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Archive for March, 2010

Again God Praises Job

Posted in Job, Satan, The Father on March 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.

 2The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”

 3The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”  Job 2:1-3

God allowed Satan to test Job’s faith.  Satan had killed Job’s children, livestock and servants.  Once again God boasts that Job is a blameless and upright man who continues to hold onto his integrity despite all has happened.  God says no one on earth is like Job.  God also notes that Satan had no cause to ruin Job’s life.

Even though God blames Satan for inciting God against Job, Satan and those responsible for attacking Job’s family are still accountable for their actions.  We also have to keep in mind that Satan’s desire is to kill, steal, and destroy.  God only wants the best for us.  God does not want to harm us. 

Job is not aware of Satan and believes that all that has happened to him is because of God.  But even with that believe, Job still holds onto his integrity and faith.  He still believes that God is in control.  We can now see the kind of man Job was and that God’s words were true about him.

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Job the Worshiper

Posted in Job, Knowing God, Satan on March 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

He said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
  And naked I shall return there
  The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
  Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.  Job 1:18-22

After God allowed Satan to test Job, Job got word that all of his livestock and servants had died.  Then he got word that his children were killed.  What was Job’s response?  He worshiped God.  He didn’t grab a weapon and go after the men who had attacked.  He didn’t take his own life.  He did what he knew to do and that was to worship God.

From Job’s response we can see that Job was a worshipper.  It was instinctive.  When we are stressed out or in shock our only response is doing something that is familiar or what we have been trained to do.  Worship was second nature to Job because in all that happened he responds by worshiping God.

Job also proved Satan to be a liar, because Satan accused Job of only following God because of what God had given him.  But now that Job had lost his possessions and family he still responded out of reverence to God.  Job still acknowledged God.  Even the scripture makes the point in all that Job did he did not sin nor did he blame God.  Job blessed the Lord.

So in a crisis what is our response?  Do we blame God or curse Him?  Can we simply recognize that despite our situation God is still God and is worthy of our praise.  Not because of what He has given us but because of who He is.  Even though Job did not recognize that Satan was at work and believed that God had taken away what He had given to Job, Job still blessed the Lord.  God is looking for true worshipers.

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Palm Sunday

Posted in Jesus on March 28, 2010| 2 Comments »

 5″SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,
  ‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,
  GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,
  EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'”

 6The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them,

 7and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats.

 8Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.

 9The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
         “Hosanna to the Son of David;
         BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
         Hosanna in the highest!”

 10When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”

 11And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”  Matthew 21:5-11

Today is Palm Sunday, when we celebrate the beginning of Holy Week and Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem prior to his death.  It is the time that all churches no matter what denomination focus on Jesus.  Whenever I think of the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem, I think about His second coming and what a day of rejoicing that will be.

In Jesus’ day people did not fully grasp who Jesus was and what was about to take place.  But we know what took place and what significant this week represents.  The death and resurrection of Jesus is what saves us and gives us access to the Father.  Jesus told the disciples to celebrate the fact that there names were written in the Lamb’s book of life.  So let us be thankful for the coming of our Savior and that our names are written in the Lamb’s book of Life.

The day is coming when Jesus will return to the earth.  This time the bible says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.  Indeed, Hosanna in the highest.

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Our Enemy

Posted in Job, Satan, The Father on March 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 8The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”

 9Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

 10“Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

 11“But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.”

 12Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.  Job 1: 8-12

Satan is our enemy and our accuser.  After God had said that Job was an upright man, Satan accused Job of only fearing God because God had blessed him.  Satan argued that there was no substance in Job’s relationship with God.  Job was only interested in what he could get out of God.  So Satan claimed that if Job lost everything he would curse God to His face.

So God allowed Satan to test Job.  However, God put limits on Satan and Satan was not allowed to touch Job.  However, what should be noted is that God just gave Satan power over the things that belonged to Job.  God did not tell Satan to take everything from Job.  Satan’s argument was that Job only feared God because God had power over Job’s life and had blessed him.  So now that Satan was given the power – the question is would Job now bow to Satan and curse God?  Was Job the man God said he was.  God knew that Job was an upright man, and is now setting the stage to prove that Job was a man of God.

God knows us and Satan stands as our accuser.  Satan is also the father of lies and God knows that whatever Satan says about us is a lie.  God does not need Satan to tell Him about our faults.  God knows our faults and weaknesses but He sees beyond that.  God sees the good in us and the reflection of Himself in us.  We are God’s creation created in His likeness.  We are His children set apart for His good purpose and pleasure.  He has no plans to harm us.  Remember it is Satan who is our enemy and is out to destroy us.

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God’s View of Job

Posted in Job, The Father on March 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Job 1:8

Often times when we read the story of Job we try to find some fault with Job because of what happened to him.  But God saw Job as a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil.  In God’s statement about Job there is no”but” or comma after the statement.  God saw Job as a man with no fault.  So it would be wrong for us to find fault with Job.

Those of us who are saved are viewed by God as righteous.  God no longer sees us as sinners.  God does not have a negative view of us.  He sees past our weaknesses and sees us from our future.  That is how God saw Job.  Even if Job had faults God saw the best of Job and was telling Satan that there was no one on earth like Job.

Just picture the delight and love God had for Job when He made the above statement.  God knew Job was a good man.  God was being a proud Father bragging about one of His children.  He does the same for all of His children.  He sees the best in us.

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Job as Priest

Posted in Job on March 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

4His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

 5When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.  Job 1:4-5

Job’s children were accustomed to the life and favor of their father’s wealth.  So they would have feasts to celebrate being Job’s children and all that they had.  Job was concerned that they had sinned so he would have them consecrated and would offer up burnt offerings for them.  Job interceded for his children.

In the same way Jesus intercedes for us.  In these two verses we actually see a depiction of the relationship that we have with the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.  Job loved his children and loved God.  He did not want to see them fall into sin and would consecrate them and make burnt offerings on their behalf.  Job was the priest of his household just like Jesus is our High Priest.

The wonderful thing is that God knows that we cannot be holy on our own.  So He Himself makes offerings on our behalf and intercedes for us.  Jesus who was without sin became sin so that we might live and have a rich and full life as God’s children.   We are the King’s kids and He is worthy to be praised.

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Satan Subject to God

Posted in Job, Knowing God, Satan on March 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

 The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”  Job 1: 6-7

Satan is not equal to God in power or sovereignty; instead Satan is subject to God and cannot act without God’s permission.  Just as we have to give an account to God, so does Satan.  This is why we can stand on the promises of God and know that God is ultimately in control.  However, we also need to understand that Satan is our enemy who seeks to steal, destroy and kill.  As Peter says in the New Testament, Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8).  The good news is Satan is limited by God.  Satan is not omnipresent (everywhere) like God.  Satan is not omniscient (knowing everything) like God.  Satan is not God.  Remember Satan was an angel that was thrown out of heaven.

Satan is considered the prince of the earth, but let us remember that when Jesus came He took back dominion over the earth and returned it to man.  Satan is now subject to us.  He really has no power over us unless we give it to him.  We have the authority to say “no” to Satan.  Satan is a defeated foe and the accuser of brethren.  We can silence him by proving his accusations of being false.  Remember Satan wants nothing more than to destroy us. 

We see this in the story of Job.  God is not out to destroy Job, Satan wants him destroyed.  Fortunately, for Job Satan cannot do anything without God’s permission.

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Job’s Story

Posted in Job on March 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.

 2Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

 3His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.  Job 1:1-3

Job is an interesting book to study in the bible.  It is a book that is not really related to any other book in the Old Testament.  There is no mention of Israel or the Law of Moses.  The focus is on a man named Job, it is a book that really speaks volumes about the sovereignty of God, but never really answers the age old question “why do bad things happen to good people?”

The bible says Job was a good man.  He was blameless, upright and he feared God and stayed away from evil.  We also know Job was a wealthy man.  He was a man that was blessed by God and highly favored by God and men.

One of the problems in looking at the book of Job is that we try to figure out why all these horrible things happened to Job.  If he was such a good man, then why did God allow Job to lose everything?  This is not the purpose of Job.  It is not our job to analyze the character of Job, but what we can learn about is how to maintain our faith in times of suffering, and how to never lose site that, whatever happens, God is in control.

The one thing we should keep in mind is that Job never lost favor with God, on the contrary, Job was highly favored of God and there was no one in all the earth like him.  Let’s see what we can learn from the story of Job.

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Why Worry?

Posted in Jesus on March 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

It is so easy to worry about things in our lives.  We worry about the future and what tomorrow holds.  Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow.  We have enough to deal with in a day, and do not need to add tomorrow’s worries.  Of course this is easier said than done.  We all have responsibilities and plans for tomorrow so it is human nature to worry about these things.

We have to recognize that God is in control.  We have to learn to relinquish control to God and trust that He will work everything out for our good.  Jesus knew that worrying about tomorrow only brings us trouble and burdens that God did not intend for us to bear.  So we have to learn to live each day and trust God in everything that we do.

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Sound Doctrine

Posted in Teaching, The Word on March 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

When we turn away from truth it is easily to be deceived.  We are living in a time when more and more people want to listen to those that tell them want they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.  So they will gather around those that teach in accordance to their own desire. 

I recently read an editorial from a pastor that was so excited that Washington D.C. recently passed a same sex marriage law.  I was not bothered that this pastor was looking forward to marrying people of the same sex, but I was bothered that this pastor was trying to teach in the article that Jesus would have embraced the idea and that marriage was simply about two people who loved each other.  Of course those that want to marry the same sex hailed this pastor and the teaching.

We have to be very careful who we listen to in the church and what we consider good teaching.  Too often we would rather listen to preachers and teachers who are telling us feel good messages instead of the truth.  Remember the devil is the father of all lies and is out to deceive us from the truth.  So we must secure ourselves in sound doctrine and judge anyone’s word against the word of God.

There are many false doctrines that are gaining in popularity and increasing in number.  A big fascination these days is new age teachings.  On the surface they sound good and make you feel good but when you begin to really study what is being taught a lot of these teachings are based on us fulfilling our own selfish desires and not living according to God’s plan and purpose.

The purpose of pastors, teachers and preachers is to teach the word of God – to reprove, rebuke, exhort with patience and instruction in order to build up the body of Christ and prepare the saints for the work of ministry.

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