# Job 28

Sermon transcript from Cross Church El Mirage.
Series: Job
Date: November 1, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/el-mirage/episodes/job-28

## Summary

What if the answers to life’s toughest questions are closer than we think? Are we truly seeking wisdom, or just settling for easy answers? Join us as we explore Job 28 and uncover a five-step process for digging deep into our faith. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

Welcome to Crossings. My name's Tyler, 
 and I serve as campus pastor right here 
 at Crossings El Mirage, 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 with the word Crossings no space 
 to the number 940-00. 
 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 get connected this 
 week. The first is the new card. If 
 you're new to Crossings 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 
 some 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, 
 and 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. Hey, as 
 we get prepared for some God-honoring 
 worship, I want to encourage you to go 
 into service today with an expectant 
 spirit. We know that God will do big 
 things in our midst, and so I want to 
 encourage you to enter this time with an 
 expectant spirit. Now, let's get 
 prepared for some God-honoring 
 >> Sing it out. I'll shake it off the 
 heaviness. 
 I'll shake it off the heaviness. 
 I'm dancing out of my regrets. 
 I'm throwing caution to the wind. 
 No, I am not ashamed to praise like 
 this. Some say it's foolishness. 
 But I say it's worth the risk. 
 I can't believe what Jesus did. 
 No, I am not ashamed to praise like 
 this. 
 Where are those chains that once held 
 me? I'm free. I'm free. 
 I'm free. I'm free. 
 My sin 
 is gone. How can it be? I'm free. I'm 
 free. 
 I'm free. I'm free. 
 Look at what the Lord has done. 
 I'm never going back to the way I was. 
 I'll sing. I'll dance cuz I'm 
 free. I'm free. I'm free. Thank God I'm 
 free. 
 Oh, we thank you for freedom. 
 I've found a friend that never quits. 
 No other love is good as this. 
 And I don't care what anyone says. 
 I'll never be ashamed to praise like 
 this. 
 Where are those chains that once held 
 me? I'm free. I'm free. 
 I'm free. I'm free. 
 My sin is gone. How can it 
 be? I'm free. I'm free. 
 I'm free. I'm free. 
 Look at what the Lord has done. 
 I'm never going back to the way I was. 
 I'll sing. I'll dance cuz I'm free. 
 I'm free. I'm free. Thank God Now, I'm 
 free. 
 You took the cross and you broke your 
 body. 
 You shed your blood. Now, the sinner 
 can't. 
 My debt is paid and my record is clean. 
 I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. 
 You took the cross and you broke your 
 body. 
 You shed your blood. Now, the sinner 
 can't. 
 My debt is paid and my record is clean. 
 I couldn't do it, so you did it for 
 >> You took the cross. 
 >> You took the cross and you broke your 
 >> You shed your blood. 
 My debt is paid. 
 I couldn't do it. 
 Only God can do it. 
 Only God can do 
 Only God can do 
 Only God can do 
 Only God can do 
 I broke those chains. 
 There are those chains that once held 
 me. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm 
 free. My sin is gone. How can 
 I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. 
 Look at what the Lord has done. 
 I'm never going back to the way I was. 
 I'll sing. I'll dance cuz 
 I'm free. 
 I'm free. I'm free. 
 You took the cross. 
 You took the cross and you broke your 
 body. 
 You shed your blood. Now, the sinner 
 can't. 
 My debt is paid and my record is 
 I couldn't do it, so you did it 
 >> You took the cross. 
 >> You took the cross and you broke your 
 body. 
 >> You shed your blood. 
 My debt is paid. 
 Oh, I 
 couldn't do it. 
 Only God can do 
 Only God can do it. 
 Only King Jesus 
 can do it. Only 
 >> Yes, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 
 >> My Jesus 
 my savior, 
 Lord, there is none like you. 
 All of my days 
 I want to praise 
 the wonders of your mighty 
 love. 
 My comfort 
 my shelter, 
 tower of refuge 
 and strength. 
 And let every breath 
 all that I am 
 never cease to worship 
 you. 
 Shout to 
 Shout to the Lord, all the 
 earth, let us sing. 
 Power and majesty 
 praise to the king. 
 Mountains bow down and the seas 
 will roar at the sound 
 of your 
 name. 
 I sing for joy at the 
 work 
 of your hands. 
 Forever I'll love you, forever 
 I'll stand. 
 Nothing compares to the promise 
 I have 
 in you. 
 My Jesus, 
 my savior, 
 Lord, there is none like you. 
 All of my days 
 I want to praise 
 the wonders of your mighty 
 love. 
 My comfort, 
 my shelter, 
 tower of refuge and strength. 
 Let every breath, 
 all that I am, 
 and never cease to worship 
 you. 
 Shout to the 
 Lord, all the 
 earth, let us sing. 
 Power and majesty, 
 praise to the king. 
 Mountains bow down and the seas 
 will roar 
 at the sound 
 of your name. 
 I sing for joy at the 
 work of your hands. 
 Forever I'll love you. Forever 
 I'll stand. 
 Nothing compares to the promise 
 I have. 
 Shout to the Lord all the 
 earth. 
 Power and majesty, 
 praise to the king. 
 Mountains bow down and the seas 
 will roar 
 at the sound 
 of 
 your name. 
 I sing for joy at the work 
 of your hands. 
 Forever I'll love you. Forever 
 I'll stand. 
 Nothing compares to the promise 
 I have. 
 Oh, nothing compares 
 to the promise 
 I have. 
 Oh, nothing compares 
 to the promise 
 I have. 
 In it 
 >> Well, good morning and welcome. We're 
 going to step into an intentional time 
 of prayer here. So, if you got a Bible 
 today, go ahead and open that up. We're 
 going to start in Isaiah chapter 53 and 
 in Isaiah chapter 53, we're going to 
 set the course for our time together as 
 we prepare to observe communion. So, as 
 we look at Isaiah 53, if you locate the 
 communion elements in the seat that 
 you're in and kind of prepare those. 
 I chose Isaiah 53 for our prayer time 
 today because I think it is a great 
 reminder that 
 often times as we do things 
 rhythmically, they can become mundane, 
 normal, or just something we do every 
 once in a while. But my hope and 
 encouragement for you and I today is 
 that we would spend a very intentional 
 time remembering the weight of what it 
 takes for us to be able to observe 
 communion. And so I want to read for us 
 today out of Isaiah chapter 53 beginning 
 of verse 3 as we prepare to observe 
 communion. 
 Isaiah chapter 53 says this, 
 He was despised and rejected by men. 
 A man of suffering 
 who knew what sickness was. 
 He was like someone that people turned 
 away from. 
 He was despised 
 and we didn't value him. 
 Yet he himself bore our sickness 
 and he carried our pains. 
 But we in turn regarded him stricken, 
 struck down by God, and afflicted. 
 But he was pierced because of our 
 rebellion, crushed because of our 
 iniquities. 
 The punishment for our peace was on him. 
 And we are healed by his wounds. 
 As we get ready to observe communion, I 
 just want to encourage us to take an 
 intentional pause here to reflect on the 
 weight of what Jesus did by bearing our 
 punishment. As a matter of fact, as 
 scripture would say in verse 5, the 
 punishment for our peace was upon him. 
 And so I just want to encourage us to 
 take a deep breath, to step back, to 
 spend time praying and reflecting on 
 exactly what it took for us to be able 
 to observe communion on a day like this 
 that he was punished so that our peace 
 would be upon him. So let's spend some 
 time praying, thanking God, but also 
 reflecting on what it takes for us to 
 observe communion. Let's do that now. 
 >> God, we come before you 
 thankful 
 for the reality of what it takes for us 
 to be able to observe communion. 
 God, as we prepare to do that here in 
 just a few moments, 
 we simply take a step back 
 and acknowledge the fact that 
 the punishment for our peace is upon 
 you. 
 That you sent your son to die on a cross 
 for us because you loved us that much. 
 God, I pray that we wouldn't lose sight 
 of that life-changing truth, but that it 
 would 
 be something that sticks with us and 
 guides us on a daily basis. God, we pray 
 all this in your name. 
 So, we step into our time of communion. 
 We'll begin with the bread and the words 
 of 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 
 which are so clear and guide us today. 
 In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, beginning 
 in second half of verse 23, says this, 
 "On the night when he was betrayed, that 
 is Jesus, 
 Jesus took the bread, and when he had 
 given thanks, he broke it and said, 
 'This is my body, which is for you. Do 
 this in remembrance of me.'" 
 Verse 25, he continues by saying this, 
 "In the same way, he also took the cup 
 after supper and said, 'This cup is the 
 new covenant in my blood. Do this as 
 often as you drink it in remembrance of 
 me. 
 And I love what verse 26 reminds us of 
 often. For as often as you eat this 
 bread 
 and drink this cup you proclaim the 
 Lord's death until he comes. It becomes 
 an act of worship. And with that in 
 mind, let's stand as we continue in 
 God-honoring worship. 
 >> I don't want anything 
 but you. 
 You're more than every 
 dream come true. 
 All other things I 
 thought I 
 wanted 
 don't come close to knowing you. 
 Now that I'm yours and you are mine 
 our love is the secret 
 that I find. 
 I'll spend forever 
 in the pleasure 
 I found 
 looking 
 in your eyes. 
 Give me 
 Give me Jesus. 
 You can 
 have 
 all this world. 
 You can have 
 all this world. 
 More than silver, 
 more than 
 You are the treasure 
 that I long for. 
 Now that I've tasted 
 of 
 your goodness, 
 nothing 
 else will 
 satisfy. 
 Give 
 me Jesus. 
 Give me Jesus. 
 You can 
 have 
 all this 
 world. 
 You can have 
 all this 
 all this world. 
 Give 
 me Jesus. 
 Give me 
 Jesus. 
 You can have 
 all this 
 world. 
 You can have 
 all 
 all this 
 world. 
 Just give me Jesus. 
 I only want Jesus. 
 I only want Jesus. 
 I only want Jesus. 
 I don't want anyone else. 
 I need anything else. 
 You are 
 my one thing. 
 You are my one thing. 
 I don't want anyone else. 
 I don't need anything else. 
 You are my one thing. 
 You are my one thing. 
 I don't want anyone else. 
 I don't need anything else. 
 You are my one thing. 
 You are my 
 I don't want anyone else. 
 I don't need anything else. 
 You are my one thing. 
 You are my one thing. 
 You are my one thing. 
 You are my one thing. 
 You are my one thing. 
 Give me Jesus. 
 Give me Jesus. 
 Jesus. 
 You can have all of this world. You can 
 have all of this world. 
 You can 
 all of this 
 world. 
 Give me 
 Jesus. 
 Give me 
 Jesus. 
 Jesus. 
 You can have 
 all of this 
 world. 
 You can have 
 all of this world. 
 I don't want anyone else. 
 I don't need anything 
 >> Good morning everyone. Welcome to Cross 
 Church. My name is Ruby. I work with the 
 kids ministry. Welcome if it's your 
 first time today. We're so happy that 
 you're here today. I have a few 
 announcements. There's cards in front of 
 you or behind you. 
 The first card is the new card. If 
 you're new here today, please fill one 
 out. We would love to get to know you 
 and just hear about how you 
 got to come to Cross Church today. And 
 then our next card is 
 next card is the next card and 
 it's if you've been here before or if 
 you want to get connected with the small 
 group or you want to serve with any 
 ministry. And then our prayer card is 
 our prayer card. If you guys need any 
 prayers of any sort, we would love for 
 you guys to fill one out, put it in the 
 black box behind at the end. And then 
 Pastor Tyler prays for all these cards 
 during the week. And then we have a few 
 announcements. We We have the SPs 
 tonight. So, if you serve in any kind of 
 way, we would love to have you guys 
 there tonight. It's at 5:00 p.m. Um 
 there will be child care and there's 
 still room for you guys to register and 
 it's tonight at 5:00. And then our next 
 event is the fall festival, which is 
 next Sunday. We'll have train and just a 
 lot of fun for the kiddos. So, bring 
 come out, bring your family. It'll be 
 between the services. Um and then also 
 our giving. None of this stuff can be 
 done without your giving and your 
 generosity. Um so, I'll give you guys 30 
 seconds to do that. Thank you. 
 >> Well, good morning and welcome to Cross 
 Church El Mirage. Whether you're here in 
 the room or if you're joining us um 
 online, we're so glad that you joined us 
 today for worship. Today we are going to 
 be in Job chapter 28. So, if you got a 
 Bible, uh flip there, click there, make 
 your way somehow to Job 28. It's going 
 to be a great text for us today. But, 
 before we get started, we're going to do 
 something kind of unique. We've never 
 done this before on a Sunday morning. Uh 
 we've been doing the SPs, which is our 
 Excellence in Service Performance Yearly 
 Awards for the last few years now. So, 
 it's a fun time where we get to 
 celebrate and honor all of our 
 volunteers. We actually give out awards 
 at that event, but this year, we've been 
 announcing our award winners here at 
 each location. So, I'm going to catch 
 you up to speed on three of our award 
 winners for the typical categories. And 
 then, Ruby, our kids ministry leads can 
 actually be able to give away a special 
 award uh that we created for someone 
 unique here in our location. And so, we 
 are giving away this year custom shoes. 
 So, if you see one of our award winners 
 wearing these shoes that are pretty 
 legit, you need to know this, they're 
 kind of a big deal, okay? They don't 
 come in cowboy boots, but that's okay. 
 We'll let it slide this time. Here's the 
 deal. Um our award winners uh are as 
 follows. So, if you see these people, 
 tell them thank you. Um or if you see 
 them wearing the shoes, make sure that 
 you celebrate them as well. Our newcomer 
 of the year um is Kate Torres, who has 
 showed up on the scene and done 
 incredible, serves in basically all the 
 ministries in the life of our church. 
 We're so thankful for her. She's our 
 newcomer of the year. Super excited for 
 her. Um our uh second one is the Servant 
 of the Year. She's actually not with us 
 today. Funny enough, Kate's actually 
 serving right now as newcomer of the 
 year during this service. So, uh Servant 
 of the Year is someone who's not with 
 us, not in town this week, 
 but makes all of the stuff that you see 
 on a Sunday morning happen um from 
 communion to a bunch of different first 
 impressions elements. And that award 
 winner is Lori Slaughter. So, if you 
 know her, give her a call, celebrate 
 her. Pretty excited um about all that 
 God's doing there. You can save your 
 applause later. Some of you are like, 
 "Can I come up? Can I Can I" Just hang 
 on. Um and then, our third award winner 
 is Making Jesus Known. Uh one of the 
 things you know about Cross Church is 
 that Making Jesus Known is at the core 
 of who we are. It's absolutely important 
 for who we are. And so, we actually gave 
 that award to T.J. O'Connor, who joined 
 our church, has been baptized in our 
 church, been married, and now feels a 
 call to preach, preached his first 
 sermon here. Super excited about that. 
 So, celebrate those people if you know 
 them. We'll do that tonight. Uh Um but 
 Ruby, would you give away our special 
 award today? 
 >> So, our special award is volunteer of 
 the year and it's Heather Oken. We're 
 just so 
 >> Absolutely. You got to come up and get 
 your certificate. Yeah. 
 >> Um Heather has been serving since uh our 
 church has launched and she's done such 
 an amazing job and we appreciate all the 
 work that you've done and she works in 
 the nursery and she always helps. She 
 rocks VBS. She's always our number one. 
 So, thank you for that. Yeah. 
 >> Excellent. Thank you so much, Heather. 
 Yeah, if you have a child, a young 
 child, which we have a lot of here at 
 our church and they've been served well, 
 it's because of Heather. So, we're super 
 thankful for her. 
 Um well, let's get down to business 
 today. We are going to be in Job chapter 
 28. So, if you'll again make your way 
 there. Job chapter 28 um is an 
 interesting place where we find 
 ourselves. Uh if you've been with us 
 through this sermon series, you know 
 we've been uh taking multiple chapters 
 at once. We kind of been doing this 
 skip, hop, and jump strategy to get 
 through all of these different things, 
 but what we're doing today as we begin 
 to see a shift in the text, we're 
 slowing things down a little bit and 
 we're going to focus in on just Job 
 chapter 28. If you've been with us since 
 the beginning, maybe you're joining us 
 for the first time. I want to catch 
 everybody together up to speed. In Job 
 chapter 1, we have a conversation 
 between God and Satan where God grants 
 Satan permission to test Job. God has 
 full confidence this that Job will stand 
 the test or the trial. 
 So, God gives him permission to test 
 Job. He is able to test him, but he 
 can't take his life. So, he gives 
 parameters for it and that's exactly 
 what happens. Job's friends come. 
 They sit with him. Um they walk through 
 this season with him and then at the end 
 of that season, um one of the really 
 important things that happens is they 
 begin to dialogue and they go through 
 this for about 20 chapters and we get to 
 the end of this and what we find is that 
 in chapter 28, Job begins to have a sort 
 of a shift in the conversation. He 
 begins to have a change of heart, if you 
 will, where he goes from ending his pity 
 party to beginning the search for 
 answers. And really, that's where 
 today's sermon title comes from, digging 
 for answers. Because, here's the truth, 
 we all have questions that we ask. I was 
 laughing with the first service about 
 the way in which uh 50, 20, 30, even 40 
 years ago, we searched for answers 
 differently. All right? Um 30 and 40 
 years ago, we used these things that 
 young people don't know about called 
 encyclopedias. All right? It's an 
 incredible You can actually buy a whole 
 set of them and let them sit on a shelf 
 and collect dust, right? And you can buy 
 them. Now, um my generation was the one 
 that was around when the invention of 
 Google came to be. And so, now, when you 
 were digging or searching for an answer, 
 you could go straight to Google. And 
 now, kids today have this thing called 
 AI, which will give you an answer. You 
 don't know if it's true or not, but 
 you'll get an answer nonetheless. That's 
 a different um conversation entirely. 
 But, here's the deal. 
 Our search for answers has taken a shift 
 every generation. 
 It's changed. 
 But, at the core 
 is the search for answers. I laughed 
 with first service, if you were 30 and 
 40 years ago, if you were on a road trip 
 with family members or friends, and you 
 thought you were right about something, 
 and you also had someone in the car that 
 thought they were right, there was no 
 way to settle the argument. Whoever just 
 was more confident became the person 
 that was right. They didn't have Google. 
 And so, this search for answers is kind 
 of central to who we are as people. And 
 Job is experiencing this shift as well, 
 the search for answers. 
 Uh as we take a turn into where the 
 scriptures will lead us today, on a deep 
 and spiritual level, I believe we all 
 have questions that we are asking when 
 it comes to our faith. 
 Deep questions, like, why would God take 
 this person now? 
 Why is this thing happening to me right 
 now? 
 God, what are you doing for me and to me 
 in this season? You can fill in the 
 blank with whatever the question you're 
 asking. But, the truth is, we are all 
 asking questions and digging for 
 answers. And what we're going to find 
 today is that Job gives us a five-step 
 process really naturally through his 
 sort of progression that gives us a 
 roadmap for how we should dig for 
 answers as well. And so if you'll read 
 with me, we're going to read in Job 
 chapter 28. We're going to start reading 
 in verse 12. 
 Job 28:12 says this, "But where can 
 wisdom be found? 
 And where is understanding located? No 
 one can know its value. Since it cannot 
 be found in the land of the living. The 
 ocean depths say, 'It is not in me.' 
 While the sea declares, 'I don't have 
 it.' Gold cannot be exchanged for it. 
 And silver cannot be weighed out for its 
 price." 
 Let's skip down to verse 20 which says 
 this, 
 "Where does wisdom come from? And where 
 is understanding located? It is hidden 
 from the eyes of every living thing and 
 concealed from the birds of the sky." 
 We'll take a pause there as we step in 
 today. 
 Here's the question. 
 When we go digging for answers, 
 what should we do? How exactly do we go 
 about the process of searching for 
 answers? This five-step process begins 
 with a very important first step, which 
 will begin our note taking for today 
 with this idea. The first step is to 
 look to who has the answers. 
 We should look to the person that does 
 have the answers. One of the unique um 
 characteristics of Job's dialogue here, 
 this poetic conversation that he's 
 having, is he says in verse 14, 
 "The ocean depths say about wisdom, 'It 
 is not in me.' 
 While the sea declares, 'I don't have 
 it.' If I could offer you a 2026 
 translation for this, 
 there are going to be a million 
 resources in the world today that scream 
 at us, 'I have the answer for wisdom.' 
 But underneath the surface, they all say 
 this same thing that they do not have 
 true wisdom. There is only one source of 
 true wisdom, and that is from God 
 himself. 
 True wisdom comes from God himself. As a 
 matter of fact, let me remind you of the 
 words of Nehemiah 
 that the God of the heavens has the 
 answers. And for you today, what we find 
 in Job is that Job goes straight to God 
 for the answers to his questions. I love 
 that he is so clear in his 
 communication. He isn't happy about it, 
 right? We have this conversation where 
 Job is pushing back and everything's 
 darkness and sad and dreary, kind of 
 like the weather today, amen? Some of us 
 are like, it's a struggle. It's a snow 
 day almost to get here. But here's the 
 deal. 
 Job is going through this dialogue with 
 God, and he is asking deep questions 
 like, "Why is it so hard to find you? 
 Why don't you answer me? Why don't you 
 fix this? Why don't you do this?" And 
 it's in these conversations that he is 
 digging for answers, and he starts 
 by looking to the person that has the 
 answers. If you here today are searching 
 for answers, let me give you two things 
 you can begin doing right now today to 
 search for answers. Look to God. The 
 first source where we can find answers 
 from God is 
 the Bible. All right? It shouldn't shock 
 you that the pastor would say the Bible 
 has the answers. Now, 
 uh the sort of caveat that most people 
 would give is this. They would say, 
 "Well, pastor, it doesn't tell me who I 
 should marry or what job I should take 
 or what city I should live in." But it 
 does give us enough guidance for life 
 that if we follow that guidance, our 
 lives will go according to his good 
 plan. Let me encourage you today to read 
 your Bible to find answers. 
 Uh matter of fact, um I spent about 10 
 years doing student ministry working 
 with 6th through 12th graders. And I 
 love how teenagers phrase things, all 
 right? Uh sometimes it makes sense, and 
 sometimes I think, "What are you talking 
 about?" One time, I will never forget, a 
 teenager looked at me. 
 We were talking about finding answers 
 from God and answers in the Bible, and 
 he said, 
 "You know, he says, 'Pastor, sometimes 
 it just feels like God's playing this 
 cosmic game of hide and seek with the 
 answers to my faith.'" 
 And I thought, you know, that's so true. 
 It can feel like that, that God is 
 playing a cosmic version of hide and 
 seek with the answers to our deep faith 
 questions. But the truth is that we have 
 God's fully divine inspired word given 
 to us. And as a matter of fact, 
 scripture itself would teach us that all 
 scripture, not 80 or 90 or even 50%, all 
 scripture is breathed out by God and is 
 profitable for you and I. Understand it. 
 Scripture has answers. The second thing 
 that you can do to find answers for the 
 questions that you're asking is to pray. 
 Is to talk to God himself. If you are 
 looking for answers today from God, 
 pray. 
 Pray. And pray some more. 
 And when you feel like you've prayed 
 enough, pray a little more and I promise 
 you it will go well for you. One of the 
 things that I laugh about often is that 
 kids today um don't understand what it's 
 like just to sit and wait and be bored. 
 Right? They're always entertained. Even 
 us as adults now. While we wait at the 
 gas pump now, there's a screen that has 
 things playing for us. It's commercials. 
 Like I It takes 5 minutes, maybe, all 
 right? But we are always entertained. 
 There's always a screen or something. We 
 never just sit in the silence. 
 One of the things that we look at as a 
 reminder here is this, we look to God 
 for answers, we need to be reminded to 
 pray. 
 To pray. To create space in our daily 
 lives where we can consistently pray, 
 being reminded that prayer is a dialogue 
 where God speaks to us and we speak to 
 him. 
 So, we should both search for answers in 
 the scriptures, but also in praying, 
 understanding that answers from God are 
 not hide and go seek, but they are 
 available to us if we will look to the 
 person who has the answers. Second thing 
 that we see as we walk through this 
 story and see Job's progression in 
 digging for answers 
 is the second thing you need to be able 
 to do is understand what you are 
 seeking. 
 You need to understand what you're 
 seeking. Verse 2 says this, "But where 
 can wisdom be found? And where is 
 understanding located? No one can know 
 its value since it cannot be found in 
 the land of the living." Job says, "I 
 want wisdom. That's what I'm searching 
 for. That's what I'm seeking for." And 
 he has a clear, concise direction 
 knowing exactly what it is that he is 
 looking for. It's similar to what we 
 find in the words of Colossians chapter 
 2 that would say this in verses 2 and 3, 
 "I want their hearts to be encouraged 
 and joined together in love so that they 
 may have all the riches of the complete 
 understanding and have the knowledge of 
 God's mystery that is Jesus. 
 In him are hidden all the treasures of 
 wisdom and knowledge." 
 You see what Job was searching for is 
 wisdom and knowledge which is found in 
 Christ. 
 Understanding what you are seeking is 
 valuable. 
 Now, here's the process that I think we 
 must get to is that we must also 
 understand that what we're seeking might 
 challenge us in the way that we look. As 
 a matter of fact, Mark chapter 10 
 reminds us of this with the rich young 
 ruler. You see a rich young wrong young 
 ruler? Wrong ruler? Yes. 
 Halloween hangover, it's okay. All 
 right. 
 Um here's the deal. 
 It's the rich young ruler that goes to 
 Jesus seeking eternal life and he says, 
 "All right, what do I need to do? What's 
 the thing?" 
 Jesus answers it. He gives him the 
 information, 
 but it's not the information that 
 changes the rich young ruler's heart. 
 As a matter of fact, the rich young 
 ruler doesn't respond. He leaves that 
 conversation with his head hung 
 because he's not willing to give up what 
 he has. 
 For us today, we need to be reminded 
 that what we are seeking will change who 
 we are. We need to understand deeply 
 what it is that we are searching after. 
 The thing that we are seeking after will 
 change our course and direction in life. 
 So, we need to understand exactly what 
 it is that we are looking for or else we 
 will not know it when we find it. Third 
 thing that we see as we look through 
 this sort of process that Job goes 
 through, is we need to to decide when we 
 are going all in. 
 We need to decide when we are going all 
 in. 
 Job in Job chapter 1 is asked by his 
 wife, "Why don't you just give up your 
 integrity and forget God? He's clearly 
 not going to help you out." 
 But from chapter 1 of Job all the way 
 through 28 and the rest of the book, Job 
 continues to plod along. He is all in. 
 The reminder for us today is of the 
 difference between the fear of the Lord 
 and knowledge of the Lord. 
 As a matter of fact, you'll see in Job 
 chapter 28:28, he said to mankind, "The 
 fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. 
 And to turn from evil is understanding." 
 You see, the fear of the Lord is 
 different than knowledge of the Lord. 
 It is not enough for us simply to know 
 about God. The difference is the 18 in 
 between our head and our heart where we 
 go from knowing about God to knowing God 
 personally. As a matter of fact, 
 scripture would say that even the demons 
 believe in God and shudder. But that 
 doesn't change or lead to heart 
 transformation. We must both know of the 
 Lord and fear the Lord. 
 You see, as we look at this, we have to 
 decide when we are going all in. 
 The difference being, we can know about 
 God, but knowing about God won't sustain 
 us in our seasons like Job where things 
 get difficult. 
 I was reminded of the story 
 of a missionary William Borden. Um he is 
 different in me in that he was born uh 
 quite a few years ago, but he was also a 
 student at Yale. Um and he didn't 
 believe in C's get degrees, which I 
 believe in. So, a little bit of a 
 difference there. Smart guy, went to 
 Yale, gave it all up because God 
 radically transformed him. 
 And in his early 20s, he set out on a 
 mission to evangelize the world. 
 At age 25, he passes away in Egypt on 
 his way to China, um just wanting to 
 share the gospel around the world. 
 Now, most of us would look at this and 
 say, 
 "That's sad. 
 Seems like he was cut down in the middle 
 of an incredible important process." 
 But, as a matter of fact, he was living 
 out what he deeply believed. He had gone 
 all in in his faith, much like Job had. 
 He demonstrated what it looks like for 
 us. 
 And one of the stories came out about 
 him and his Bible in particular that I 
 firmly believe is one of the greatest 
 quotes you'll ever hear about a 
 missionary in your entire life. 
 Here's the quote of what William Borden 
 wrote wrote in his Bible multiple times 
 as he was heading out, as God was 
 changing him as he went on on his 
 missionary trip. 
 He said this phrase, 
 "No reserves, 
 no retreats, 
 no regrets." 
 Let me just repeat it. I just had chills 
 every time I read it this past week. 
 A guy who had aged 25 in the prime of 
 his life loses it all for the sake of 
 the gospel, but gains it all because of 
 the kingdom of God, said, "No reserves, 
 no retreats, and no regrets." My hope 
 for you and I as people of God who 
 follow God is that, much like Job, we 
 would go all in with our faith, even in 
 the difficult times, even in the moments 
 where we would say, "Everything is 
 darkness. There's no light in the 
 darkness, period, but I still follow 
 God." 
 No reserves, no retreats, no regrets. 
 You see, Job was wrestling in this 
 process not if he believes in God, but 
 what to do next with God. He continues 
 have moments of clarity and continuing 
 his faith, and it radically shapes the 
 future of his life. Fourth step in this 
 process that Job demonstrates for us 
 is that we need to follow where wisdom 
 leads. 
 Follow where wisdom leads. You've heard 
 the phrase that you can lead a horse to 
 water, but you can't make it 
 Good. Most of you have heard this 
 phrase. This phrase is a reminder that 
 knowing information does not always lead 
 to action. As a matter of fact, as we 
 look at Job here, one of the things 
 that's true of Job's story all 
 throughout the dialogue with him and his 
 three best friends is that they are 
 sometimes doing a great job, more so 
 than others, pointing him back to Jesus. 
 They encourage him in his faith. Why 
 don't you just turn and repent, trust 
 God. Why don't you try doing things 
 God's way and all of these different 
 things they give and some moments where 
 they're not as helpful, but here's what 
 we find in Job 28. 
 A demonstration 
 that Job has to be willing to follow 
 where wisdom leads. 
 As you look at Job 28, 
 chapter 28 verse 28 is so clear. 
 The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. 
 And to turn away from evil is 
 understanding. 
 But simply knowing that won't change our 
 hearts. 
 As a matter of fact, as you look at 
 this, there's plenty of people that 
 would say, "I know in order to live 
 God's way, I need to leave the evil 
 things behind and trust God." 
 But they aren't willing to do it. For 
 us, the reminder being as we read a text 
 like this that we need to follow where 
 wisdom leads us. In this verse 28 very 
 clearly, we should turn from evil and 
 fear the Lord. 
 The best way I could explain this to you 
 in a real world example is that 
 following where wisdom leads means 
 knowing both the direction, but also 
 taking the action to get to that 
 intended direction. Um I tell people in 
 my personal fitness journey 
 uh of trying to be healthy that I know 
 exactly where it is that I want to go. I 
 know exactly where the path is that gets 
 me there. What gets in the way is that I 
 make the decision to get off of that 
 path and I decide to do this thing 
 called live moss and I end up at Taco 
 Bell far too often and that gets in the 
 way of my personal fitness, all right? 
 Now, in very limited cases, it's worth 
 it, all right? But here's the deal. 
 My choices don't line up with my end 
 goal. I don't follow where the wisdom 
 leads, I follow where my heart leads me. 
 It leads me astray. 
 I want to remind you today as you think 
 about your personal faith. 
 As we look at this concept, we need to 
 be a people that follow where God's word 
 leads us. 
 To say yes to his way and no to our way. 
 Two ways you can do that this week. 
 Number one, be rooted in your faith. Do 
 something every single day to be rooted 
 in your faith. Read scripture, listen to 
 a podcast. We have more resources to 
 information that changes us, helps us to 
 be rooted than ever before. We have 
 really incredible music at our disposal, 
 right? The Christian music of years past 
 wasn't as good as it is today, all 
 right? It's come a long way. So, we have 
 incredible resources. Take advantage of 
 it. Do something every single day to 
 become rooted in your faith. But, also 
 be willing to take steps to be ready 
 when God answers your prayers. 
 One of the things I've prayed often over 
 the last few years being here in Cross 
 Church El Mirage is um God, would you 
 just help me to be your hands and feet 
 today? A simple prayer, uh but 
 admittedly a bit of a dangerous prayer. 
 Because I don't know if you know this, 
 but sometimes God answers our prayers in 
 ways that we don't always see fit. They 
 don't always fit our plans. Uh I 
 remember about 3 years ago I prayed that 
 prayer. It was one of my first summers 
 here at Cross Church El Mirage. It was 
 before we met for church weekly. It was 
 the end of July and I was doing some 
 facilities work. So, I needed some extra 
 parts. And so, I'd prayed that morning, 
 God help me to be your hands and feet. 
 And I went to Walmart in the middle of 
 the day in the middle of the heat. I got 
 a great parking spot up front. I go into 
 park. 
 And God answered my prayer and it caught 
 me off guard. 
 Because I had prayed, Lord help me to be 
 your hands and feet. I parked with 
 jumper cables in my back seat. 
 Happened to be next to this guy named 
 Tony who lives right here in the city 
 who had his hood up. 
 And it was in the middle of the heat and 
 I thought, ah I guess I'll help this guy 
 out because God, you answered my prayer. 
 So, I guess I should do what you you 
 know, you what you called me to. And so 
 I step in I have this conversation over 
 about 20 minutes I get to jump his 
 battery get him back on his way. 
 In that process we got to have this 
 great conversation where I shared the 
 gospel with him where he also shared 
 with me his life story about how he had 
 had a traumatic injury and he ended up 
 doing Uber just to make ends meet and he 
 needed to get back on the road to 
 continue making money so it really 
 helped it made a huge difference in his 
 life. It was such a blessing and he 
 shared all of this in this conversation. 
 But I almost missed it because while I 
 prayed for an opportunity and God 
 brought it I wasn't ready for the 
 opportunity when it came. Let me 
 encourage you today. Follow where wisdom 
 leads be rooted in your faith but also 
 be ready for what it is that God will do 
 when he answers those prayers. The fifth 
 thing I want you to see that I think is 
 very helpful for us today is this idea 
 that we should allow the information to 
 shape your why. 
 If I were to ask you this question right 
 now don't answer out loud. 
 But here's the question I want you to 
 think about. 
 Why do you follow Jesus? 
 Why do you follow Jesus? Some people 
 would say I follow Jesus because you 
 know it's what my parents did. So I felt 
 like I should do it. 
 Some people would say 
 I follow Jesus cuz I don't know I just 
 grew up going to church so we just we go 
 to church that's what we do on Sundays. 
 It's what's on the calendar. 
 Some of us would say now I I follow 
 Jesus because he's changed my life. 
 Ultimately the answer to the question of 
 why you follow Jesus 
 is important. 
 And it's not one that our parents or our 
 friends or our family can make for us 
 it's an individual decision that we must 
 make. 
 So when it's in this process of digging 
 for answers we should allow the 
 information to shape our why. Job's 
 answer to the question why do you follow 
 Jesus is shaped by the fact that God 
 radically changed his life and it should 
 be the same for us. Two categories of 
 information that changes our 
 why. 
 Number one, physical evidence should 
 change our why. I tell this story often 
 and work through this with individuals, 
 but the Bible itself is some of the 
 greatest evidence for the Christian 
 faith that you could ever imagine. 
 Uh I remind people often that the God 
 who created the Bible is the same God 
 who created all of science, which the 
 world wants us to believe is against the 
 God of the Bible, but newsflash, God 
 created both science and the Bible, they 
 do in fact line up and agree. Let me 
 remind you that the Bible itself is some 
 of the greatest physical evidence. As we 
 go throughout the years, we begin to 
 find more and more physical evidence 
 throughout the world that supports what 
 scripture teaches. We have the idea that 
 textual fluency, all of the words of 
 scripture come together, although 
 written by so many different people, to 
 support the singular idea that Jesus is 
 king. 
 So, we have all of this physical 
 evidence that points to the fact that 
 our faith is true, 
 and that doesn't even begin to scratch 
 the surface of the second element that I 
 think is equally important in this 
 story. 
 It's personal experience. 
 I could tell you time after time after 
 time, 
 and all different stories about people 
 in this very church 
 that answer the question, "Why do you 
 follow Jesus?" 
 by saying, "Over the last year, God has 
 radically changed my life. God saved me 
 and changed my life." I got to perform 
 weddings here of people that say, "God 
 has changed my life over these last 
 couple years, and I couldn't do anything 
 less than follow Jesus. Why? He changed 
 my life." 
 And for you today, I just I want to ask 
 if it's okay if I share my story. Is 
 that Is it okay with you? 
 Good, you answered yes. The first 
 service didn't answer, so I told them 
 anyway, so all right. 
 I just want to tell you my story today. 
 Nothing flashy or fancy. 
 It was at a First Baptist Church in 
 Holdenville, Oklahoma, which is a tiny 
 little town, if you blink, you miss it, 
 kind of town. I grew up there. At 6 
 years old, I was sitting in the back 
 corner of the church. I wasn't quite a 
 back row Baptist, but pretty close, 
 sitting with my parents and I was 
 sitting next to my mom at 6 years old. 
 Uh there was a pastor on a Monday night 
 preaching a revival service and I will 
 never forget 
 it was real and evident and it changed 
 the rest of my life. 
 It felt as if the preacher was preaching 
 exactly to me. 
 And I remember it came time for the 
 response and Tim the youth pastor went 
 down and was ready to receive people and 
 I remember turning to my mom and saying, 
 "That's me. Let's go." 
 But she did what most moms would do. She 
 said, "We'll talk about it later." 
 To which I said, "No. 
 That's me. We're going." 
 She walked me down the aisle. I met Tim 
 the youth pastor. We went to a side 
 room. It was 
 uh painted Noah's Ark. I'll never 
 forget. And in the process of about 15 
 minutes, in no uncertain terms, Tim the 
 youth pastor shared the exact gospel 
 with me, explained everything to me, and 
 I responded to the gospel right there in 
 that moment. Was baptized shortly after. 
 And can I just tell you this today? 
 My personal experience is why I follow 
 Jesus. Because he changed my life. 
 But it's also the experience I have on a 
 daily basis. 
 Where every single time I try to run 
 from what God's doing in my life and how 
 he's blessing me, 
 he lovingly, but firmly, picks me up, 
 dusts me off, and puts me back on 
 course. 
 Can I just share with you today this 
 truth? 
 Not only does God love you, 
 but he has a plan for you. And that 
 ultimately the words of scripture is 
 true of what we see in 2 Peter chapter 
 3, that God is not slack concerning his 
 promise, wishing that all would come to 
 faith and repentance in him. God has 
 good plans for us. He is a good good 
 father who loves us. And let me 
 encourage you today, if the question for 
 you of why you follow Jesus is anything 
 other than the truth that he's changed 
 your life, 
 here's my promise. 
 I will hang out as long as it takes to 
 process that question. 
 So that you can have complete confidence 
 of why you follow Jesus 
 and that you can have complete 
 confidence in your faith and trust in 
 Jesus. 
 If you do me a favor, bow your heads. I 
 want to pray over you today as a church. 
 As we 
 pray in this moment, 
 let's be reminded of what Job 28 teaches 
 us. God, we come before you. 
 God, when it comes to this concept of 
 digging for answers, um God, our prayer 
 today is that you would help us to be a 
 people 
 that go to the source, the right source 
 of information. 
 That we go to the person who has the 
 answers. That we've decided when we're 
 going all in. And ultimately, God, that 
 what we find as we search for answers 
 would shape the question, why do we 
 follow Jesus? 
 God, my prayer is that 
 here on the corner of Peoria and El 
 Mirage, that there would be a group of 
 people that would say 
 in answer to that question, we follow 
 Jesus because he has changed and 
 transformed our lives. 
 God, my prayer is that you would help us 
 to put aside any of the things that uh 
 keep us from answering that question 
 correctly, that keep us from following 
 where wisdom leads. And ultimately, that 
 as a people, we would follow the lead of 
 Job, and that we would continue to run 
 to you for answers, understanding that 
 nothing else in the world can satisfy 
 like you. 
 God, we are so thankful that you sent 
 your son 
 to be the punishment for our sins, and 
 that ultimately, because of that, we're 
 able to be restored back to you. 
 God, we thank you for all of this. Pray 
 all of this in your name. 
 Amen. Let's stand as we continue in 
 God-honoring worship. 
 >> You give life. 
 You are love. 
 You bring 
 light 
 to the 
 darkness. 
 You give hope. light. 
 You restore 
 every heart 
 that is broken. 
 Great 
 are you, Lord. 
 It's your breath 
 and our love. 
 So, we pour 
 out our praise. 
 Pour 
 out our praises. 
 Your breath 
 and our love. 
 So, 
 we pour 
 out our 
 Great 
 are you, Lord. 
 You are love. 
 You are love. 
 You bring 
 light to 
 the darkness. 
 You restore 
 every heart 
 that is broken. 
 Great 
 are you, Lord. 
 It's your breath 
 and our love. 
 So, we pour 
 out our 
 Pour 
 out our praises. 
 and our love. 
 So, 
 we pour 
 out our 
 It's your breath 
 and our love. 
 So, we 
 pour out our 
 Pour 
 out our 
 and our love. 
 So, we 
 pour out 
 >> Sing all the earth. 
 All the 
 earth will shout your praise. 
 Our hearts will cry, our souls will 
 sing. 
 Great 
 are you. 
 >> All the 
 will shout your 
 Our hearts 
 will cry. 
 Our souls 
 will sing. 
 Great 
 are you. 
 All the 
 will shout your 
 Our hearts 
 will cry. 
 Our souls 
 will sing. 
 Great 
 are you. 
 >> is your praise. 
 And our 
 So, we pour 
 out our praise. 
 Pour out 
 is your 
 And our 
 So, we 
 out our 
 Pour out 
 is your 
 And our 
 So, we 
 out our 
 Pour out 
 is your 
 And our 
 So, we 
 out our 
 Pour out 
 Great 
 are you, Lord. 
 Great 
 are you, Lord. 
 >> You guys can sit