God, Satan, and Job

Welcome to Cross Church. My name is Tyler and I serve as campus pastor right here at Cross Church Elmarrage. And I want to welcome you to service today. Before we get started, I want to make you aware of a couple of ways that you can connect with us today. The first, if you have a phone with you, you can send a text message. the word crossurch, no space to the number 9400. Or if you'd like to use the cards that are in the seat back in front of you, we've got three cards that'll direct you on ways that you can connect with us. The first is the new card. If you're new to Cross Church over the last few weeks, we would love to connect with you. Take some time to fill out that card during our service today and drop it in one of the black boxes and then we'll follow up with you this week with some more information. The next card is the next card. Take some time to use that card if you're interested in taking next steps in your faith journey. Things like baptism, joining a group, or even serving. And then lastly, and I believe most importantly, is the prayer card. And I want to guarantee you that if you take time today to fill out that prayer card, all of those come to me. I get to pray over each of them individually. So, if you've got things big or small going on in your life, please feel free to share those with us. We'd be happy to pray over them. As we get prepared for some God-honoring worship, I want to encourage you to go into service today with an expectant I know that God will do big things in our midst. And so I want to encourage you to enter this time with an expected spirit. Let's get prepared for some God church. Let's stand to worship. the day you make. So I rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad. But I believe you are more than enough. More than enough for me. You are faithful to your strong. I have everything. Joy of the Lord. Joy of the Lord [music] is my strength. The joy [music] of the Lord, The Joy [singing] of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul, bless his name. All that is to make me sing. The joy of the Lord, the joy [music] of the Lord is my strength. Jesus, you are worthy of worthy of all my praise. You are to your standing in your presence. I have everything I do. The joy of [music and singing] the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my soul. Oh my. My soul bless [music] his name. All that is with me. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my soul. Rise up like a river overflowing. [music and singing] Holy Spirit, let [singing and music] it pour out with no living overflowing. [music] Holy Spirit, let it rise up like a river overflowing. Holy Spirit, let it pour [music] out with no limiting overflowing. Holy Spirit. [music] Oh. [music] [music] [singing] The joy of [music] the Lord. The joy of the Lord is. The joy of [music] the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul, oh my soul, bless his name. [music] All that is within me. Oh my soul, bless his name. All [music] that is me say. Oh my soul, bless his name. [music and singing] All that is within me say the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Who thought I'd find you in the crowd? Knew you'd make my mistakes. You're like, you're better. What a god. What a god. What a god. [music and singing] to God. I thought you'd show for affection cuz what kind of looks for the lost [singing and music] sinner. But you say, "No, it's not." [singing and music] No, it's not. When you say, "No, it's not. No, it's not." What a God. What a God. What a God. What [music] a God. Oh, what a God. What a God. Oh, it's who you are. What a God. [music and singing] What a God. The highest place I reached is at your feet. Then I've done it all. The best thing that I've seen is your glory. Then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever. Sisfied [music] God. You [singing] are my everything. >> If the highest place I reach is at [music and singing] your feet, then I've done it all. The blessing I love singing is your [music] glory. Then I seen it all. Your love has changed my [music] life. Forever satisfied. God, you are my [music and singing] everything. One word is the only thing you speak. Then I heard it all. If I feel your heart [music] and never see your head, I still have it all. No treasure of this [music] life could ever [singing] satisfy me. You [music] are my everything. God, you are [music and singing] my everything. You are my [music] What a God. What a God. [music] What a God. What a God. Would it God would God [music] [music] the highest and the highest place I reaches at your feet? Then I've done it all. If the person that I've seen [music] is your [singing] glory, then I've seen it all. Your love is ever alive forever satisfied. [music and singing] God, you are my [music] one and only I. [music] No treasures of my life could ever [music] satisfy God. You [singing] are my everything. You are [music] my everything. [music] You are my everything. You are my [music] everything. God, you are my [singing and music] everything. God, you [singing and music] are my everything. God, you [singing] are my everything. >> Amen. You can go ahead and grab a seat. As you do so, we're going to enter into a time of prayer. Uh we'll spend our focus here in book of Psalm chapter 66. Um as you tune your attention to Psalm 66, we're starting today a brand new series preaching through [music] uh book of the Bible called Job. And it's this book of the Bible that addresses what happens when things go from really good to really bad. And it addresses all of the things of life, the difficulties, the struggle, the all of the things of life. And as a matter of fact, Psalm 66 is going to speak exactly to that. So, I'll read these verses aloud and they'll be on the screen for you. Let's read in Psalm 66, beginning verse 10. It says this, "For you, God, tested us. You refined us as silver is refined. You lured us into a trap. You placed burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads. And we went through fire and water. But you brought us out to abundance. As we step into this time of prayer, the first thing that we're going to draw our attention to is what's found in these first few words. God tested us. You refined us as silver is refined. And this first prayer prompt is going to focus on that idea of things being refined. As we think about our lives, there's so many things that could and should be refined in order for us to be a better reflection of Christ in us. And so the first prayer prompt that we're going to work through is thank you God for refining blank in me. Some of us may be praying that God would refine something in us. Some of us are praying that God has already refined something and we're simply thanking him for that. But let's pray through that prom. Thank you God for refining blank in me. As we continue to pray through this section, one of the things that we find that connects Psalm 66 to Job 1, where we'll spend our time today preaching, [music] is the reality that life involves difficult seasons. Inherently, one of the things that we find is there are difficult seasons in our life. And it's important that we understand what that looks like. The psalmist here in Psalm 66 writes about a difficult season. Being lured into a trap, ultimately going through fire and water is a reality of a difficult season. So in this, I'm going to ask you to pray through this prayer prompt. God, bring blank through this season. that some of us are going to be as we work through that praying for ourselves simply asking God to bring us through the season that we're facing. Some of us are going to have uh maybe a family member, a friend, a co-orker, someone's going to come to our attention. And let's pray now by name for people that God would bring them through the season that they're facing. Let's pray through that now. final prompt we'll spend time praying through is connected to that last sentence. [music] You brought us out to abundance. Ultimately, the reality is that the psalmist writes and is true of Job's story is that God brings us through seasons into new ones. And ultimately in this prayer prompt, we're going to pray through this concept of asking God to bring us into something else. And the prayer prompt for today is God bring us into blank for your name's sake. Some of us are asking that God would bring us into a season of peace, of security, uh out of a season of fear or anxiety or whatever the case may be. Let's pray individually through that now. God bring us into blank for your name's sake. God, as we come before you today, we simply ask that you would help us as a people to be refined more and more into your image daily, God. That you would bring us through difficult seasons, that ultimately that you would bring us into seasons of fruitfulness in order that the kingdom would advance for your name's sake. God, we pray today that you would move powerfully in our time and that ultimately as a result of what we pray through and what we study, you would shape us into your image. God, we pray all this in your name. Amen. Let's stand as we continue in worship. Are you great? [music] Oh, sure. Prince of Peace Manuel [music] here with me. Your name [music] is great and greatly [music and singing] to be praised. Your name is great and great to be praised. [music] I am lives in [music] my prince of [music] peace and you will here with me. [music] Your name is great and great to be praised. Your name is great and great to be praised. [music] Your name is great and [music] craving to be praised. Your name is great and craving [music] to be [singing] praised. Worthy [music] are worthy. You are worthy. You will be forever. Worthy you are worthy. Worthy [singing] you are. Worthy you will be forever [music and singing] Yahe. Worthy you are. Worthy you are. Worthy you will be forever. Yah. Worthy you were. Worthy [music] you are. Worthy. You will be forever. Yah. [music] Worthy you were. Worthy [singing] you are. Worthy [music] you will be forever Yahe. Worthy you [music] are. Worthy you are [singing] worthy. You will be forever [music] y is great and great to [music] be praise. Your name is great and great to be praise. Your name is great and great to be praise. your praise and rey. Worthy you are. Worthy you [music] will be forever. Worthy you are. Worthy you [music] are worthy. You will be forever. Yah. Worthy. You were worthy. You are worthy. You [music] will be forever. [singing] Yah. Worthy. You were worthy. You are worthy. You will be forever. Yah. Forever [music] [music] of praise are worthy. Worthy Lord. Worthy [music] you are. Worthy you are. Worthy you will be forever [singing] your way. [music] Worthy you are. Worthy you are. Worthy. You will be forever your [music] way. You are worthy. You are worthy. You [music] will be forever your way. Worthy. You are worthy. You are worthy. You will be forever. Good morning, Cross Church. >> There you go. That's a good one. Hi, my name is Blue and I have a prop today. Let's hope I don't trip over it. Uh because that probably will happen. Uh so, as you can see, a lot of the church staff and leadership are wearing jerseys. This is our kickoff week. And as you can see, mine is not necessarily a football jersey. It's Star Wars. So, that shows you what kind of nerd I am, right? I actually have football stuff. So, I improvised. So, what we're going to talk about is our announcements today. We're going to start off with our cards. So, you can see in the seat back uh of your chair there that there are three cards. The first card we're going to talk about is the new card. So, if you're new here at Cross Church, or maybe this is your second or third time and you haven't filled one of these out yet, we ask that you fill this out so somebody in the church staff and leadership can reach out to you and see how we can help and serve you. The second card is the the next card. So, if you're ready to take that next step in your faith or uh maybe want to get connected here at Cross Church and serve, you can fill out the next card and then one of us will reach out to you and see how we can help you get more involved and take that next step. The third card, but not the last card, is our prayer card. So, here at Cross Church, we want to be known as a prayerful church. Okay? So, we ask that you fill these out so that we can help you and pray with you with whatever uh struggles or might have going on. And I know for a fact that Pastor Tyler prays over each and every one of these cards, okay? So that uh we can help you in prayer. So with that said, you can see here I have an ice chest and uh we are giving away this ice chest today. So everybody who fills out a card can win an ice chest or win this ice chest. Okay? Not a ice chest because that'd be kind of cool, right? Everybody, it'd be like Oprah, right? You get one, you get one, everybody gets one. Right? Uh that's not what we're doing exactly. So to start that off, we'll start with our announcements. First announcements is our small groups are starting this week, right? They start today. Yeah. So if you haven't started or signed up for one, what a great way to get entered into the ice chest, right? fill out the next card, tell us [music] that you are interested in getting into a Bible study group, a small group, and we will reach out to you. We'll introduce you to the leaders of those groups, and you can see which one fits your schedule so you can get involved, and then you get a chance to win this kawaii chest. Okay? Uh with our small groups, we actually have our women's group, all right, that if you're not registered for, you can get online and register for that. That starts tomorrow night. Okay. So, uh there's that. Yeah, absolutely. get involved. Uh next we have our youth group. So if you have a student who's in the sixth grade to 12th grade and you want them to get involved with church and uh get involved with that youth activity that starts this Wednesday on the 16th. Okay. So get involved. It's a great way to build our kids up [music] in their faith. Okay. Next and the last announcement we have is our pizza with the pastor. That's going to be on September 20th. And this is a great opportunity. That's right after second service for you to get to learn about Cross Church Elmarrage, right? Uh Pastor Tyler has this notebook full of all the pictures when this uh site was built and has a lot of history. It's kind of cool. And then you get to learn more about Cross Church, how to become a member, and some of the ministries and activities you can get involved with. So, uh if you haven't been to that yet, it's a great uh great opportunity for you to get some pizza. You can't go wrong there and listen to Pastor Tyler talk for a little bit. So, it's a trade-off, right? you get pizza. [laughter] So, uh lastly, we want to talk about giving, right? None of the stuff that we do here at Cross Church Elmarrage is uh we could do that without the generosity of of you. So, if uh you are giving, we thank you for that. We ask you to use this time to prayerfully thank the Lord and use that money in his way to glorify Jesus in Elmarrage. And if you're not, we're going to give you opportunity to do that now. So, if you look on the screen, there's a QR code. You can get on there and scan the QR code and start giving. Even if it's a onetime gift, that would be awesome. Right. So, we're going to give you 30 seconds to [music] do that now. Thank you. Well, good morning and welcome to Cross Church Elmarrage. My name is Tyler going to serve as location pastor here and we are so glad that you joined us today. Uh if you got a Bible today, we are going to use it. So you can go ahead and open that thing up. We'll be in Job chapter 1. I'll let you kind of flip there, click there, and make your way there. Uh, it is an exciting time. Lots of good stuff going on. And this sermon series is one of those exciting things. This is one of those books, I got to be honest with you. If you're joining us for the first time or the first time in a long time, isn't the one that's going to feel like a fairy tale that you're like, "Oh, I feel so nice after studying this book." However, here's what I love about our study through the book of Job that we're getting ready to start. It's about real life. Those of us in the room today understand that life isn't always sunshine and rainbows. Amen. >> Life involves stuff. And Job actually teaches us so much about how to walk through those things with grace and ultimately to honor God as we walk through those things. So Job chapter 1 is where we'll find ourselves today. As I was thinking about this series and preaching through this message, I was reminded of a conversation that I had about four or five months ago. Um, I was at the splash pad um with my kids. Not just any kids, my kids. It's very important distinction. Um, and my friend and his kids and we were there. We're hanging out. It was a great time. And our kids are playing and we ended up meeting another dad there and we struck up a conversation. We ended up talking about golf um because that's my new hobby. So, I started talking about it. It's great conversation. Here's what happened. As we're talking, the new guy that we had met there at uh the Splashpad begins to tell us for about five or six minutes about how you can actually go to garage sales and buy things like golf items very cheap. And not only can you buy them very cheap, but you can actually turn around and sell them and make a significant amount of money that people actually look for that stuff. He said, "I don't know if you guys know about this concept. It's called reselling." What happened during this conversation is I laughed so hard internally after this new guy that we had met for about five or six minutes spent this whole time telling the story about reselling. He didn't know that my friend does this and is actually like an expert in the industry. Like that's his thing is going to garage sales and the whole nine. And so I'm laughing this whole time and it reminded me you never know who you're talking to. you absolutely never know who you're talking to. Uh, in a humorous way, you may never know that you're talking to someone who does what you're talking about. But at a deeper level, you may also never know what someone's walking through that you're talking to. You may never know that the battles they're facing, the struggles, or whatever the case is. And ultimately, that reminds us as we get into Job chapter 1 that Job, while he may have seemed okay on the surface, was walking through this difficult season. So, if you'll open your Bibles with me, Job chapter 1. I'm going to read just a few verses here and kind of talk through this um to be efficient with our time. So, if you'll join me, Job chapter 1, beginning of verse one, says this. There was a man in the country of ooze named Job. He was a man of complete integrity who feared God and turned away from evil. In verse two, he had seven sons and three daughters. Uh as we get introduced to this guy named Job, we're going to see that there's three main characters in our study. We have God, who's important, obviously. Um God is an important figure in this story. Satan is an important figure in this story. And the third key character in this story is >> Job. You guys are on it today. I love it. So, we have God, Satan, and Job. The three kind of main characters for our story. Now, we'll see Job's friends step in. And we'll see some different people. We see Job's family here, but God, Satan, and Job make up the three big characters in our story. In verse one, we are introduced to Job. And what's mentioned about him after his country of origin is that he is a man of complete integrity. How incredible must his integrity have been that after introducing him by name, it is mentioned that he is a man of complete integrity directly after. It must have been a central part to his story. And so we get introduced to Job. And then down in verse eight, we begin to find out what's actually happening in the story. The plot thickens, if you will. In verse eight, here's what we see. Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? No one on else, no one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity." So we see that Job has integrity. But here in verse eight, God offers up Job to Satan to be tempted and or tested. And it mentions here that God calls him a man of perfect integrity. This reputation, if you will, is incredible. And so, we have verse one that introduces us to the concept. And then in verse eight, as the plot thickens, God is offering up Job to be tested. Job is put forth as someone who will be able to stand the test. In verse 12, what we find is actually this phrase that's an important sort of highlight circle underline moment for us. In verse 12, very well the Lord told Satan, everything he owns is in your power. However, do not lay a hand on Job himself. So, Satan left the Lord's presence. Let me remind you of something that's another central piece to this story. One of the central pieces to this story is the understanding that while Satan is doing all of this, it is because God has given him permission to test or try Job. You see, it's a reminder to us that God is still on his throne. God is on his throne. And in this moment, he gives Satan the temporary permission to take Job's possessions, but not to take his life. Here's what happens from Job 13-20. Death. Literally just death. Bad things happen in verses 13- 20. It it's Job's family that gets completely taken from him in just a matter of seven verses. And Job's reaction is found here in verse 21. He falls to the ground and worships saying, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." I don't know if I could just talk you through this, but what a reaction for Job. He goes from having everything, and as a matter of fact, in verses 3-6, it's mentioned all of the things in his estate. He was well off, had the family, had everything. He loses it. And his reaction is to praise God. This is what some of us here today would refer to as an extremist. Someone who avoids reality. That doesn't make sense. But the story continues. Chapter 2:es 1-8. Job gets afflicted with a physical illness that significantly impacts his life. And in verse 9, he says this or his wife says this. Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die. His wife just speaks honestly in this moment that your integrity is worth nothing. But in verse 10, Job speaks says, "You speak as a foolish woman speaks, which is not marriage advice." So just know that, okay? Skip over. Don't recommend it. But it continues. He says, "You speak as a foolish woman speaks." He told her, "Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?" Highlight circle underlined. Throughout all this, Job did not sin in what he said. As we walk through this text, we find such depth to Job's story. Let's pray as we get ready to jump in today. God, we come before you asking the same two things that we consistently ask. First, that you would give us the wisdom to understand these words that as we study the story of Job today, God, that we would understand what it is that you have to say to us. But also, God, we pray that you would give us the courage and conviction to take what we learn in this passage and to begin to live it out today. God, we pray all of this in your name. Amen. Well, it's with that in mind that we'll walk into our key thought for today that will guide us through this text. And it's this idea that Job's faith had a strong foundation and a clear focus. A strong foundation and a clear focus. As Job walks through this situation or season, if you will, we find very clearly that he had a strong foundation and a clear focus. Four things that that teaches us as we walk through this text. Number one is this that Job had a type of faith that created a reputation. It created a reputation. As a matter of fact, in Job 1:1 in verse 12 and then in ver chapter 2:9, it's mentioned multiple times, Job had integrity. He had integrity. Now, I don't know about you, but one of the things I see as an epidemic of our culture today that's far too common is not people that would have what God mentions about Job here of perfect integrity, but I find that so many people have what's called situational integrity. And here's what situational integrity looks like. I have integrity and I do what I say I will do and I don't cheat the rules that I have. But then I get into a certain situation and I give myself a pass. I get into a certain season and I say, "Ah, in this season that'll be okay." Or we find ourselves in different moments and we lose integrity. It's mentioned here that Job has perfect integrity. Even as he's driving down Bell Road this week, he has perfect integrity. Some of you know, right? Those of you that laugh know. All right. It's battle. All right. The license plate colors are changing. It's It's time. Here's the thing. Job has perfect integrity. And he had a type of faith that created a reputation. It was central to who he was. It was how he handled things. It was what he said. It was what he did. And he had a reputation. It's not uncommon to the same thing that Jesus had. You see, Jesus had a reputation, too. One of the things that was important about his reputation that got him put on the cross is that he ate and drank with sinners and publicans. Jesus had a reputation and it was important to who he was. And so the question for us today that you might write in the margins, albeit small margins of your notes today, what is my reputation? If someone looked at you today and said, "That's your reputation." What would it be? Would they come to you and they would say, "Man, that guy Tyler, he was nice. He told a few jokes, but that was about it." Or would they say about that guy Tyler, "You know what? He had some good ideas, but ah, that thing wasn't so so smart." Check this out. The question is, what is our reputation? Would we be people like Job whose reputation was full of integrity? Second thing I want you to see as we continue walking through this that we are taught from this passage is we are taught that Job had a strong foundation. Job had a strong foundation. It's interesting. He had a strong foundation and that foundation allowed him to walk through this season. I don't know about you guys, but um this strong foundation is really important to me. Um it's important because of a multitude of reasons. As we look at this story, we see that Job's foundation for faith wasn't laid overnight. It was built intentionally through time. And that's why one of the my favorite things that happens at this church is that every single Sunday we have a bunch of kids running around. And I am so thankful for that because I know that the next generation is being shaped in their faith right here at Cross Church. I'll tell you exactly one way that it happened in my house this week. My son, um, who's four, who is hilarious, and you never know what he's going to say, um, said something this past week that just made me laugh, but also get really, really proud. Um, he goes to a preschool two days a week and he's learning and having a blast. And, um, after preschool this week, he was asked, "Did you get in trouble today?" 99% of the time, the answer is no. He's a great kid, never any issues. His instant reaction this week on Thursday when asked, "Oh, did you get in trouble today?" was, "Is Jesus always watching?" Which answered the question without answering the question? [laughter and gasps] And he proceeded to tell the story of how he got in a little bit of trouble. It was no big deal. But he knew because of what he's been taught here at this location that what happens in life, Jesus is watching. He knows this. his faith is already being formed. And it's important that we understand that this builds a strong foundation. That's why investing in the next generation will always be a part of who we are at Cross Church. But one of the other things that I think is an important thing, and I've realized that I say this somewhat repetitively, and I would apologize for it if I felt like I was wrong, but the only thing I can be led to believe after talking about stuff like this consistently is that we ought to build a strong foundation in our lives. And that as people, one of the best things that we can do to build a strong foundation is to read our Bibles. And if you've been here any number of weeks, you'll say, "Well, pastor, you say that every single week." And I do, and I mean it. And my best hope for you and I is not that you come here and you hear a funny story or even an inspiring message. My biggest hope for us today is that as we walk away, we would as a group collectively walk away with a commitment to study the Bible. As a matter of fact, one of the things that I think is just incredible is the reminder that the answers to what we need to grow in our faith are not hidden from us. It is not complicated. It is found right here. My best encouragement to you if you want to grow in your faith is to spend time studying the Bible and allow God's Holy Spirit to work in your life. And ultimately, what that will do is build a strong foundation in our lives. Third thing you'll see as you continue to walk through this story is that Job didn't let fires rattle him. He didn't let fires rattle him. Now, the reason I believe Job didn't let fires in life rattle him is that he had a strong foundation. That his faith was settled and strong so that when difficult moments come, he didn't ask, "Do I really want to do this God thing?" He wasn't waiting until Sunday morning to decide if he wanted to be a part of a church. He had already made the commitment and he was invested and engaged. Job had a strong foundation of faith and that led to him not being rattled by the fires of life. You see, he faces some pretty big issues both physical and in his family. And it's his wife who asked the question that I think all of us would be asking in this moment. Are you still holding on to your integrity? This is the reality that honestly I am asking myself as I've walked through the book of Job. This is the question that I ask myself consistently. You may be here too. Do I have this much integrity? If I faced these fires, would I be rattled? Could I withstand the difficulty of this moment? I don't know the answer because I haven't faced this type of fire. But my heart and prayer is that I would be the type of person like Job that faces the fire and just never gets rattled because the issue of faith has been settled in my life. I have the strong foundation. I've decided that I'm following God no matter what. So when the circumstances change in my life, the answer to my faith doesn't change either. That I am committed. This time of year, you'll see something um that epitomizes this. It's called a fair weather fan, which means someone who is a fan of a sports team or a thing when it's easy to be. That's what we as Cardinals fans are. We are fairweather fans because we're fans until they lose, which will happen in a couple of hours. Okay? So, we'll pray for them unfortunately. Or you have a college team you're a fan of and they lose in week two and you decide the season's over and it's done, right? Uh fair weather fans are fans until things get difficult. They are not loyal. They are not consistent. And as such, it is a great reminder to us that spiritually we can be fair weather fans who say, "Yes, I'm on team Jesus." when we're at church camp, who say, "Yes, I'm on team Jesus." when things are going well, when we're at church on Sundays. But when Monday afternoon comes and the bills are short and we have to decide if we're going to be generous and faithful to what God has called us to or if we're going to decide to take a little bit back, that's when a fair weather fan says no. But a job type follower of Christ who isn't rattled by the fires is the same follower of Christ on Sunday that they are on Monday and Tuesday and even on Saturday. My prayer is that we would be the type of people that are not rattled by the fire, but people who consistently worship no matter the moment that when we face difficult moments would echo the same sentiment that Job gets to. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job's honesty cuts through the tension in this passage when speaking to his wife in verse 10 of chapter 2. He says, "Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?" To simply say what we have referenced here as if this understanding that God is a genie in a bottle that's there just to grant every wish that we have is not the truth. He says it is deeper than that. We also accept the adversity understanding that God is doing a work in us. As he faces physical and family issues, Job continues to trust God. And what that reveals to us is the fourth principle that Job had a clear focus on God. Job had a clear focus on God. As a matter of fact, I thought through in scripture a few different places where we see this concept of someone having a clear or not so clear focus on God. One of those issues is thinking about the concept of David in his battle against Goliath. The big understanding there is that David beats Goliath. But the deeper meaning is that God in David defeats Goliath. And in that moment, the reminder is that David isn't afraid because his focus is on God. We think about someone like Daniel who sits in the lion's den for being not rattled in his faith. When the fires come, he's solid. He knows what he believes. And so, we think about somebody like Daniel in the lion's den. He had a clear focus on God and not on the other people that were distracting him. Not any of the other people that were trying to get him to lose focus. He stayed focused on God. Esther, as she approaches the king, has a clear focus on what God has asked her to do. Nehemiah, as he approached the king to rebuild the city, is focused on God. We find so many examples in scripture of people that are focused on God and that allow that to be the thing that guides them. Think about it this way. It's even Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane who is focused on God. Jesus is is praying and he prays this famous little prayer saying if there is any way for this cup to pass let it pass. He says nevertheless not my will but your will be done. You see, it is Jesus saying, "I do not want to do this, but God, I am focused on you and I trust in you." And what ultimately I think that reminds us is that a clear focus on God will lead us to the place that we ultimately should be. But here's the truth. There's plenty of times where we see examples of people that lose focus on God and miss what God has for them. You see, think about Job in this story. If in real time, Job knew what was right and had a moment here where he decided, "I'm good." If, as his wife said to him, "Are you still thinking about your integrity? Curse God and die." He said, "Okay." This goes away. the story goes away. He must remain focused on God no matter what. And for us, the principle and reminder is this, that Job had a clear focus on God. And that ultimately that allowed him to go and do what God had for him. As I think about us as a church, here's where the rubber meets the road. It really becomes this concept of how we can remain focused on God. It becomes this thing called a key practice. And our key practice for our time together today is this. That we should create a strong foundation for our faith and maintain a clear focus on God. Now, here's what I want you to see about this. If you're only going to understand one thing from our time together, it's this. You have the answers in scripture to growing in your faith, to life's biggest problems, to figuring out the ins and outs of life. We have the answers. And so it is important that you and I begin to create a practice of not only creating a strong foundation but continuing to build that strong foundation and at the same time maintaining a clear focus on God. My prayer for Cross Church Elmarrage is that you and I would be people that make this commitment to having a strong foundation for us, for those of us in our families and our friends, those of us in in all of our areas of life that we say, man, we want to be people of strong foundation in our faith that are consistently committed that say things like, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." Not based on the circumstances, not based on the diagnosis, not based on the dollars and cents, but that we simply say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." And people that maintain a clear focus on God, that avoid the distractions of daily life and invest everything into where God is leading them. Let's pray. God, we come before you today. And God, we're reminded in a passage like this that when life gets tough, it's easy to fold, break camp, and leave, give up. But God, we know to be true as we read a story like Job's that you are in control and that while we don't always have all pieces to the puzzle. We know you are in control and on your throne. And God, we trust in that truth. God, my prayer today is that as we grow as a church, you would help us to be a people that yield our will to yours, that trust in you, that create strong spiritual foundations, and that remain focused on you no matter what. God, my prayer is that as you create people in our church that are those of strong foundation and clear focus on you, that you would use us powerfully in our city to appoint others to you to continue to have a kingdom impact all for your glory. God, we pray all of this in your name. Amen. Let's stand as we continue in worship. Christ is my firm [music] found the rock on I Everything around me [music] through gen Would he still joy in peace that I won't I not [music] my life on Jesus every day. the world. He want He won't He won't He won't [music] >> [music] >> This is my Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] My name Jesus. [music] So he will [music] be there. [music] came blew my house. [music and singing] I'm [singing] going to make it. Rain came with blue. [singing] My house was built on you and I'll save [singing] with you. I'm going to make it raining rain changing with you. But my house was built on you. I'm save you. I'm [music and singing] going to make it through. Oh, I'm [singing] going to make it through. My house is built on you. Oh, I'm [music] going to make it through. I can't be strong. I'm going to make you standing strong. [music] Christ is my firm foundation. The rock [music] shall stand. Everything around me sh Oh, I've never been. [music] I'll [singing] put my faith in Jesus. His [music] love is faithful to [music] generation. He will now he won't he won't [music and singing] alone. He won't [singing] fail. He won't [singing] fail. He won't You won't. Oh, you won't. You won't. He won't. He won't. You won't you [music] won't you guys for joining us today. You guys have a great week. We'll see you guys next week.