says he worshipped God. He worshipped God. In all his grief and pain, he fell down and worshipped the Lord. He knew that he did not possess the strength that he was going to need to deal with the grief that was coming in his life.
[27:48] On the day our son Johnny was born, you know, it was a shock to us. Like I said earlier, there was no indication that there was anything that was wrong during the pregnancy at all, but it was the death of a dream.
[28:01] We had been praying for a little girl even before my wife got pregnant. We have two boys and we thought, well, it would be neat to kind of round the family out. Let's have a girl because girls, you know, they love their daddies and that's always a great thing and I just thought this was going to be a thing and so we prayed and we prayed and asked the Lord to give us a girl.
[28:19] But when Johnny was born, that changed everything. Changed everything. Not only was it the death of a dream for a girl and that wasn't the big deal, but his whole future.
[28:30] The future that you have for your child. The things that you planned for their future that you want to see happen in their life was gone at that point. You know, I tried to thank God.
[28:41] I tried to praise God. I mean, isn't that what we're supposed to do? The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5.18 in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
[28:53] I tried, friend. I tried. I tried to thank God. I tried to praise God. But I'm going to tell you something. It was not sincere. It was not sincere. Today, looking back, I can praise God for every surgery, for every emergency room visit, for every operating room.
[29:11] I can praise God for all the things that the Lord did because now I can say, see, here, 34 plus years later, standing in Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, that God was working it all together for good.
[29:26] For somebody that's here right now, you don't, maybe there's someone here, you need to hear these things. You need to hear this message. And you might not hear it if God hadn't done all the things that He had done in our life to bring us to this point.
[29:45] That's why the Bible calls it the sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13.15 says, By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
[29:56] That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Hey, when the unexpected happens, we need to react by worship. By worship. Then Job had to reconcile the unexpected.
[30:10] One of the hardest things for a child of God, a servant of God, someone that's really doing what God would have them to do. One of the hardest things is when trials come in our life and the heartache and pain come into our life, is to reconcile that with the love of God.
[30:30] God, you love me. I know you love me. But why is this happening in my life? Why am I going through this heartache and this pain in my life?
[30:42] We know that God loves us, but why is He allowing such pain in our life? I remember in the recovery room after our son was born, I had to wait a while. Joanne had a C-section, so it was a while before I could see her.
[30:55] But in the recovery room, as I walked in to see her, our eyes met and we were both weeping, we were both crying. And she said, how can something that hurts this bad be good?
[31:09] Referencing Romans 8.28, right? All things work together for good to them that love God. And for the first time, I had no answers. What am I going to say?
[31:22] I, honey, I don't know. I don't know, but God's got a plan. Amen? God's got a plan. We reconcile the unexpected by being honest about what we're thinking.
[31:35] What's going on in our heart? How we feel. Look at Job chapter 3 and verse 1. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. And Job spake and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, there's a man-child conceived.
[31:52] Let that day be darkness. Let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it. Let the cloud dwell upon it.
[32:03] Let the blackness of the day terrify it. Look down into verse number 11. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
[32:16] Why did the knees prevent me, or why the breasts that I should give suck? Hey, I know that you and I aren't supposed to trust our emotions.
[32:26] Amen? We can't trust our emotions, but God did make us emotional creatures. He gave us a great capacity to love. But the price of that love is a great capacity for grief and loss.
[32:44] There was another quote that I read that says, every time grief steals my breath, I'm reminding myself the love was worth the pain. Oh, was it worth it?
[32:55] Hey, child of God, don't be afraid to ask the question, why? Not questioning God's integrity, but questioning, why, Lord? Why is this happening in my life?
[33:06] Why is this going on? Job wished he'd never been born. He asked God, why did you allow me to live? If this was going to be my lot, Lord, if you were going to allow this pain to come into my life, why didn't you just let me die in the womb?
[33:18] Why didn't you just let me die when I was born? You know, God can handle our why questions, friend. He's not up in heaven going, I don't know. He knows, He knows how we feel.
[33:30] He knows our heart. He knows how we break. Remember the graveside of Lazarus. Jesus is there and Martha comes out to see Him and Mary comes out to see Him after her and they both said the exact same thing.
[33:47] If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. In other words, Lord, if you'd have come four days ago when we asked you to, our brother wouldn't have died.
[33:57] They were asking Him, why didn't you come? Why didn't you heal our brother? And Jesus didn't berate them. He didn't look down on them. The Bible says Jesus wept. He wept.
[34:12] Job chapter 23 and verse 3 says, oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat. Chapter 23, verse 8 says, behold, I go forward and He's not there.
[34:26] And backward, but I cannot perceive Him. On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him. He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him. You know, you and I gotta be honest with God about how we feel when we go through these unexpected times.
[34:43] You know what? He knows anyway. He knows how we feel. He knows what we're going through. He knows what's in here. So we need to be honest, just let the Lord know. You know, so many times we try to stuff our feelings.
[34:56] We don't allow ourselves to grieve properly. And that can be very hurtful. You know, we've been conditioned to never ask, never question God, never ask the Lord why. But you know what Job did?
[35:09] Job asked the Lord why. You're not offending God by asking Him hard questions, which most of the time we're not gonna get the answers to this side of heaven anyway, man.
[35:21] I think we get to heaven, we're not even gonna care what the answers are. We're gonna be so happy. God gives us something greater than the answers to our questions. He gives us Himself.
[35:34] Job did not charge God foolishly nor slim with his lips, but he did ask why. Now you and I need to be careful. Don't allow our why questions to develop into bitterness. And that can happen sometimes.
[35:48] You don't get the answers that you're hoping for. Hey friend, don't let it become bitter. God has His will. God has His way. And someday, it'll all be clear. It'll all be clear.
[36:01] We reconcile God's love and our pain by being honest. We reconcile God's love and our pain by recognizing that He is the owner of everything we have. And that's what Job said in chapter 1 and verse 21.
[36:15] Naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked shall I return. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job acknowledged God as the rightful owner of all that He had.
[36:26] You know, we look at our possessions like we own them. But friend, we don't own them. We're just stewards of whatever it is. That includes our family. That includes all of our belongings.
[36:38] All that we have. Everything we have is going to decay or be burned up someday. Amen. James chapter 1 verse 17 says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights which with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning.
[36:58] All that we have been given to us, all that has been given to us has been given to us by God. And then I want you to know the reward of the unexpected. The reward of the unexpected.
[37:09] We won't turn there for time's sake but Job chapter 38 after all the banter between Job and his friends back and forth, back and forth, they're accusing Job of sin in his life and that's why you're going through all these things.
[37:21] The Bible tells us in Job 38 verse 1, Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Friend, in your unexpected, God will show up.
[37:34] God will show up in your unexpected. You know, Job saw his trials as though they were coming from God.
[37:45] We know that this was an attack of the devil. That the Lord allowed but it was an attack of Satan trying to destroy Job's testimony and prove God wrong. Take down your hedge and you'll curse it to your face.
[38:00] But Job stood the test. God used Job's trials and made him a vessel fit for the master's use.
[38:12] God has used Job's testimony for centuries to this day encouraging me and encouraging others. Job 23 verse 10 says, But he knoweth the way that I take and when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.
[38:28] The end of everything, God bless Job. Double his possessions. Gave him 10 more children. But I believe that all that was tempered just a little bit.
[38:40] I believe Job would have turned all those possessions back and said, God, take them all. Give me back my children. Give me back the others that had passed away. I'm sure he would have given up the blessing of having twice as much to see those children one more time.
[39:00] Job knew the presence of God because of those trials like he would have never known it had he not gone through that. You and I have the promise of Scripture that the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us.
[39:17] We desire to trust the Lord in spite of it, in spite of all our unexpected situations in life. God's going to show up, friend. It may not be in a whirlwind.
[39:27] It might be in just a quiet time of prayer. You can feel the Lord come up beside you and put his arm around you. Put his hand on your back and say, I love you.
[39:40] I know, child. I know what you're going through. It may be in your devotion time as you read the Word of God and the verse that you needed that day at that moment pops off the page and God speaks to your heart.
[39:55] It may be in a church service. You're amongst a bunch of people but you feel all alone that the Lord will come and he'll sit down next to you and he'll put his arm around you and whisper in your ear, I love you.
[40:11] I love you. I know what you're going through. We will experience the touch of God in ways we would never experience without our trials.
[40:22] without the unexpected in our life. He will reward our integrity. Paul Tripp says, God will take us where we do not want to go in order to produce in us that what we could never achieve on our own.
[40:41] The unexpected. Trusting God in spite of the unexpected today. I don't know really any of you personally except Pastor Gardner don't really know you that well.
[40:55] Just met him a couple times once and then today. Been praying for him and praying for the church. But can I tell you something? God knows who you are. God knows what you're going through.
[41:08] Your life might be right now you're just wondering why God? Why? Trust him. Trust him in spite of the unexpected that's happened in your life. And I promise you he'll show up in ways you would have never believed would happen.
[41:24] Heavenly Father we thank you for this time. We thank you for the word of God. We thank you for the witness and the testimony of the man named Joe. God what a what a great man of faith.
[41:40] Lord help us be men and women of faith trusting you in spite of our unexpected moments in life. And Lord allow you to use us in great and mighty ways.
[41:52] In Jesus name Amen. Well how many of you enjoyed that say Amen. I think that was just absolutely phenomenal. A gift from the Lord for all of us and some of us this year some things happened that were unexpected to several of us.
[42:10] This is 2020. We've been in this year five years already. And some of us you know things are going to happen tomorrow. I just think the Lord might help us.