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Hello this is Wayne Lampe I am Excited as I am about
to start my first teaching in the book of Job. And today
I will be covering Job1 versus one through six maybe more
I starting in the book of Job because I believe it brings up
many of life’s big questions. It has many themes like is there
a God and does he care? Why bad things happen to good people?
Has my sin caused this problem? Did my negative thoughts make this happen?
What is God trying to show me? And what happens after I die?
The main theme of the book is how to go through pain and suffering.
there many different situations and people's life it could be
a loss of a loved one or child separation or divorce
you lose a job that you been in for a long time is provided
for your family if you have ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease
or you know someone who does I defiantly know that these
questions come up, however we can’t compare our troubles because
everyone troubles are unique to them. The one thing in common
is that pain is real when we have problems in are life we
should ask what should we do only don't know what to do.
In this book I think will answer many these questions. We are
thinking where God is in all this. And it's very hard to conceive
why people suffer and is a loving God. What I found out and I hoped
this book teaches you: Is that God loves you
He is in control and has a plan for your life.
I know it's hard to perceive but these are the things
that this man Job will show his character.There is also
a lot in this book about redemption and need for savior. And that no man
can be as righteous as God. Well how I go through this book
it's a long book. Many pastors will tell you when they teach on
a certain subject they often go through what they are teaching about.
Maybe that is why we do not hea r a lot of messages going through
the book of Job. I will keep my messages between 20 and 30 min.
and I have ALS like I'm going to teach plainly enough for those
who maybe seeking God and have big questions concerning God.
I'll explain some things that may be familiar to many of those
it is seeking the Lord it would be new information. I will call
them life's big questions Detours. and take time to expand on that
subject it might deviate a little bit from the book, but I think it's
important because people do have big questions! And also to provide
new insight and hope for those over whom already have a relationship
with Jesus Christ. And maybe learn something new too!
But most important I pray that the Holy Spirit will teach you what you need to hear.
I’ll go through it slow the first three chapters
because they're a many key concepts to consider. After that,
we will go through in chapters in groups. We will take a look at the key verses
and concepts and thoughts. In the first two chapters, in a
deal with Job and his relationship with his family, God, and community
. Then he is tested by losing everything but his life.
In chapters 3 through 37 we deal with his conversations with
his three friends that come to comfort him. And they are long, and they're going back
and forth trying to figure out why Job is going through this struggle.
And chapter 38 to 42 God reveals himself to job.
Many scholars believe Job is the oldest book in the Bible.
The author of the book is unknown. Some people have speculated
the writers Moses, or Solomon, or an Elihuh one of Job's three friends.
We really don't know. However, all Scripture written is
inspired by God. you may say how can it be before Genesis it’[
s not in the beginning of the book. Well, this book is the first of
the group books written in a Hebrew poetic style.
This group of Bible books includes the book of Psalms, Proverbs, ecclesiastics,
Song of Solomon. The poetic style in Hebrew is different
from we know. The other books such as Genesis or Acts are written in narrative style
history. The poetic style, one that rhymes
but rather as a contrast or a parallel thought. I want to explain this so reading these books
may make more sense understand what the pattern is.
In the Hebrew style there is both a contrast of thoughts would be suchlike and Psalm 79
bring to the end of the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.
It’s a back-and-forth, light versus darkness, peace versus Struggles, section.
Or it can be a parallel thought building on each other
like and Psalm one verse one. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the
counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers. Each thought builds on the next one
and that's what happens we get to chapter 3
and his friends start talking to Job. They talk in this poetic way expressing them.
When did Job live? Well many scholars put the book of Job around the time of Genesis
12. There is a Jobab mentioned in Genesis Chapter10:29.
It could be the same job he would be a direct descendent of Noah's son ham.
And many believe Job lived around the same time is Abraham. We have
some clues why this might be true we know this because is no mention of priests
or the Mosaic Law made the 10 Commandments. The father was a priest of the home.
He this to be over 140 years old this would indicate a short time after the flood.
This is when the years of man started to decrease after the flood.
There may be some people asking, what do you mean? How did someone live that
long? Did Adam really live over 900 years old?
That’s going to lead us to one of life's big questions Detours:
explaining man's many years of living you. Can find the list from Adam to Noah
in Genesis chapter five. You might say how did man start to not live as long?
We have to remember that Adam and Eve were perfect
until they disobey God and sin entered the world.
We also know that in the Garden of Eden there was a tree of life.
That once they sinned, God did not want them to get to it. And God didn't want
to live that way but there is another reason that after the flood that life
started to shorten on earth. We’ve all heard of global warming
is increased concern about our depleting ozone layer.
Been many of newspaper news reports on the subject
. The ozone is a blanket of moisture that protects
us from sun’s harmful rays. I am going to take a
moment to explore this theory. And it has value!
In Genesis 1:6 and God said let there be an expanse
between the waters to separate water from water.
So we had the Earth in the sky there is a huge
protection around the Earth kept it mostly in tropical state.
We know this because they found tropical vegetation at the polls deep down.
they came from somewhere and up to the time when Noah built the ark. Earth had known
the rain that is why he was mocked called crazy while building the ark. Your may say
or how things watered? In Genesis 2:5-6 GOD had sent no rain on the earth but the streams
came up from the Earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. When the rains came
where the water come from? With Genesis chap 7-11
says from the springs of the ground and the floodgates of heaven opened.
It came from this huge protective water blanket around. The Earth many aspects
of the earth changed. If you ever took a hose
squirted the dirt you can see that it has an effect.
This water came down pounded the earth. After the flood was reduced protection
from the same water blanket or ozone layer.\ providing less protection from the son?
In Genesis 11 and 10 chapter 11 verse 10 this line from Shem to Abraham with the
decreasing years of life. You can see as you read through that chapter that is a quick
decrease from 900 to 800 years to 500 and 400 and 200.
So was the global warming and ozone layers the look of any article it talks about how
the rays UV from the Sun affect our health. And that be a reasonable way that the life
expectancy started to drop. It’s time we get back on the main road and off our detour.
I hope maybe that explains some to those who might question about how long man lived.
Let’s go to JOB chapter one. And it says there was a man in the land of
UZ whose name was Job. This it is important to
realize that Job is a real man. UZ was a real place.
It was mentioned in Jeremiah Chap 25:20 when they were listing all the different Kings
of the region. Many people believe UZ was probably between
the Northeast Arabia of Palestine between our possibly around Damascus near
the Euphrates River. And not really sure, but we know it was a place. This was
a place it not like a story or fable like the Wizard of Oz. there could be some
parallels with the wizard being God and the good witch Angels and the bad witch
being Satan and monkeys. The friends representing fellowship and sticking together
all following the yellow brick road. Or one road through Jesus Christ to
Emerald city or heaven. This book is not fable. There are those who would say that is just
a story. Had a conversation with a former Catholic
priest to say that Job was not a real story
and Jonah didn’t live in a whale if you can believe Genesis one that God
created heaven and earth then you have to accept the rest. Do you believe that
Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead?
God’s written word has proper contents and balance. Further Job is
directly mentioned in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Job was mentioned
in Ezekiel 14:14 with two very important men: Noah and Daniel. Even these three men
Noah Daniel and Job could only save themselves from their righteousness.
That is a big top three in the Old Testament. And the book of James the New Testament Chap
5:11 it says as you know we are considered blessed
by those persevered you have heard of Job's perseverance and had scene with the
Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy
so the apostle Paul and all those of the New Testament times they knew about Job.
And important point because when you read how he's reduced to bare existence, it's
important point to remember. If you have to care or you have some of you have ALS
you will be able to compare what Job goes through. We lose functions of our muscles
but not our mental thinking or capacity of personality or our unique spirit.
Everyday becomes a struggle for life. Priorities in life become very clear and focused.
Things like what do I want to eat but today can I eat without choking. Not what kind
of bathroom you have but can make their today. I have a friend with ALS that has a similar
progression I. A couple years down the road. He has lost most of his own function in hand
use and he has to be suctioned of fluid buildup frequently to breath. I do not
know how he does it. I think God is with him and his wife in my life to be a source of
strength for me because I may follow the same situation. To me he is a great man
of integrity and strength and perseverance. I’m sure if you or a loved one with
ALS shows strength. That’s what they're talking about James 5:11 which JOB. He went
through it so that others could look up to his example later down the road. now
I go to the next part of Job and says: this man was blameless and upright he
feared God and shunned evil it doesn't say that he was sinless for no man is
without sin Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
. it said that he was blameless and upright
he was purpose not to do wrong. In later you speak about how we made a
covenant with his eyes not to look lustful at other woman. We all have the same choice
if we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior though we forgiven for our sins, we cannot just
go on doing wrong. He had a good fear of God and shunned evil. Now in my Catholic
background I would think of God He’s just up there waiting for me to do some wrong
but no… it’s the opposite he loves us and
hurts Him when we do wrong. It warms my heart and I love to see my daughter when
she does the right thing and I feel the opposite when she does not. The same way
she knows what she's done well or not. Deep down she wants please me my wife
and as her father I know she will make mistakes but I know her character.
Who new Job character? God new Job’s character! He says he says it here and he
will also say three more times as we progress. Will that means that God knows your character.
HerE is homework: to think about what would God say about your character and integrity?
Job go to two and three in which talks about his family and his wealth. Verse two he had
seven sons and three daughters and he owned 7000 sheep 3000 camels 500 of oxen and 500
donkeys large number of servants he was the greatest
man among all people of the East. Job has a big
family and is rich in fact he is the wealthiest man in the land. Can you think of anyone in
our society with great wealth? You can name many.
Now can you name any that have wealth character and integrity?
now will to verse four, his sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes and they
would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them ,verse five. When a period
of fasting had run its course Job was sent to
have them purified early in the morning he would
sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them taking perhaps my children have sinned and
cursed God in their hearts this was Job's regular custom. Job cared For
the spiritual life of his family the families got together for feast maybe it was once
a month but it was good to get together regularly and the whole family did., how come Job would
think they may have cursed God in their hearts ?
And it wasn't Job, we are not sure but later Job's wife makes a suggestion that may give
us an idea. After they feasted he went out and they sacrificed to purify them of any
possible sin. How did he know that man needed a sacrifice to please God? How did he know
that he needed a burnt offering? He knew somehow from God that there had to be sacrifice of
atonement for redemption of sins. He could've heard firsthand the stories of Adam and Eve
in the garden were Cain and Abel how the blood
sacrifices accepted and Cain’s sacrifice offering of fruits and vegetables was not.
Remember there are no priests places of worship gathering mentioned. The laws of
sacrifice have not been written. In the hearts of men they know there's a God. Who taught
the children? There is no children's church is no public school would they learn from
them from their parents. That is why today homeschooling is becoming more popular.
My daughter likes that we can teach Bible. This is not to say anything negative if
your child is in public-school private school the point is as parents we have
a great influence over our children. Not as much as we say but by what we do.
We often strive to provide many things for our kids, proper food and clothes,
developing their talents, like in sports music. How much time do we take to spend with the
kids and investigating spiritual things? My daughter is a blessing. Some days all
she wants to do is hang out with daddy, play PlayStation, to draw, watch a movie.
I love those days and they are sweet. It also opens the door to talk about the
bigger things of life, like God, feelings, or right and wrong. And
that love does not stop just because their grown. We still, like Job should
be concerned with the relationship with God. There is a great influence when men
spiritually invest in their children. Most is from women, I heard a statistic
that I could find but it's it it's a pretty awesome statistic. When man go to
church with your kids how they stand to continue to go to church when they
grow up. Just going to touch on verse six. One day the Angels came to present themselves
before Lord and Satan also came with them. In this section talks of the curtain of
heaven being revealed. That it tells us a few things that first there is a real heaven!
2nd Angels are real. Also the other guests the fallen Angel Satan is real! We also know
that no descriptions revelation 12:4 that one third of the Angels fell with Satan.
we also know that it in revelation 12:9 that two thirds always defeats one third
and that's what happens in that book. The second thing is it they come to
present themselves to God. The Angels had to present themselves to God to give
an account. So also tells us we will have the same meeting. We all try to
minimize our appointments especially when you have an illness like ALS but
there are two appointments we cannot cancel .one is we’re all going to
physically die. And the other, is we will all stand before God.
Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? Are you seeking God? He has
provided a way to you know him and spend eternity with Him. If you have
ALS and you may be asking these big questions about God. You know that
your muscles die but your personality has the same. That uniqueness or essence
of who you really are is inside you. And I’m here to tell you that your
spirit does live forever. I’m pushing my limits on time and let us set up
for the next lesson I will cover more ground and not sure how far I’ll get
because there is a lot of great biblical principles learned in these first
two chapters. I encourage you to read Job 1-2 next lesson will learn
about this heavenly showdown between God and Satan. Now we're wanted to
overemphasize Satan but when he appears in Scripture we must talk about him.
I know you cannot understand why God lets bad things happen. We will
learn Satan also has limits that God puts on him. We will learn Satan's
strategy as he tries to discredit Job. That he uses the same strategy
with you and me. He always attacks God's provision, His protection
and His promise. We will see what the proper response that Job gives.
I’m going to take a moment, and end in prayer. I just thank you Lord for
this opportunity to thank you for the people that are tuning in and
listening to this message. May Touch hearts I pray that they would come
back to listen more and if they don't know Jesus Christ that all
they have to do is except him in your heart. It’s as simple as A B C
I admit that you’re a sinner, believe that Jesus died for you,
to commit and confess to God. If you’re not at that point,
just tell God hey I’m seeking you and he will honor that. So hope
you come back and feel free to e-mail me with any comments
I look forward to the next lesson.