Job Chapter 25-26:ALL

Welcome to Cross the Bridge But right now open your Bible to the Old Testament Book of Job and follow along for today's teaching. In this series of special weekend edition programs, Pastor David has been teaching lessons from the life of Job. Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. We are finding out that what needed to be learned back then still needs to be learned by us today as we continue studying chapters 25 and 26. Now here's Pastor David. Chapter 25 and 26.

Now if you've read ahead, you know these chapters are a little bit shorter. Chapter 25 only has six verses. Verse 1, Then Bill-Dad, the shoe-height, answered and said, Dominion and fear belong to him. He makes peace in his high places.

Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not rise? How then can man be righteous before God?

That's a great little question just slid in there. Or how can he be pure, who is born of a woman? Even if the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man who is a maggot. Well, tell us what you think, Bill-Dad. And the son of man who is a worm.

How is he calling a maggot and a worm, man? This guy. One of the things we're supposed to see from this is how not to comfort somebody. Chapter 26, But Job answered and said, How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength? How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?

And how have you declared sound advice to many? To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you? The dead trample and those under the waters and those inhabiting them. Sheol is naked before him and destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space. He hangs the earth o' nothing.

He binds up the water in his thick. Clouds. And yet the clouds are not broken under it. Job is the oldest book in the Bible by far. Job is actually mentioned early on in Genesis.

So this book is 3000, 4000 years. Listen to the science that is in the next few verses. In verse eight, he binds up the water in his thick clouds. It would be thousands of years before man discovered that there was moisture in the clouds.

But God knew like 3000 years ago. Yet the clouds are not broken under it. He covers the face of his throne and spreads his cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness. The world thought the world was flat for hundreds and hundreds of years.

This is the Bible being right and science being wrong and then science adjusting to the Bible, which incidentally has happened over and over and over and over and over again. Verse 11, the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke. He stirs up the sea with his power and by his understanding, he breaks up the storm. By his spirit, he adorned the heavens.

His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed, these are the mere edges of his ways and how small a whisper we hear of him. But the thunder of his power, who can understand? Later in this book, God says to Job, look, who are you? They're questioning me.

Were you here when I created the earth? Once you ask Jesus to forgive you, the more you follow him, the easier it gets to follow him. You commit to follow him and then understand that you hear his voice. Now, the more you listen, the better you hear it.

The less you listen, the less you hear it. John chapter 10, verse 10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and they may have it more abundantly overflowing life, vibrant life, joyful life. John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hands. And then in John 14, 15, if you love me, obey my commands and I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him, doesn't recognize him, but you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

Now, this is important for us to get. And I mentioned this Sunday, those three phases of the Holy Spirit. When you're unsaved, he's outside of you. When Jesus says he lives with you here, the Greek word is para, to be alongside of. And then Jesus says, and later he will be in you, will later be in you, the Greek word here is en or in you, like our word in. But then there's another verse, actually several, but one of them Acts chapter 1, verse 8, the spirit will come upon you. The Greek word there is not para, it's not en, it's epi filled overflowing.

What's interesting is one remote Greek meaning for epi is have charge of. There's a wonderful story, D.L. Moody was a really powerful evangelist and led a college in Chicago and a Bible college started a wonderful work. And he would go around and speak and so some pastors were meeting, talking about D.L. Moody coming to their area and they were sharing different stories, you know, and this one guy stood up and said, you know, you guys are talking about D.L. Moody this and D.L. Moody that and man, you all make it sound like D.L. Moody's got like, does D.L. Moody have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit or something?

And this other man stood up. He said, I did not think D.L. has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has a monopoly on D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody is not in charge of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is in charge of D.L.

Moody. The more you listen, the more you hear and go with what you hear. Now, it will never contradict scripture ever.

And it's important to know the word because then you can look at the backdrop because if you don't know the word and you're listening, you better believe the enemy's going to try to get in there. And sometimes, I mean, just right in the middle, you can be, I can be listening to God, you know, and yes, Lord. Okay, Lord. All right.

Pray for that personally. Yes, Lord. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yes, Lord.

Yeah. And go ahead and pray that Fred will just jump in a lake. That don't sound like you. Well, I know from the word that he wouldn't say something like that.

So I know that's the enemy. But if I don't know the word, I'm like, okay, Fred, hope Fred jumps into a lake. The other day, I prayed for Zach's grandfather, keep him in prayer. He's dealing with some stuff and prayed for him in the men's meeting and start praying for him.

And he's got cancer, lung cancer. So I was praying and praying against, you know, the lung cancer. And the Bible tells us to pray bold prayers like mountain be removed, you know, so, you know, illness be removed.

I mean, you can pray prayers as you're led by the Lord. Again, never contradict scripture, but I'm praying for his lung cancer. And the Lord's like, pray for his heart. And I'm like, no, God, he has lung cancer. And so I could just pray him for lung cancer, you know, and then God's like pray for his heart. God, he's got lung cancer and praying for lung cancer. Lord's like praying for his heart.

And finally, I was like, send a text. Something going on with his heart. They said he recently went into heart failure. Sorry. Like I was saying, I pray for his heart. But at least I'm teachable. Amen. So the more you listen, the better you hear.

It just makes sense, right? Romans 12, one says this, I beseech you therefore, brother, and by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

The word there is metamorpho, where we get our word for metamorphosis, which is like what a caterpillar does when he changes into a butterfly. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable perfect will of God. Go to the New Living Translation for that. And it says, and so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all that he has done for you. Let them be a living holy sacrifice.

The county will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. And it says, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, the way they think, okay? But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Changing the way you think is not easy.

As a matter of fact, it's almost impossible for us to do it without him. All these behavioral modification stuff that the world does, so much of it fails because God's not in it. God wants to change your mind. Now, we all think God needs to change the other person's mind. God needs to change that leader's mind. God needs to change that deacon's mind. That else needs to change Pastor David, change his mind. Pastor David needs to change his mind about this death note. God wants to change the way you think. God wants to change all of us, which on one hand means none of us have it completely all together, okay? In the Greek, it says except Pastor David.

No, it doesn't say that. All of us are not finished. Now, in a way, that's kind of bad news because it's saying we're all messed up behind.

We're headed for glory. And who we're going to wind up to be far exceeds who we are now, friend. We haven't even yet seen what God is going to do with you individually or with us as a fellowship. Acts Chapter 1 verse 8 says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, epi, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

We find that word epi starts popping up a lot. In Acts Chapter 2 verse 17, and it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit, epi, on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.

Did you see that? Your sons and your daughters, your young men and your old men, all generations will be receiving from the Holy Spirit. On my maidservants, epi, and on my menservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. We're a spiritual people. We have a spirit.

Spirit's whole body. We're kind of a superstitious group too. Really, seriously, we are. We have to be careful because because of that, we can be manipulated outside the truth.

If we're in the word, it makes it a lot tougher to manipulate us. Now, if you're sitting there going, well, no, I don't think you can, I don't think we're that superstitious. Here's a little thing. I put together 10 little things that athletes do to help them win. Serena Williams does not and will not change her socks during an entire tennis tournament. She wears the same pair throughout the tournament which often lasts for several days in intense athletics.

Seriously, that's weird. Number nine, Michael Jordan always wore his UNC shorts under his Chicago Bulls shorts. Number eight is LSU coach Les Miles eats the grass of every stadium they play in and eats more of the grass during high pressure moments. NBA player Jason Terry wears the shorts of his opponents the night before the game.

He owns shorts of every team and he wears the opposing team the night before he goes to sleep. Pastor David will be back in less than one minute as he continues teaching in the book of Job. A great way to start out each day is with a practical email devotional every morning from Pastor David. Visit crossthebridge.com to start receiving yours for free. If you have a cell phone you can also text the word encourage to 94253. That's 94253 to receive a short encouraging text from us each day.

And now back to the teaching. We're kind of a superstitious group. Some of these are far weirder. NASCAR has no green cars, they're bad luck.

No $50 bills, they're bad luck and does not allow peanut shells on the track. Baseball player Vladimir Guerrero at the beginning of the season would put his helmet on the floor of the dugout while his fellow players spit on it and some of them chew tobacco and did other things on his helmet that he wore throughout the year. And if it got somehow wore down or cleaned up he had them do it again. What? A soccer team who was on a losing streak decided to cleanse their way and swim in a river where there were crocodiles and hippos for a change of luck. One of them drowned and the others were chased out.

But here's the weirdest one. Croatian Goran is then a tennis player. When he won would do exactly the same thing the day before his match.

He would wear the, when he won a match the next time he had a match he did exactly the same thing he did that day. He wore the same clothes, he went to, he goes to the same restaurants, he sees the same people and says the same things. No, we're not superstitious, no, not us, no.

Here's a life lesson. Human beings are born spiritual beings. Human beings are born spiritual beings. If we don't connect with God spiritually we'll find something to connect to and we replace that place that only fits God with anything we can find.

Money, power, sex, drugs, but only God will really fill that void. So we've got spirit, soul, body. Spirit, I am a spirit, soul, I have a soul, body, I live in a body. Here's something that really I thought about today and I believe the Lord gave me revelation about. These three things, spirit, soul, body tie in with the three phases of salvation that we've discussed before.

Justification, sanctification, glorification. The spirit, I have been saved. When you get saved your spirit's born anew.

It will always stay in perfect condition. Your soul is being saved. You're sanctified, you're being set apart for special use by the things you go through when the refiners fire. Your body, I will be saved. You will be glorified. But until then, you won't.

You'll have to struggle with your body and your flesh. Now, when we start looking at the book of Job, we need to see some things and admit some things. Here's the life lesson. We read in Job that the enemy did something. They spend most of the book asking, why did God do that? It was the wrong question.

It was the wrong. God did not do that. The enemy did that. And so that's how they got into all this trouble.

That's how they didn't comfort Job, a man who probably knew as much pain as anybody who's walked this planet except Jesus. So they took something the enemy did and they said, what is God saying through this? And friends, this is where we get in a lot of trouble. God speaks to us, has spoken to us through his word. He does speak through people sometimes. Sometimes the enemy speaks through people, amen? But we do this. The enemy will do something and then we go, whenever God's speaking, whenever God's telling me about this, we've seen it.

It's gone like this before. We'll confront somebody and we don't blab at the whole church. We confront somebody on a serious issue. Maybe they're a leader. Maybe we talk to them about the husband being the leader or their issue with drinking or adultery or something. And instead of repenting, they spin and run and bail.

And then somebody says, well, they left. I wonder what God's trying to tell me through that. I wonder what they know that I don't know. They're obviously more spiritual and more holy because, well, they told me so. They told me they were more spiritual than the leaders at the bridge. Now the bridge isn't really good enough for them anymore. And so, yeah, I think I'll go to that life group and let them lead me.

The person running in rebellion, unsubmitted, running from God in a world of hurt, who won't repent, bailing out on church, leaving people in the lurch and you want them to be your spiritual leader. Well, that's discernment there. We've seen it before and we'll see it again. But you know what?

Some have learned because there's a whole lot of people here that have been here since the first year. And they've seen that same dynamic and scenario again and again and again and again. Incidentally, we're talking about the enemy and Jesus talked about the enemy a lot. Where is the enemy? What's interesting is that we often see this picture that he's in hell with his minions and they're all discussing and planning and strategizing.

That's an interesting picture, interesting concept. It's nowhere in the Bible. What the Bible says in 1 Peter 5 verse 8, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Notice whom he may devour.

Who does he get to devour? First of all, unbelievers. He has free access to unbelievers. They have no protection because the only protection from the enemy is Jesus. And if you're rejecting Jesus, you don't have his protection. When you accept Jesus, you have his protection. That's why I checked the life lesson. The enemy has authority with unbelievers because they are not protected by the blood of Jesus.

We're going to move quickly kind of through these. Let me say that again. The enemy has authority with unbelievers because they're not protected by the blood of Jesus. James 4 verse 7 tells us, therefore, submit to God, resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Now, notice it said he's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

He's referred to as the devourer. Rings a bell down in Malachi chapter 3 verse 10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and try me now in this only place God says, test me.

The only place is in finances says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. Which means when you tithe, you rebuke the devourer. And what you're doing is cutting off a stronghold because if you don't tithe, it means you're being disobedient to God and obedient to your money and your priorities have gone out of whack and you've given access to the enemy. Verse 11, I will rebuke the devourer for your sake so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground nor shall the vine fail to bring bare fruit for you in the field says the Lord of hosts and all nations will call you blessed for you will be a delightful land says the Lord of hosts. Do you realize that people that tithe, that America is protected and blessed because of those people? That's what that verse just said, that he will bless the nations as people tithe and commit and put God first. In this process, they were saying, what's God saying to us through this bad thing?

And the enemy was using like a tool. You know the word and God speaks to you. But when you start looking to sometimes demonic events and fleshly carnal events, you might be able to learn something through it.

God may indeed speak to you through that, but be careful trying to find meaning in there. When somebody does something stupid, when somebody does something carnal, when somebody hurts somebody else. Now here's what's interesting. Life lesson there is never assume something the enemy did is God. Never assume something the enemy did is God.

Be careful of that. Boy, that goes a long ways. But in Job 26 verse 12, it says he stirs the sea with his power. He does the waves. This is God.

He's huge. You know, when Israel came to the Red Sea, God divided it so they could go through it. And I know some liberal scholars go, well, the Red Sea and that part, you know, wasn't very deep. And so, you know, basically there's two inches of water and the wind blew and kind of parted the two inches of water and they went across on the two inches of water. So there's no miracle that they walk through the divided waters. Well, I guess the miracle is that the whole Egyptian army drowned in two inches of water. There's a miracle in there somewhere. Amen.

Absolutely. And we can know these things and trust these things. It's like, well, a girl who's in the classroom and the teacher's talking about whales and stuff and she said, oh, Jonah got swallowed by a whale. And she said, no, he didn't. She said, yeah, the Bible says it. Well, no, Jonah didn't get swallowed by a whale.

The Bible's filled with folk tales and folklore and fairy tales, you know, and you can't believe that thing. How do you think Jonah got swallowed by a whale and lived? And she said, well, I don't know. When I get to heaven, I'll ask him. And the teacher says, well, what if Jonah goes to hell?

She said, well, I guess you can ask him. When the spirit comes into us, everything changes, everything. Start to listen, start to obey. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12 tells us, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more than my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, somebody gave me that verse out of context and told me that I really need to work on my salvation experience.

It was devastating to a young believer. It was like five years later, I read the next verse. Praise God, we can verse to verse, man. Because look, next verse tells us for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure.

Now here's the next life lesson. So God puts his Holy Spirit in us. He is at work in us. He helps us to want to do what is right and helps us to do what is right. When you get saved, the fact that you want to do good things, God is alive and at work in you. You've been listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge, weekend edition.

Tune in again next Saturday afternoon at 4.30 Eastern and 1.30 Pacific time as Pastor David continues teaching lessons from the life of Job on most radio stations. Friends, God loves you and wants you to experience his peace, forgiveness and life. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. How do you receive this gift of everlasting life from God? First, acknowledge you're a sinner in need of forgiveness. Believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and died for you on the cross, taking your sin upon himself to provide forgiveness for you.

Then ask for him to enter your heart in life, turning away from your sins, that is your own selfish desires, and then open your heart to follow God's plan for your life. You can start your new life by praying something like this from your heart. Dear Jesus, I believe that you died for me, that I could be forgiven. I believe you were resurrected, that I could have a new life. Lord, I have done wrong things and I'm sorry.

Please forgive me for all of those things and please give me the power to live for you the rest of my life. In Jesus' name, amen. My friend, if you prayed that prayer today for the first time or are coming back to God after wandering away, please let us know. Email pastordavid at crossthebridge.com and share your good news. That's a great first step to growing in your new faith. We'd love to email you back some more ways to continue in this wonderful adventure of faith. Remember that you are not alone and you are loved. Also, don't forget to visit crossthebridge.com to discover more resources provided at no charge to help you learn more about the Bible. If you'd like to help us share God's word with others, please click on the donate button and support this program with your regular gifts and tune into Cross the Bridge weekend editions each Saturday and Sunday on this station or on the crossthebridge.com website. God bless you and have a great day.