Hiding your talents in the ground.
God gave you that talent for a reason and want to use it.
So anyway, get your Bibles out tonight and oh, I thought you
had to go down there and get your Bible.
Good. All right, he's ready.
Amen. Good afternoon.
If you have your Bibles with you, please turn to Job Chapter
One. Job Chapter 1.
I know what pastor's doing, making me preach when I'm when
my stomach's full. He understands how hard it is
doing that in an afternoon. But no, I am thankful for the
opportunity that I have to preach tonight, this afternoon.
Really, it's one that I do not take lightly and I appreciate
the opportunity to do that. Also, I didn't say anything on
Thursday during testimony time, but I do want to take this time
to thank you guys just for your support and for your prayers
throughout the year, since January when I left to do my job
interview and then I got the job and then was out, you know,
doing the thing. But you know, I'm here in the
weekends and it really is a blessing to me when I'm able to
come to church on the weekends on Sundays and spend time with
God's people and then listen to you preach.
So I appreciate that. You never know what you have
until you lose it. So I will say that much.
Job, chapter 1 this afternoon. I'm not going to be, there's not
going to be a very long message, but I'm going to I'm going to
read throughout this chapter. We're going to pray and then
we'll get into the message this afternoon.
Job One, the Bible says there was a man in the land of us
whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and
upright, and one that feared God in eschewed evil.
And they were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
His substance also was 7000 sheep, and 3000 camels, and 500
yoke of oxen, and 500 she asses in a very great household.
So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the
East. And his sons went and feasted in
their houses everyone his day, and sent and called for their
three sisters to eat, and to drink with them.
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about
that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the
morning, and offered burnt offerings, according to the
number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my
sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.
Thus did Job continually. 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. And the Lord said it to 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 in issue with evil. Then Satan answered the Lord,
and said, Doth Job fear God for not?
Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house,
and about all that he hath on every side that was blessed?
The work of his hands and his substance is increased in the
land. But put forth thine hand now and
touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Growing up, my dad would read this passage, and he would
always put the emphasis in those words.
It really gives Satan some character, I thought.
I just thought that was kind of funny.
And Louis, I'm saying, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power
only upon himself put not forth on hand.
So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, 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, and the Sabian's
fell upon them, and took them away.
Yeah, 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 I've burned up the
sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I only and
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.
Yeah, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword.
And I only and 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. And behold, there came a great
wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the
house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead,
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Then Joe Burrows and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and
fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 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, and all this jobs, and not nor
charged God foolishly. May God bless the reading of His
word. Let us pray.
Father in Heaven, thank you so much for this time.
We have to come into your house once again and to open up your
word once again. Lord, we thank you so much for
this church and for the people of God and for the blessing that
it is to come into your house and spend time with them.
Lord, at this time, as we look through the book of Job and look
through the story that we have here in the Bible that you put
here for us, help us to learn from Job's example.
Help us to realize what it is in our hearts that need to be
changed and things in our lives that need to be changed.
I pray that you'll speak to speak through me.
I pray that you'll cleanse me of sin and to me of self and fill
me with your Spirit at this time.
We pray this news in your name. Amen.
No, I always found it interesting in the book of Job
that Job is not a very relatable person.
I mean, from the start anyway. He's a rich man, right?
I don't know how many of you have seven sons and three
daughter. I guess my dad's pretty close,
but you know, 7000 sheep and 3000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen
and 500 donkeys. And you know all this, I don't
know how many of you are the greatest of your, of your people
in the West or in the East Coast or whatever, but Job is not very
relatable from the start towards now.
Now after he goes to these trials, or at least after he
struck and struck with these trials.
And maybe we can kind of relate a little bit with him.
But I always thought it was pretty interesting.
But to this afternoon, I want to take a few, a few moments.
We're not going to be very long tonight, but I want to look at
lessons from a perfect and upright man.
That's the name of that's the title of my message, Lessons
from a perfect and upright man. This is what God called him.
Lesson 1A Righteous routine. A righteous routine.
Now I do realize that I might feel a little cheapening to call
what Joseph, what Job did every morning a routine.
But the point I'd like to get across to you all today is that
Job was faithful in his worship and he was faithful in his role
as a father. Take a look at verse 5.
The Bible says, And it was so when the days of their feasting
were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up
early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the
number of them all for Job said, it may be that my sons have
sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.
Thus did Job continually. He did this, He made a practice
out of this. He cared for his children.
He wanted them to find favor in the eyes of the Lord.
He didn't necessarily know where they stood with God.
You know, were they walking with the Lord on a regular basis?
Were they walking in truth like the Bible says to?
We like to think that they were based off of Job and based off
of Job's testimony, but Job loved his children.
He interceded for his children. Maybe they messed up.
Maybe they haven't been giving God their first fruits.
Maybe they have not been perfect and upright.
I'm going to offer sacrifices for them.
Sacrifices on their behalf of praying Father is a powerful
thing. I mean, I can't tell you how
many times the child I woke up and heard my dad praying for me
or even woken up and see like see him in my room praying for
me. I know there are times even
with, you know, with my job, I'll be up 123 in the morning
working and I'll think to myself, you know what?
My dad is probably praying for me right now.
I'm praying. Father, do you take time to pray
for your children? Children, do you take time to
pray for your parents, your family, your friends?
How about your pastor? How about our church?
How about our coworkers? Are they important enough to
you? Let's make a habit out of it.
Make it a habit to consider them and lift them up before the
Lord. It's a principle that even the
Lord practice in the New, in the New Testament, in the Gospels,
praying for his friends and his disciples and his creation.
Consider Luke 22 verse 31 to 32. I'm not going to have you turn
to her, though there will be some passages that have returned
to, but I'll read this one. The Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desire to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fell not. And when thou converted,
strengthen thy brethren. The apostles encourage it as
well. Ephesians 618 says praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching there too with all perseverance and supplication
for All Saints. Pray for the Saints, pray for
God's people. You know, there's a hymn that we
saying here in our church, not too often, but I love it.
It's brethren we have met to worship, Brethren, we have met
to worship and adore the Lord our God.
Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the
Word? All this vain unless the spirits
of the Holy One come down, brother and pray, and holy manna
will be showered all around, brother and sea.
Poor sinners around you slumbering on the brake of woe.
Death is coming, held us moving. Can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down.
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us?
Moses's sister aided him. Will you help the trembling
mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior. Tell them that He will be found.
Sisters, pray and holy manner will be showered all around.
Pray for your children. Pray for your family.
Pray for your friends and your loved ones.
Bring them up before the Lord. A righteous routine.
Lesson 2 a disdain for disobedience A disdain for
disobedience. Job eschewed evil.
He did he deliberately chose to walk away from stay away from
evil things during a very wicked time in the good times, in the
and even in the bad times, even through those trials.
Look at verse 22 of Job chapter 1 and all this.
Job said not. They were charged God foolishly.
He was determined that regardless of his situation,
regardless of whether or not he had all of his money or all of
his wealth or his land or even his children, that he was not
going to disobey, that he was not going to be foolish.
He was not going to renounce God.
He was not going to live and sin.
He understood that righteousness is not based off of
circumstances. Turn to Psalm chapter one.
Well, it's not really chapter Psalm one.
Turn to Psalm 1. It's a very familiar passage.
We've all read it at some point. First one to point your
attention to a few verses here. Psalm One Bible says, Blessed is
the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seats of the
scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his
law that they meditate day and night.
Proverbs One also has something to something to say about sin,
about staying away from simple things and evil things.
Turn there real quick. Psalm chapter Excuse me.
Proverbs 1. Read some verses from here.
Verses 10 to 19. The Bible says, My son, if
sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us
lurk privately for the innocent without cause.
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and the whole as those
that go down into the pit. We shall find our precious
substance. We shall fill our houses with
spoil. Cast in thy lot among us.
Let us all have one purse. Growing up, my mom would read
this to us and I'd always, you know, read that part right there
and think, you know, I don't. That's not going to work on me.
I don't like persons anyway. Let us all have one purse.
My son, Walk not thou in the way with them.
Refrain thy foot from their path.
One more Colossians 3, verse five and six.
You don't have to turn there, but this is mortified there for
your members, which are upon the earth fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil, concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God
cometh on the children of disobedience.
Job hated sin, dope, adore, abhorred evil and disobedience
that bothered him. Just like it should bother us,
it should disgust us just like a disgust God.
If we have sinned our lives, you must mortify it, put it to death
is basically what it's saying. Don't let it linger in the camp.
Don't let it become a foothold. There's something in the Marines
that went in our training, in our urban combat training, some
called something called the urban attack cycle.
And there are four steps and one of them is get a foothold.
Getting a, getting a foothold in in a building.
You stop putting that building and there are certain steps you
go through certain processes. There's a process you go through
to get a, to gain a foothold in that house.
And you start with the first floor and the second floor.
That building's clear. You get out, you go to the other
buildings, you go to the next building, first floor, second
floor, third floor of the roof. You get down next building,
gaining A foothold. Don't let sing in a foothold in
your house. Don't let him gain a one room in
your house, in your heart. Privates 415 says avoid it, Pass
not by it. Turn from it and pass away.
Let's not let our flesh get in the way.
Let's not be disobedient. Lessons from Joe.
He had a righteous routine, a disdain for disobedience.
Thirdly, an impregnable integrity.
Impregnable integrity. Job's integrity was important to
him, so he guarded it. He didn't give anyone, not his
friends, not his wife, not even the Almighty God an opportunity
to say that he gave up on his integrity.
Check out chapter 2 verse two and three of Job.
Go back to Job chapter 2 verses 2 and three.
The Bible says in the Lord said it to Satan, from whence cometh
thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and
said, from going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and
down at it. And the Lord said it to Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him
in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that be with
God, and issue with evil, and still he holdest fast his
integrity, although thou movest me against him, to destroy him
without cause. Verse nine of the same chapter
says, Then his wife said it to him.
Dost thou still retain thine integrity?
He was still holding on to his integrity in that time and later
in this book Job actually says till I die, I will not remove my
integrity from me. The Lord delights and the Lord
rewards integrity. Proverbs 11/1 I'm going to read
a bunch of passages here. You don't have to turn to them,
but if you would like to though, I'm going to read out the
references to Proverbs 11/1 says a false balance is an
abomination to the Lord, but I just wait is his delight.
Verse 3 of that same chapter. The integrity of the upright
shall guide them, but the perseverance of transgressors
shall destroy them. First Kings 9.
Verse 5. This is the Lord God speaking to
Solomon by the way. And if thou wilt walk before me
as David thy father, thy father walked in integrity of heart and
in righteousness to do according to all that I commanded thee and
will keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will establish
the throne of thy Kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to
David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon
the throne of Israel. Psalm 2521 says, let integrity
and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee.
Is your integrity worth guarding?
Does it mean as much to you as that means to God?
When no one else is around? Are you the same person?
Are you just as honest when it's just you and God?
Integrity like Job, we need to hold fast.
We need to guard our integrity. I'm almost done your lessons
from Job a righteous routine this day for disobedience,
impregnable integrity. And lastly lesson 4, wholesome
worship. Wholesome worship.
This is my favorite one. Look at the end of Job chapter 1
verses 20 and 22/22/22. Bible says Then Job arose,
invents his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the
ground, and worshipped, 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. Difficult times came, trials
came. He decided he made it a point to
worship God in the hard times and the struggles.
Do you worship? Do you give God the praise and
all the glory? God is enough.
God is still God in the hard times.
God is still good. He still loves you with an
everlasting love. Psalm 34, one says, I will bless
the Lord at all times. His prayers shall continually be
in my mouth. And later on in verse 8, it
says, O taste and see that the Lord is good.
Blessed is the man that trusted in him.
There's so many of that verses, so many passages we can turn to
to talk about God's goodness and God's greatness and His
blessings in the hard times in the valleys.
We talked about it this morning, but I want to say one other
thing about this and then we'll close.
When God is your foundation, you cannot be moved, You cannot be
shaken. Jeremiah 17.
I'll have you turn to this last passage.
Jeremiah 17, verses 5 through 8. These are some of my life
verses. Jeremiah 17, verses 5 through 8.
This passage says, Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that
trusted the man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart
departed from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath
in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall
inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land,
and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
For He shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that
spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when he
cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful
in the year of droughts, either shall cease from yielding
fruits. You need to praise God for being
your Everlast, your everlasting hope, your present help and
trouble. He's your foundation, He's your
shepherd. He's our cornerstone.
Every disappointment, every trial, every whole, every hard
time. Know that the Lord your God is
your strength. Let Him shine through you.
He will lead you, He will defend you in the darkest moments.
He'll grow you through the difficulties.
He will allow you to thrive in the victorious power of Christ.
Lessons from Job, a righteous routine, disdain for
disobedience, impregnable integrity, wholesome worship.
May the Lord help us to work through these things in our in
our hearts and our lives. All right, let us pray Father in
Evan, thank you so much for this time.
Just a short time we had to look at these passages and look at
these verses and see from from from the Bible to how we can.
Live the live a Christian life and not just not just live a, a
what we call the Christian life, but truly in our hearts would
help us to have integrity. Help us to live righteously.
Help us to to pray for each other.
Help us to worship you in the hard times.
But as we go throughout this week, as we go throughout our
lives as Christian, help as Christians, help us to be a
light to those around us that they may see our works and
glorify you in heaven. We praise things in your name.
Amen. Amen.
Let's stand with our heads by an
ice close. I want to give you an
opportunity to respond to the message.
Maybe God spoke to you about something in your heart that
needs to be changed. And boy, I tell you, one of the
reasons that Job responded the way that he did, and one of the
reasons we have the book of Job as an encouragement is because
Job was doing the things that he needed to do before the trials
came that set him up for when the trials came.
And all of those things were not things that Job developed after
everything got rough. Those are things that he
developed before. And that those the, all the, all
the points that he mentioned are things that Job was doing in his
heart that helped prepare him for the trials that came.
And you know, obviously we all go through trials.
We all have difficulties and we all have things that we deal
with. But what are you doing in your
life? How are you handling those those
problems? And are you doing these things?
Are you doing them? It's great, great message.
That can be a help to us if we'll let it.
Let's pray and then we'll have a time of invitation.
Father, again, we thank you for the message.
I pray that you'd use it in our hearts, in Jesus name, Amen, as
the panel play.