Participants: Pr. E.C. Polite
Series Code: HG
Program Code: HG000017
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00:36 Simple as this...
00:37 Take my life 00:41 Lord, will You take my life? 00:46 As I surrender 00:50 To Your will 00:57 I confess 01:00 You are my righteousness 01:05 And until You move, 01:08 I'll be still 01:15 And know 01:17 That You 01:20 Are God 01:25 You hold my world in Your hands 01:29 You hold my world in Your hands 01:34 And I am amazed at Your love 01:39 I am amazed that You love me 01:43 You hold my world in Your hands 01:48 You hold my world in Your hands 01:52 And I'm not afraid 01:56 My world is safe In Your hands 01:59 Oh 02:02 In Your hands 02:10 We're gonna say take my life, will you take. 02:12 Take my life 02:16 Lord, will You take my life? 02:21 You are the reason 02:24 That I live 02:32 I believe 02:34 That You have forgiven me 02:39 And by Your grace I will 02:44 Forgive 02:49 And know 02:52 That You are God 02:59 And know 03:00 That You 03:02 Are God 03:08 You hold my world in Your hands 03:13 You hold my world in Your hands 03:17 And I am amazed at Your love 03:23 I am amazed that You love me 03:27 You hold my world in Your hands 03:32 You hold my world in Your hands 03:36 And I'm not afraid 03:39 My world is safe in your hands 03:42 Oh 03:45 In Your hands 03:56 You won't let go of me 04:01 You won't let go of me 04:04 Anybody know that 04:06 He won't let go of you 04:10 You won't let, never let go 04:15 You won't let go of me 04:20 You won't let go of me 04:24 You won't let go of me 04:29 You won't let go, never let go 04:34 You won't let go of me 04:38 You won't let go of me 04:43 You won't let go of me 04:47 You won't let go, never let go 04:53 You won't let go of me 04:57 You won't let go of me 05:01 No matter what I've done Lord 05:03 You won't let go of me 05:07 You won't let go, never let go 05:12 You won't let go of me 05:16 You won't let go of me 05:21 You won't let go of me 05:25 You won't let go, never let go 05:31 Say won't let go 05:36 Won't let go 05:41 Won't let go 05:43 Won't let go 06:06 There is a sound 06:10 That is pleasing to His ear 06:15 The sound of praises 06:19 Lifted into the atmosphere 06:24 Every time you lift your voice 06:29 You need to know 06:33 Jesus loves to hear the sound 06:38 Of praise 06:43 Jesus loves to hear the sound 06:47 Of praise 06:54 There is a sound 06:58 That is pleasing to His ear 07:03 The sound of praises 07:06 Lifted into the atmosphere 07:12 Every time you lift your voice 07:17 You need to know 07:21 Jesus loves to hear the sound 07:25 Of praise 07:30 Jesus loves to hear the sound 07:35 Of praise 07:40 A sweet symphony 07:45 A heart's melody 07:50 A song of praise to hear 07:55 Is music to His ear 07:58 Jesus loves to hear the sound 08:03 Of praise 08:08 Jesus loves to hear the sound 08:13 Of praise 08:18 A sweet symphony 08:23 A heart's melody 08:28 A song of praise to hear 08:33 Is music to His ear 08:36 Jesus loves to hear the sound 08:41 Of praise 08:46 Jesus loves to hear the sound 08:50 Of praise 08:55 Hallelujah 08:58 The sound 09:02 He loves to hear 09:05 Hallelujah 09:08 The sound 09:11 He loves to hear 09:14 Hallelujah 09:17 The sound 09:21 He loves to hear 09:23 Hallelujah 09:27 The sound 09:30 He loves to hear 09:32 Hallelujah 09:36 The sound 09:39 He loves to hear 09:42 Hallelujah 09:45 The sound 09:48 He loves to hear 09:51 Hallelujah 09:54 The sound 09:57 He loves to hear 10:00 Hallelujah 10:03 The sound 10:06 He loves to hear 10:09 Hallelujah 10:12 The sound 10:15 He loves to hear 10:18 Hallelujah 10:21 The sound 10:24 He loves to hear 10:27 Lord, You're worthy 10:30 The sound 10:33 He loves to hear 10:36 Lord, You're worthy 10:39 The sound 10:42 He loves to hear 10:45 Jesus loves to hear 10:48 The sound of praise 10:55 Jesus loves to hear 10:57 The sound of praise 11:03 Jesus loves to hear the sound 11:13 Jesus loves to hear the sound 11:22 Jesus loves to hear 11:31 Jesus loves to hear 11:40 Jesus loves to hear Hallelujah 11:48 Jesus loves to hear 11:53 I adore You 11:57 Jesus loves to hear 12:01 Lord, You're worthy 12:06 Jesus loves to hear 12:10 the praise Lord, You're worthy 12:15 Jesus loves to hear the sound of praise 12:23 Jesus loves to hear the sound of praise 12:32 Jesus loves to hear the sound of praise 12:45 I want to direct your attention 12:47 to the Book of Job... 12:52 Job, the 23rd division, Job 23... 13:03 and I want to begin with verse 8. 13:08 Job, the 23rd division beginning with verse 8... 13:16 trusting that you haven't there, 13:18 you'll find these words recorded. 13:23 "Behold, I go forward, 13:26 but he is not there, and backward, 13:31 but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, 13:36 where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: 13:42 he hideth himself on the right hand, 13:45 that I cannot see him..." 13:49 What's the next word? 13:52 "But he knoweth the way that I take: 13:56 when he hath tried me, 14:00 I shall come forth as gold." 14:05 I thought today, we would lift up the thought. 14:09 Broken, but still blessed. 14:14 Broken, but still blessed. 14:21 Imagine her incredulity, 14:24 as he walked home in the darkness 14:26 of a familiar alleyway, 14:29 only to be accosted by a gang of boys. 14:35 She had just prayed to God to give her an evening job, 14:39 so that her boy could be sent to college. 14:43 And now look at here, 14:46 what added insult to the injury, 14:49 was that when the last boy who came to assault her, 14:54 looked into her face, 14:55 she looked into the eyes of her own son. 15:03 Imagine her inconsolable grief. 15:12 She had prayed and asked God 15:14 to watch over her four children, 15:17 as she went out on a rare Friday evening party. 15:23 She was a good mother, she always stayed in home, 15:25 but this time, she felt like, 15:27 she wanted to do something different only to return home 15:31 and find her children still sleeping, 15:34 but shot and burned beyond recognition. 15:38 Her home had caught on fire, while she was out partying. 15:44 Imagine his disillusionment. 15:49 He had done the impossible and kept himself chaste 15:53 until the day of his marriage. 15:56 And now he's coming home from work, 15:59 and he finds his bride sitting 16:03 in a chair covered in a torrent of tears. 16:09 She had just come from the doctor 16:11 and discovered that she was HIV positive. 16:17 And yet he had waited all his life for her. 16:26 How do you reconcile yourself to experiences like this? 16:33 When you believe that God is in your corner, 16:37 when in fact it seems He's somewhere else. 16:40 Let me clear up something for you this morning. 16:43 Perhaps one of the greatest misnomers 16:46 in the Christian mind, 16:48 is the fact that when you become a Christian, 16:50 things get better. 16:54 Faith don't get better beloved. 16:57 In fact, if you're going to be a real Christian, 16:59 things are gonna get worse. 17:04 I want to expand a little further 17:07 on a subject that I broached 17:09 on this past Wednesday night. 17:10 A subject that is steeped in complexity 17:17 and drape in mystery. 17:18 It's a subject that I believe that unless we understand 17:25 what's going on with this 17:26 whole idea of the breaking process, 17:29 we might find ourselves eternally lost. 17:34 And so today, I want to look at the prospect, the process, 17:41 and the promise of the breaking process. 17:47 Let's go to Job 1:1, Job 1:1, 17:53 as we use Job as our official tour guide 17:59 in this journey called pain, 18:02 Job 1:1, 18:08 notice what the word of God says here, 18:11 there was a man in the land of Oz, 18:13 whose name was what? 18:15 And that man was what everybody, what else? 18:19 One that did what, and what else? 18:22 All ready, we got a peerless patriot right here. 18:26 We can preach a sermon just from Job 1:1. 18:30 There are four words that I just want to lift up for you. 18:32 The first one, what you think it is? 18:35 He was perfect. 18:36 He was perfect. 18:38 In the Hebrew it's 'tam', it means, he was complete, 18:42 completed together. 18:44 How can he be completed together? 18:46 We are talking about one person. 18:51 It's because you can never be perfect all by yourself. 18:55 If you're going to be perfect, 18:57 you have to be connected with somebody. 19:00 You got to be connected not with just anybody, 19:03 but with somebody who's perfect by themselves. 19:08 And so the Bible says, he was perfect. 19:11 What's the second word? 19:13 He was upright, upright, 'yashar', that translates, 19:19 he was straight. 19:25 That's important to know in a day like today, isn't it? 19:29 Oh, yeah, he wasn't some sort of closet Christian. 19:36 I remember when I was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. 19:40 I just been assigned to that installation, 19:43 and I made it my business as a chaplain to go through 19:46 the personal rows, 19:48 and I wanted to discover who had placed 19:52 on their registration card 19:54 that they were Seventh-day Adventist. 19:56 And when I went to visit one of the manager's office, 19:59 and let him know, I was starting a Seventh-day 20:01 Adventist church in the community, 20:04 and wanted to know if he would come, 20:06 and be a part of this charter group. 20:08 He conceited and then I asked him a question, 20:11 "Do you happen to know who so and so is?" 20:14 And he looked at the name and started laughing. 20:19 Now, my name is Eddie Polite, not Murphy. 20:25 Why are you laughing? 20:28 The office was set up so that two desks face each other, 20:32 and the person on the opposite side 20:34 was the other Seventh-day Adventist 20:36 and neither one of them knew about it. 20:39 They were there working every day, 20:42 sitting on their faith, 20:46 not sharing it with anybody, but Job was straight. 20:52 He wasn't lukewarm, he wasn't nailed to sin. 20:56 You can tell what kind of person Job was. 21:00 And so the Bible says, he was upright. 21:03 What else was he? 21:05 He feared God, 'yare'. 21:09 He was reverent. 21:11 He respected God. 21:14 He held him in high esteem. 21:16 And what's the last word there? 21:18 He eschewed evil. 21:22 And you need to get this one. 21:24 In the Hebrew that word eschew translates sohar. 21:28 Sohar translates beheaded, beheaded. 21:34 What do you mean Job was beheaded. 21:39 It wasn't that Job was beheaded. 21:40 Perhaps if I share this Japanese legend with you, 21:43 you might understand little bit better. 21:45 I'm told there were two ninja warriors, 21:48 who came face to face with one another. 21:50 And as they stealthily moved about each other, 21:54 one of them pulled out his sword, 21:56 swung it and put it back in its holster, 22:00 while still moving around. 22:02 And the other ninja warrior was still moving around, 22:06 stealthily himself, and he replied, 22:09 responded to the man who had just swung his sword. 22:11 He said, "I'm gonna kill you." 22:13 he said, "No, you're not." 22:15 He said, "I'm gonna kill you." 22:16 He said, "No, you're not." 22:19 "Yes I am." 22:20 He said, "No, you're not. 22:22 Because I already cut your head off, shake your head." 22:28 Shook his head and it fell to the ground. 22:32 Chuuk was the kind of men that when the devil said, 22:35 "you're evil." 22:36 He said, "No, no, no... 22:38 I'm not." 22:39 "I'm gonna overcome you." 22:41 "No, you're not" "I'm gonna kick you to the floor." 22:43 "No, you not, shake your head devil." 22:46 "I've made it my point to beheaded, 22:50 every time evil gets in my way." 22:53 "Shake your head." 22:56 It sounds to me like 22:58 Job is already a pretty good Christian. 23:01 So then, why would he need to be broken? 23:06 Think about it for a moment. 23:08 Part of our problem, beloved, 23:10 is that we see ourselves one way, 23:13 while God sees us in other way. 23:15 When we look at ourselves, 23:17 we don't look too bad to ourselves. 23:19 But if we could ever see ourselves 23:21 to the living from God's law, 23:23 we would see how wretched, and defile, 23:27 and putrid and indeed unimpressed we really are. 23:31 If we can just pull our God's eyeglasses and look at us. 23:36 We would see a completely different individual. 23:40 We think we're fine 23:41 and God says you need to be refined. 23:45 We believe, we're ready for translation, 23:47 and God says, you're ready for self application. 23:51 I think sometimes, 23:53 because we memorize large passages of the word, 23:57 and read all the red books. 24:00 And we eat a vegan diet, and drink a whole lot of water, 24:04 and put our kids to swatch, 24:07 and because we have our ministry in the church, 24:10 and we give a few Bible studies, 24:12 and folk I've been won to the Lord. 24:15 We believe that now, 24:17 we must be a right with God for getting that fact 24:21 that Matthew screams out in Matthew 7. 24:24 Depart from me ye that work iniquity, 24:27 I never knew you. 24:35 The biggest reason, 24:38 the biggest reason, why Job, you and me, 24:44 why we need a breaking process is found in Jeremiah, 24:49 Jeremiah 17th chapter, turn there with me. 24:52 Keep your finger on Job, go to Jeremiah, 24:54 the 17th chapter. 24:56 Jeremiah 17. 24:58 And I want you to look at verses 9 and 10 with me. 25:02 "The heart is deceitful above all things..." 25:07 And what else is it? 25:09 Desperately, not just wicked, 25:14 but it's an emphatic intensive, 25:18 desperately wicked, "Who can know it?" 25:23 "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, 25:28 even to give every man according to his ways, 25:31 and according to the fruit of his doings. 25:34 Maybe we don't understand what's going on with us, 25:37 but God certainly understands what's going on with us. 25:41 Look here, somewhere within us, 25:45 is a dioxide ribonucleic acidic threat. 25:55 It's moving and stitched 25:58 throughout our myotonic composition. 26:03 And so what lead us to well stop, 26:05 we don't even know about. 26:08 We become the subtotal of all of the ancestors 26:11 who have lippy for us, 26:12 so then, if you're gonna lie in the family, guess what? 26:18 If you're gonna profligate in the family, guess what? 26:23 If you got a thief in the family, guess what? 26:28 If you've caught somebody 26:29 who's acquainted in the family, guess what? 26:33 All of the genetic material that make in who they are, 26:38 now take residence in you and me. 26:46 And so, because we don't know everybody before us, 26:48 you don't know everything that's in us. 26:52 If you knew all your family, may be you would be 26:54 a little more aware of what you're capable of. 26:56 But since you don't know everybody, 26:58 since I don't know everybody, 26:59 we can't be aware of everything that we... 27:03 You ever done something and it surprised you? 27:10 Maybe you did, or maybe you weren't surprised. 27:14 Maybe you expected to do it. 27:17 But that petty things, things 27:22 that we have involved ourselves in, 27:25 that should have made 27:26 our own half stand uh just because we did it. 27:30 Here's the big point. 27:32 Here' the big point about the prospect. 27:34 When we follow Christ, 27:38 we give him permission 27:41 to place us in the breaking process. 27:47 We'll say that again. 27:48 When we follow Christ, 27:50 we give Him permission to break us. 27:59 What do you mean, pastor, we give Him permission? 28:02 Do you not recall what 1 Peter 4:12-14 says, 28:07 think it not strange concerning 28:08 the fiery trial which is to try you, 28:10 as though some strange thing happened. 28:12 Rejoice and be exceeding that, because 28:15 we are partakers of Christ own suffering. 28:17 Have you forgotten what the words 28:18 of the 2 Timothy 3:12 said, 28:20 "Yea, and all that shall live in Christ Jesus 28:22 shall suffer persecution. " 28:25 Have you forgotten what Matthew 10:38 says, that, 28:28 "If you're gonna follow me, you got to take up your cross." 28:31 You can't follow me walking in a high heel shoes. 28:39 It's an arduous journey. 28:43 I can remember walking down the road, 28:45 sometime I'm getting a rock in my shoe, 28:49 and not being able to get that little pebble out, 28:52 that's the kind of charity we're on. 28:54 Think about how it is to walk with a rock in your shoe 28:58 and you'll understand better 28:59 how the journey is for the believer. 29:05 Now let me just say this. 29:08 If you're really not ready... 29:14 to be a follower of Christ 29:19 then don't accept Him, 29:21 because the moment you'll accept him, 29:24 He's gonna start the process. 29:26 He's going to start the breaking process, 29:29 because your acceptance of Him 29:31 becomes His permission to start. 29:36 So if you're not ready, don't accept Him. 29:40 Leave Him alone. 29:42 Now, we just hope He is there when you're ready, 29:45 'cause tomorrow is not promised, 29:47 but God takes this thing seriously. 29:51 I want to look at the process. Go back there to Job 1, Job 1. 29:56 Go back there to Job 1, 29:58 I want to look at the process now. 30:00 Pastor got me stirred now. 30:01 I need to look at the process, see what's going on here. 30:05 Job 1:8, "And the Lord said unto Satan, 30:08 Hast thou considered my servant Job, 30:10 that there is none like him in the earth, 30:12 a perfect and an upright man, 30:13 one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 30:15 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 30:17 Doth Job fear God for nought? 30:19 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, 30:21 and about his house, 30:22 and about all that he hath on every side? 30:24 thou hast blessed the work of his hands, 30:26 and the substance is increased in the land. 30:29 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, 30:34 and he will do what, curse thee thou, 30:37 to thy face and the Lord said unto Satan, 30:40 Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, 30:44 only upon himself put not forth thine hand. 30:47 So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord". 30:52 I'm getting to background here. 30:54 You notice there in verse 6, 30:56 there was a day when the sons of God 30:58 came before God. 31:01 There's a little meeting, 31:03 a family meeting, of the sons of God. 31:07 And Satan shows up. 31:11 Now remember this is after he's been pull out. 31:15 And he's been cast out to the earth. 31:18 But he shows up to this meeting as the ambassador of earth. 31:24 I represent earth, 31:28 and the God has to get him straight the said, 31:33 when did I invite you? 31:40 Where you been, walking to and falter out. 31:43 It says the earth but it really says 31:45 in the Hebrew my earth. 31:49 Walking up and down my earth, and here is what the Lord says, 31:54 "Oh, yeah, have you consider?" 31:58 My servant Job, he acts like my representative. 32:04 He acts like my son. 32:07 If anybody ought of be here, he ought to be here. 32:11 And Satan takes umbrage with God, 32:13 because he has thrown him, and here's what Lucifer say, 32:19 seem to say us, you know, the only reason 32:21 why Job is serving you at all is because you blessed him 32:27 and you put a hedge about him, 32:28 but if you take everything away and remove your hedge, 32:32 he will curse you. 32:35 And God gives the devil the permission. 32:40 What did I say? 32:42 The permission to touch his possessions. 32:50 The Bible goes on to say in one day 32:54 he loses 7,000 sheep, 32:57 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 33:01 and 500 donkeys, he lose his seven sons, 33:06 and three daughters all in the same day. 33:13 you can imagine the grief that would come 33:15 if he just lost one child, but 10 children? 33:21 A man's fame, 33:23 his celebrity was measured by his possessions, 33:27 he lost all his wealth in one day. 33:33 I guess I am more fascinated with his response to that. 33:37 The Chapter 1:20, "Then Job arose, 33:41 and rent his mantel, shaved his head, 33:45 fell down upon the ground and did what? 33:48 Worshiped. 33:49 And said "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, 33:54 and naked shall I return there, for Lord gave, 33:58 and the Lord has taken away, 34:00 Blessed be the name of the Lord. " 34:08 Now you know if that was me... 34:15 I wouldn't be saying blessed being nothing. 34:24 The pre-ministry days would come out... 34:30 and I would describe God in very cloud up 34:32 very flowery and picturesque language, 34:37 that would be very flattering, 34:40 because of my own internal pain. 34:45 The reason we don't respond like 34:47 Job did, is because of this. 34:49 When we look at the stuff that we have, 34:52 we say this is my house, this is my car, 34:57 this is my money, this is my job, 35:01 these are my children, this is my husband, 35:05 this is my wife and so we take ownership 35:09 for every thing we had 35:11 as if we got it hold by ourselves 35:14 but Job recognize, I came here with nothing 35:18 and if he takes away everything, 35:20 I am not living here with nothing 35:22 because I didn't bring in here myself, 35:25 he gave it to me in the first place. 35:27 If he wants it back, He can have it back 35:30 because it belongs to Him in the first place. 35:39 We got to get to the place, well we understand 35:42 where all our blessings come from. 35:47 It is God who had given me the powers to get wealth. 35:52 And the reason they become so dramatic for us, 35:57 is because we think of what we did together. 36:01 All the hours we slaved, 36:04 all the jobs we worked to get this 36:09 and that only to have it gone in a moment. 36:18 Let's not get it twisted. 36:23 If that wasn't enough, look at Job 2:3-6, 36:27 Satan comes back again, 36:29 they have another meeting of the sons of God. 36:31 He shows up again and he says "Skin for skin! 36:37 Yea, all that a man has will he give for his life, 36:41 but put forth mine hand now, 36:43 touch his bone and his flesh and you do what 36:47 cursed thee to thy face!" 36:48 And the Lord said unto Satan, "Behold, he is in thine hands, 36:53 but do what? 36:55 Save his life." 36:57 If that wasn't enough verse 10 says, verse 9 says, 37:02 "Then said his wife unto him, 37:06 "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? 37:09 curse God, and die!'' 37:12 ''Now even though the brother is hurting, in pain, 37:16 he still got to keep her in check. 37:21 And so verse 10, he said to her "Thou speakest 37:24 as one of the foolish women speaketh. 37:27 What? 37:28 Shall we receive good at the hand of God, 37:31 and shall we not receive evil? 37:33 In all this did not Job sin with his lips." 37:39 Isn't it easy for us to thank God and praise God 37:43 when things are going well. 37:48 Let a little calamity, 37:50 walk in the room, 37:53 things change. 37:55 I heard once 37:58 that we can judge a person's character 38:00 not in the times of prosperity, but the time of adversity. 38:05 That's when we really see what somebody is made of. 38:07 If that wasn't enough verses 11-13, says 38:11 his friends showed up, 38:15 they came over, sat with him for seven days 38:18 and seven nights. 38:21 It was customary, It was customary 38:23 when someone was going through deep guilt 38:26 for your friends to come and support you 38:29 and they couldn't say anything until you spoke first. 38:34 And so Job had gone through so much calamity 38:38 that it took him about week before he could talk. 38:42 And so verse 1 in chapter 3 says, 38:44 and then Job open his mouth and he does what? 38:48 Curses the day he was born. 38:50 You know, we love to quote Job, 38:53 when things are going wrong. 38:56 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, 39:03 skin worms destroy this body, 39:06 yet in my flesh shall I see the Lord. 39:08 The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away 39:12 but we forget about the fact 39:14 that Job was a human being just like you and I. 39:19 He had no strength, 39:21 this is not fun, this is not pleasant, 39:24 this is painful and I don't had anything to say 39:29 at this moment except I wished I had never been born. 39:32 Ever anybody ever felt like that? 39:35 You wished you have never been born. 39:40 If you haven't, there will come an experience 39:42 when you're going to get there. 39:45 Because the breaking process is for anyone, 39:48 who has decided to follow Christ. 39:50 If that wasn't enough, when his friends finally spoke, 39:53 look at chapter 4:8, his friend Eliphaz says, 39:57 my experience shows me that those who plant trouble 40:01 and cultivate evil, will harvest the same, 40:04 that's what his friend told. 40:06 In chapter 8:3 and 4, his friend Bildad says, 40:10 does the almighty twists what is right, 40:12 your children obviously sinned against him 40:15 so their punishment was well deserved. 40:18 This is the man who just lost 10 kids, 40:21 and this is his best friend talking to him, 40:22 supposingly consoling him. 40:28 Look at his friend Zophar, chapter 11:6, 40:31 God is doubtless punishing you far less, than you deserve. 40:40 With friends like this. 40:45 If you know anybody like this, keep them away from me, 40:51 just keep them away. 40:56 They did better by just being quiet. 41:00 If you don't know what to say, don't say anything at all. 41:05 But notice the progression of Job's calamities, 41:08 Job's trail, Job's breaking process. 41:12 First of all, first of all, they took his possession, 41:15 they took his family, they took his health, 41:18 they took his wife's support, hey took his friend's support, 41:22 what does he have left? 41:28 There is only one thing left, that's God. 41:34 That is the objective of the breaking process, 41:38 to strip you of everything you hold dear, 41:42 everything you depend on, 41:45 until you get to the place where you got nothing left 41:49 but God. 41:52 If when you reach that point, 41:55 then God can really do something for you. 41:59 You need to understand, when we follow Christ, 42:02 we give Him permission to choose 42:05 how He's going to break us. 42:09 Tell me what I just said. 42:12 When we follow Christ, 42:13 we give Him permission to do what? 42:16 Choose how He's going to break us. 42:20 We can't, we can't determine for God 42:23 how to handle us, 42:25 because we can't see what's in us. 42:29 And so we would let ourselves off easily. 42:33 And wild up missing something that needs to come out of us, 42:38 and so we got to trust Him 42:40 enough to turn everything over to Him. 42:45 Breaking is not pleasant, it's painful, 42:48 yet it's necessary in order to save us. 42:51 Sometimes we see the breaking process as a punishment. 42:58 How many times? 43:00 How many times have we been 43:03 in the midnight of circumstances? 43:06 And we believe we're there, because we did something wrong. 43:12 And we forget that 43:13 what's really going on is God is bragging on us. 43:17 Have you considered my servant? 43:22 Have we not considered that there is a big difference 43:26 between punishment and chastisement? 43:31 Look here, look here in Hebrews, 43:32 I want you to see something here in Hebrews, 43:35 Hebrews 12:6. 43:37 Go there with me quickly, Hebrews 12:6. 43:43 Trying to help my folk today, 43:46 Hebrews 12: 6. 43:52 Notice what the word of God says here, 43:55 "For whom the Lord loveth, he does what? 44:00 Chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receives." 44:12 I love Donna. 44:15 Yeah, I'm going somewhere already, don't you? 44:17 I love Donna and I watch her as she raised our children. 44:27 Donna had an approach to chastising our children, 44:31 that was little different from mine. 44:36 When the children did something wrong, 44:38 Donna would bring them in and sit down with them, 44:41 and explain Jesus is not pleased. 44:47 You hurt His heart. 44:53 He is wounded by your behavior. 44:58 And so I have no choice, but to spank you. 45:06 Because you're not living the way 45:07 the Lord would have you to. 45:12 I'll be in the next room, listening to this. 45:19 Thinking to myself, why don't you beat them. 45:25 That's just gonna antagonize the children, 45:28 beat them. 45:30 Don't give them a sermon first, that's gonna make them angry. 45:38 And so when it came my turn to deal with them, 45:42 I saw something different 45:43 after Donna had dealt with them, 45:45 they coming all back to her, not more than a hour later, 45:48 hugging her neck to, mommy, I love you, 45:51 I really love you, I whip them 45:54 and they don't talk to me the rest of the day... 46:01 because I took the shortcut. 46:05 I didn't prolong on their misery. 46:07 I didn't give my sermon and let them know 46:09 they were about to get spanked. 46:11 I got to it. 46:13 And they shunned me, but they loved her. 46:20 Whom the Lord loveth, He chastises. 46:23 I recognize now, 46:25 that they translated my form of discipline 46:28 as punishment and hers as chastisement. 46:34 See, punishment flows out of wrath, 46:37 but chastisement flows out of love. 46:41 There is a difference between the two. 46:43 God's method of disciplining us is when we try to go one way, 46:50 and he pushes us back in place. 46:53 That's disciplining us. 46:57 And they got that, that's how God deals with that, 47:01 that's why we got to get 47:02 a proper prospective of who God is. 47:06 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, 47:08 He won't put more on us than we can bear. 47:15 We got to trust Him with that. 47:17 I shared with the folk on Wednesday night, 47:19 that the reason why God has the right, 47:23 He has the right to discipline us 47:26 is because He's sovereign. 47:29 What does sovereign mean? 47:31 He has the right to rule, and to do what's best for me. 47:36 There are two dimensions of His sovereignty. 47:39 The first one is existential. 47:41 It's found in Exodus 20:11. 47:44 Six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, 47:47 the sea, and all that in it, but the... 47:52 is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. 47:55 He is the creator. He is the creator. 48:00 That's His existential role. He has the right. 48:04 He has the right to chastise us any way He chooses. 48:12 The other one is experiential. 48:13 For God so loved the world, 48:15 John 3:16, that He gave his only begotten Son. 48:20 He is also our redeemer. He is our creator, 48:25 and our redeemer, and so He has the right because 48:28 we're doubling his to put us in a breaking process 48:34 that will do its best 48:35 to get us save in our scripture reading today. 48:39 Job said in Job 23, he says, 48:41 He knows the way that I take and when I shall come forth, 48:45 I'll come forth how? As gold. 48:49 As gold, in Job's days there was a kind of gold 48:53 that was very valuable, it came from the city of Ophir. 48:57 And the Ophir goldsmiths were known 49:00 because of their process for gold's melting. 49:02 What they would do 49:04 is in order to get the impurities 49:06 out of the gold ore, they would, 49:08 first of all put it on low heat. 49:12 And skim off some of the surface impurities. 49:16 Then they would turn it up little more, 49:18 and then they get the next level of impurities. 49:22 And they were pulling after the hardcore stuff, 49:25 they would turn it up to the highest temperature possible 49:28 and then take all the dross out of it, 49:30 so that they came up with pure gold. 49:33 And when the gold was cool, they would take a hammer 49:37 and they would beat plates of gold 49:40 so thinly that they could be see they can see 49:43 their own image in the gold plates. 49:48 It was their desire 49:51 to make sure that the gold was so pure 49:54 that when they looked in it, 49:55 they can see a pure image of themselves. 50:00 And so Job says, he knows the way that I take it 50:03 that when he strike me out come forth as pure gold. 50:07 He understood that he wasn't want to take 50:10 the best things out of him all at once, 50:13 he was going to deal with him gradually, 50:15 as he was able and when the process was over, 50:19 he wanted to be able to see the reflection of Christ 50:24 in the gold. 50:25 I want to look at this last part of promise, 50:28 Job 42, Job 42. 50:33 Let's look at this last part, Job 42. 50:40 I want to consider verses 10-12, Job 42:10-12. 50:49 I am fascinated by the life of Job, 50:53 because it challenges me as a Christian. 50:58 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, 51:00 when he prayed for his friends. 51:02 Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 51:06 "Then came there unto him all his brethren, 51:08 all his sisters, all they that had been 51:10 of his acquaintances before, 51:12 did eat bread with him in his house. 51:14 They bemoaned him, and comforted him over 51:16 all the evil that the Lord had brought unto him: 51:17 every man also gave him a piece of money, 51:20 and every one an earring of gold. 51:22 So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job 51:25 more than his beginning: 51:29 for he had fourteen thousand sheep, 51:31 and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen 51:34 and a thousand she asses. 51:38 "It's my last and final point. 51:41 When we follow Christ, 51:43 we give Him permission to bless us better than 51:49 we were before. 51:54 We give Him permission to bless us better 51:58 than we were before. 51:59 Charles Stanley once said, 52:03 "Brokenness can be a path toward great blessing, 52:08 but only when we allow God 52:10 to do the breaking and the blessing." 52:14 Job's possession went up. 52:17 He even got a new family of 10 children 52:19 and guess what? 52:22 He got them with Mrs. Job. 52:27 Listen to me, even though 52:29 she wasn't there at his time of need, 52:33 even though she wouldn't standby him 52:35 when he needed the most comfortest support, 52:38 Job stayed there, 52:40 he didn't leave the relationship 52:42 when it got hacked. 52:48 It was because of his example that she was able to see 52:54 what God really needed in a man, 52:58 in a believer to stay though the heavens fall. 53:01 And it was because of his example that she did not 53:04 leave him. 53:05 Remember now, that there are some commentators 53:08 that summarize that when Job was on his back sick, 53:12 one of the reasons why it was so despicable and heinous 53:15 was because it was believed that 53:17 he had some sort of a neural disease, 53:20 and yet he was tell her how he had been with nobody. 53:24 I've only been with you. 53:28 And she stayed because beyond his sickness 53:34 she knew the life that he had earlier. 53:36 She knew, he had to be telling her the truth 53:39 and so his example kept her home, 53:41 they had ten more children. 53:45 They were five blessings, I am gonna end with this. 53:48 Five blessings that come to us. 53:50 Common musicians as a result of being broken. 53:52 The first one is this. 53:54 It's the blessing of understanding God better. 53:59 The blessing of understanding God better. 54:02 We get an opportunity to enter into His sufferings. 54:06 We get an opportunity to understand first hand 54:11 what God went through to try to save us. 54:14 See, He never asks us to do anything 54:16 that He has it already done Himself. 54:21 Come with me to the God, see Him on his knees, 54:25 broken by the conflict, sweating as it were 54:28 great drops of blood, see Him fall over, 54:32 watch his dribbling hands say, 54:33 father, if father would be willing, 54:36 remove this cup from me, until he comes 54:39 full circle with the word. 54:41 Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. 54:47 We get the blessing of understanding 54:49 a little bit better. 54:51 What the breaking process is through His suffering. 54:54 Secondly, we get the blessing of greater faith. 54:59 The blessing of greater faith. 55:01 You got to understand something, 55:03 our understanding is limited. 55:05 At some point when we in the breaking process, 55:08 our understanding is going to run out. 55:11 And we're not going to be able to make sense out of anything 55:14 that's going on around us. 55:16 And it's in that moment in that synapse of time 55:20 when our understanding ends, that faith has to begin. 55:25 We got to trust Him even when we can't trace Him. 55:28 Even though we don't understand what He's doing to us, 55:32 we still need a believe that He's doing something for us. 55:35 For all things work together for good, 55:39 to them that love the Lord, 55:40 and are called according to his purpose. 55:42 The third blessing 55:44 we get is that of increase compassion. 55:47 Increase compassion. 55:50 Maybe now we'll be a little bit 55:51 more understanding of one another. 55:54 When we see our brother, 55:56 and we see our sister going through something, 55:59 instead of criticizing them, instead of talking about them, 56:03 instead of sharing gossip about them, 56:05 instead I'm looking down our noses at them. 56:08 Perhaps, will understand better what it is to walk 56:11 the walk like they are walking, to cry like they are crying. 56:15 It will help us to become more passionate 56:17 to our brothers and our sisters. 56:19 The fourth blessing is the blessing 56:21 of a more fulfilled life. 56:25 A more fulfilled life. 56:29 You think things are good now. 56:34 You got no idea I have not seen nor hear or heard. 56:39 Neither had entered into the heart of men, 56:42 the things that God has prepared for... 56:46 If you can describe to me what heaven is like, 56:50 I automatically know that that's not what it's like. 56:55 Because it can't enter into our human comprehension 57:00 what's really prepared for us. And finally, 57:05 there's the blessing of God's presence. 57:13 He's never gonna leave us. 57:16 He's never going to forsake us. |
Revised 2016-05-09