Job 11-14

That's funny. Thanks. 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 with 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 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 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. Hey, good morning cross church. Let's all stand to our feet. Let's all give our God praise because he has given us freedom because of Christ on the cross. So, this is a new song, [music] but I wanted to introduce it to you guys. I'm shaking off the heaviness. I'm dancing out [singing and music] of my regret. I'm throwing caution to the wind. No, I [singing and music] am not ashamed to praise like this. Some say it's foolishness, [music and singing] but I say it's worth the risk. I'm giving you though I [music] am not ashamed to break my Where are [music] those dreams that tell me I'm free? I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. My sin is gone. How can it be? [music] I'm [singing] free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. Look at what the Lord has [music] done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing. I'll dance. I'll be I'm free. [music and singing] I'm free. Thank God I'm free. I've got a friend that never quit. [music] No one loves as good as this. And I don't care [singing] what anyone says. I'll never [music] be ashamed to praise thy are those that I'm free. I'm free. I'm [music] free. I'm free. My sin is gone. I can't. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. Look [music] at what the Lord has done. I'm never going [singing] back to the way I was. I'll sing. I'll dance cuz I'll be I'm free. I'll reach. Thank [music] God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke [singing] your body. You [music] shed your blood. Now the s can. My debt is paid [music] and my record is I couldn't do it so you did it [singing] for me. You took the cross and you broke your [music] body. You shed your blood. When I was in a cancer, my debt is paid [music] and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did. You [music] took the [singing] cross. You took the cross and you broke. >> You shed your blood. >> You shed your blood. My pain. >> I couldn't do it. >> I couldn't [music] do it, so you did it for me. >> You think I can do it? >> I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. >> You think I can do it? So you did it for you. >> So [music] you did it for where are those chains that tell me I'm free. [music] I'm free. I'm free. [singing] I'm free. My sin is gone now. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm [music] free. Look at what the Lord [singing] has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing and I'll dance. Yes, I'll be I'm free. I'm free to thank God. You took [music] the cross. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood. Now the sinner can't see. My de is paid. And my record is I couldn't do it. [music] So you did. You took the cross. You shed [music] your blood. >> You shed your blood. My name [music] is >> I couldn't do it. So you did it for I couldn't do it. So you did [music] it for you. >> I couldn't do it like you did it. I couldn't do it. Look at what the [music] Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I [music] look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way. Oh, I love [music] you what the Lord Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going [music] back to the way. I love you with the Lord. [singing] I love you what [music] the Lord has done. >> [music] >> Yeah, let's give him some praise. We are free because of him. We see what he has done for us. And there [music] is no one like our God who would give up his one and only son for us so that we may have eternal life. Sing this out. [music] >> [singing] >> the fullness of God in mercy. showed us [music and singing] your heart, your love, your love [music and singing] poured out for all [singing and music] the Lord our God. You've been faithful every day [music and singing] of my life. >> [music] >> I could search [singing] the world and find another like you. Nothing like you. [music] You invite us [singing] to go. Your body broken. Your blood [singing and music] was enough. This love upon the [music] cross. Oh, [singing] this [music] love poured out for us. There is no one [singing] like [music] the Lord our God. You've been [music and singing] faithful every day of my life. I [music] could [singing] search the world and never find another like [singing and music] you. Another like you. [music] There is no one [singing] like the Lord our God. [music] You've [singing] been faithful every day of my life. I could [music and singing] search the world and never find another [singing] like you. like you [music] like the lamb is the king who reigns [singing] forever. Forever sitting on the throne high above [singing] it all. Everyone will know you're [singing and music] like no other. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is [music and singing] the king. Worthy is the one who reigns forever. [singing] Seated on the throne, high above [music and singing] it all. Everyone will know you're like [singing] no other. Worthy is a [music] man. Worthy is the king. [music] Worthy [singing] is the one who reigns [music] forever. seated on the throne. [singing] [music] I above it all. Everyone will know. You're like no other. [music] There is no one like the Lord our God. [singing and music] And you've been faithful every day of my life. [music and singing] I could search the world [singing] and never find [music] another like you. Another like [music] you. There is [music] no one like the Lord our [singing] God. You've been [music] faithful every [singing] day of my life. [music] And I could search [singing] the world and never find another like [music] you. Like you [music] like you. Like you [music] like you. There is [singing] no one like the Lord our God. You've [singing] been faithful every [music] day of my life. >> I could search [singing and music] the world and find another. [singing and music] I could [singing] search [music] the world and never find another like [singing] you [music] like. >> Amen. As you grab a seat, we're going to enter into a time of prayer today. I'll direct your attention today to Psalm 102. And so, if you want to flip there and join me, be looking at three different sections of Psalm 102. And I love what we find from the psalmist in Psalm 102 that is so um heavy but hopeful is the best way to describe this psalm. And Psalm 102 offers us I think three really unique perspectives. And the first thing we actually find in the first few verses of Psalm 102. In Psalm 102 verse one the psalmist opens with uh a bit of thanksgiving bit of context actually as a matter of fact. And so in Psalm 102 beginning of verse one here's what we see. Lord, hear my prayer. Let my cry for help come before you. Don't hide your face from me in my day of trouble. Listen closely to me. Answer me quickly when I call. Uh it's the psalmist offering this honest prayer, but one that actually gives us a great measure of hope because it is one that we know without a doubt because of the context of scripture is true. As a matter of fact, we know for a fact that God does hear our prayers. Amen. God hears our prayers. And that's a matter of hope because 102:es 1 and two give us this psalmist perspective saying, "God, simply hear my prayer." And so, as we pray individually today, we're going to start and I want to ask you to start focused on a simple prayer of gratitude. And so, in this moment, I just want you to thank God for the fact that he hears our prayers. So let's pray through that now. The second section of this psalm I want to bring to your attention is found in Psalm 102 beginning in verse 8. Says these words, "My enemies taunt me all day long. They ridicule and use my name as a curse. I eat ashes like bread and mingle my drinks with tears." As we read Psalm 102, here's what we find to be true. Some of us are much like Job and are much like the Psalmist. We find ourselves in difficult moments where we are eating ashes like bread. And this is such vivid imagery, but it reveals to us that the psalmist is going through a heavy dark moment. In this portion of prayer, I simply want to ask you to think about what your ashes are. What is the thing that you're holding on to that's heavy, that's dark, that's difficult, that you feel like you can't do it all by yourself? Maybe it's the test results that you've been waiting for and received but just aren't what you wanted or expected. Maybe it's as you continue and think through it, maybe it's the thing that you've been wrestling with that's so heavy and difficult, a relationship that's ending, a season that's over, whatever the case may be. What are the ashes that you are eating right now like bread? And as you think about that, in this second prayer prompt, I'm going to ask you to take all of those things before God, the God who hears us and answers our prayers. Let's take this to him now. Let's pray through those things. The last portion of this psalm that we'll read for today begins in verse 15. And the psalmist changes tone from talking about the difficulty and the sorrow. The psalmist switches in 102 vers15 to saying this. Then the nations will fear the name of the Lord and the kings of the earth your glory. For the Lord will rebuild Zion. He will appear in his glory. And as a matter of fact, verse 17 would go on to say this. He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute. Amen. God pays attention to our prayers and he will not despise their prayer. As you look at this psalm today, this final section of the psalm, here's the tone we're going to take in this last psalm. And I'm actually going to spend time praying over us as a church. Simply that you and I would understand and be thankful for the fact that God is in control. That God is in control. That he hears our prayers. He's on his throne and knows exactly what he's doing. So, let's gather together and pray for that now. God, we come before you, God, as a church. And we simply thank you for the fact that as your word says here in Psalm 102 that you are in control, God. We thank you for the fact that you hear our prayers. God, we thank you for the fact that while you hold the galaxies and the stars together, you also care for us and what's going on in our lives. God, as we brought things to you today, we pray that you would move powerfully in each of our situations and that you would get all the glory in each of our lives. God, we pray all this in your name. Amen. Let's stand as we continue in worship. [music] [singing] knew [singing] [music] nothing like I thought you were better. What a god. What a god. What a What God [music and singing] shows [music and singing] for the [music] overcome [singing] the sinner. Oh, you say, "No, it's not. [music] No, it's not." You say, "No, it's not. No, it's not." What [music] a God. What a God. Oh, what a God. [music and singing] What a God. Oh, what a God. What a God. [music] Oh, who you are. What a god. What a god. [music] [music] The highest place I reached is at your feet. And I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is your glory. [singing] And I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever. satisfy [music and singing] God. You are my everything. If the highest place [music] I reached is at your [singing] feet and I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is [music and singing] your glory. And I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life. Forever [music] satisfied. [singing] God, you are [music] my air. everything cuz one word is [music and singing] the only thing you speak then I've heard it all your heart and never see your end I still have it all no treasure is mine [music] could ever s my you [music and singing] are my oh God [music] you [singing] are You are my You are my Let [music] it go. Let it go. What a god. [music] What a god. Oh, [music] what a god. What a god. You are [music] a god. What a god. >> [music] >> The highest place I reached is at your feet. And I've done it all. And the best thing that I've [music] seen is your glory. [singing] And I see it all. Your [music] love has changed my life forever. You are my wonder. [music] [music] [singing] I still had it all. No treasure of [music] this life could ever satisfy God. You [music and singing] are my everything. You [music and singing] are my everything. You are my everything. [music] Yes. God, you [singing] are my everything. God, you are my everything. Oh God, [music] you are [singing] my everything. Yes God, you [music and singing] are my everything. [music] >> Good morning, Cross Church. What a God indeed. Brought us some pretty good weather over the last day or two, right? >> Yep. I'm That's a blessing in itself right there. Got a little rain. Got some haboos going on, whatever that's called. Little tumble weeds tumbling. It's been a good pretty couple days, but I want to get right to it because we do have a lot of announcements. A lot of amazing things happening in the Cross Church Collective. First, we're going to look at those cards in your seatback. If you haven't been here or you're just coming here for the first, second, or third time, I want you to fill out that new card. Very important card. Want to get to know you, where you come from, how you heard about us, and what you're all about. just put in that black box in the back. The second one is the next card. If you're looking to serve, get on the worship team, greet some people, hang out with the kids. We could use your help. It'd be awesome to have you around. Please fill out the card for the next card and put it in the black box as well. Lastly is the prayer card, which is the most important card that we do talk about. Just like Pastor Tyler spoke about the Psalms today, God does hear our prayers. And if we come together as a collective, we put our prayers down on those cards. We do pray over them and God hears groups of prayers and he never never misses. So that's an important one. Please fill that out, put it in the black box and uh we'd love to see what you're all about. So let's get to the four announcements that we do have today. First one is going to be the pastor or the pizza with the pastor. It's happening next weekend after the second service. We talk about this a lot, but it can't be overstated how important it is to get in there with speaking directly to Pastor Tyler so we can tell you what we're all about here, where we're heading to make Jesus known, and what the collective of Cross Church is all about so we can spread that word as often as possible. Hit that QR code to get yourself scheduled for that so that you can get some pizza that day. Second is going to be the uh we care weekend which is actually on Friday and Saturday. So the 23rd and 24th. That Friday we're going to meet at uh Bill Gentry Park. We're going to be handing out some flyers. We're going to talk about cross church. We're going to help out in the community. We're going to make Jesus known that way. And on the 24th we're going to meet up at um Daart High School. We're building out and helping with the teachers lounge to help regenerate that thing over there. We need as much help as we can get. However, we have had a big turnout so far with signups. So, let's keep that going. Let's get as many people out there as we can because we want to have a big turnout to help the community. Uh sec or the third one is going to be our let me see which one is that? The asbes. That's right. So, the spies is happening on November 1st. extremely important, awesome, super exciting event because we're going to be honoring our volunteers, the people that serve around the Cross Church Collective. We're going to come together um and basically give out awards showing our appreciation for everything everybody's been doing. We're going to have dinner for for all the volunteers. We're going to have um kids care for kids up to 12 years old. So, there's no excuses not to come. We're going to have little events. It's going to be a really great time. All right, so show up for that. Make sure you get registered. It's going to have all the explanations of what I just said and more on the registration. We want to have some food for you. All right, our last announcement is a really cool one. It's going to be our fall fest happening on the 8th of November. That's going to have a food truck for the kids. Uh a photo booth, do some silly photos. Let's get you up on the internet so you could look ridiculous like we all have multiple times on the internet, I'm sure. And it's even going to have like a train ride situation. Pastor Tai didn't explain this really well to me. So, I'm going to assume we're building out a long train track around all the city of Elmarrage. No. Okay. Probably something small. Sign a waiver. I don't know. But it should be a really good time. Um, lots of fun stuff happening. Hopefully, it'll be fall weather by November 8th. Um, but it's actually pretty good right now. I don't want to complain. So, but all these events, all this amazing thing happening in the Cross Church Collective, it only happens because of the generosity in this room, the generosity around the Cross Church Collective. And I just want I can't overstate how important you are for us expanding and helping get out into the world and make Jesus known. So, I'm going to give you about 30 seconds behind me. If it if the Lord puts it on your heart to give for these events and these moments, these times out there in the world to to make Jesus known, that is an amazing thing. And if you've already given, please pray for anybody around you to do the same. Thank you. Well, hey, good morning and welcome to Cross Church. My name is Tyler. If we haven't got a chance to meet yet, I would love to connect with you. I'll be outside underneath the awning after service. So, feel free to swing by there and would love to connect with you there after service. Hey, if you got a Bible today, we are going to use it. So, go ahead and break that thing out. We'll be in Job chapter 11 to begin. Job chapter 11. As you make your way there, I want to offer you a little bit of context for how we find ourselves in Job chapter 11. in Job chapter 11. We're actually in our fifth week of our series preaching through the book of Job. And the first 10 chapters have been good. They've been heavy and they've been a lot of activity happening throughout the early section of Job. Uh so if you're joining us maybe for the first time or you're just kind of catching up. Here's the deal. Uh in Job chapter 1, God and Satan have a conversation. God grants Satan permission to test Job knowing that Job will stand through the temptation. he'll be able to survive it and not give in. And so God grants Satan permission to do that. The only rule is that Satan can't take Job's life. And so he's got this situation going on. And so that's exactly what Satan does. He takes everything from Job except his life. And then in Job chapter 2, beginning in verse 10 through 14, Job's friends hear about this and then they make a plan to come to him. They go to Job. They gather with him for seven days and nights. They don't say a single word. They simply sit with Job. And then Job begins to lament. And he goes back and forth with each of his friends. And today we're going to find ourselves in the first iteration of Job's conversation with his third friend, Zofar, which quite names these these friends have. These are quite incredible names, right? Zofar. So many others that are good. Um, so Zofar is who we're going to find ourselves with today. But before we jump into that, I want to offer you a little bit of an update on what's happening internationally with Cross Church. Pretty excited about this. You'll see some pictures um show up here. Uh couple months ago, we had a team from Cross Church that went to uh the Philippines. We have two locations of Cross Church in the Philippines. One in Cebu City and one on the island of Kennet. And what you're seeing right here is a sports tournament for a local sport there um where Pastor Chad was able to share the gospel. Here's what's really incredible. what God is doing through the cross church collective isn't just happening here. It's happening halfway around the world as well. In the uh gospel presentation he did, there were actually eight people who stood up, received Christ, and were baptized just a few hours later internationally. So, we're super thankful for that. Yes, that's worth clapping about. Absolutely. What I love about that is a reminder that God's on the move halfway around the world. Uh, one of the cool things I will tell you by way of announcement is that we're actually already planning now for a trip that'll happen next Labor Day. And so if you're interested, if stuff like that is uh up your alley and if God's kind of wired you towards sports and kind of the international work that we're doing there, um, we would love for you to join us for a trip. You have two things you can be doing between now and then. Number one, financially preparing, and number two, make sure that your passport is up to date and ready to go. Does that sound good? Awesome. That's the important stuff. All right. Well, we'll find ourselves today in Job chapter 11. Job chapter 11, we have this guy named Zofar. He's the third friend. And here's what we need to know about Zofar. He's the third friend. The first two told Job honest truths, the things that he needed to hear, but they did so with a touch of kindness. Just be honest. Zofar is known out of the group of friends that Job has as the most harsh and the least empathetic. Uh, this is the friend that pulls no punches and tells you exactly what you need to hear. Anybody got a friend like that? Is that any of you? Some of you are like, "That's me." Anybody? You're that friend? You're the one that just you absolutely tell it how it is. That's good. All right, I'm judging you. Um, no, but here's the deal. Um, we have this third and final friend, Zofar. And here's what he does. We're going to read in uh Job 11, beginning in verse one. Here's what we see. Then Zofar replied, "Should this abundance of words go unanswered and such a talker be acquitted? Should your babbling put others to silence so that you can keep on ridiculing with no one to humiliate you? You have said my teaching is sound and I am pure in your sight." And we'll take a timeout there before we continue reading in this text. Can we just be honest though? Zofar, it's pretty harsh. Now, some of this may be lost in translation, but he basically looks at Job and says, "Are you done yet? Because somebody needs to put you in your place, right? Somebody needs to tell you like it is." And that's exactly what Zofar is going to go on to do. Here's what happens later in this. We actually see what Zofar is going to mention in his critique of Job and his uh pity party, if you will. In chapter 11 verse4 he says you have said my teaching is sound and I'm pure in your sight. So far it's going to actually push back on that. One of the things that we found to be true as we read through this text and as we look at daily life is some of the most important friends that you and I have are the ones that will tell us the honest truth. The ones that will tell us when we're doing something dumb. They will tell us when we need to hear the truth. And that's exactly what Zofar is going to do. He's going to say, "You say that you're pure in God's sight, but he's gonna press in on that and say, are are you sure about that? Are are you really sure that you are pure in God's sight?" And so, we're going to divide today's talk into two specific pieces. The first is this. We're going to see what Zofar offers and then we'll switch over to see what Job answers with in terms of his reply. And so, Zofar offers a few different words. The first one is he offers a word here of pacing. He offers a word of pacing. Now when I say the word pacing, often times we think about slowing [snorts] down, getting onto a pace that's consistent and sustainable. Think about running or different things of that nature. What pacing means, but actually Zofar picks up the pace. He says, "It's been too nice, too slow, too kind. You need to hear the truth and you need to hear it now. you're not as good as you think you are. He goes and he pushes right in on this. He's listened plenty. Now, what I need you to know is this. Zofar does this in context. He doesn't show up to Job and the first word out of his mouth is, "All right, are you done yet? Because somebody needs to humble you." He doesn't go in to 100% this moment right here. He starts by listening. He waits for the other two friends to go. But when it's his time, he has been patient enough and he begins by telling the truth exactly the way that Job needs to hear it. One of the things I find interesting about this is this reveals that most friend groups have different types of people in them. Um I'll illustrate it to you this way. Um if you've ever been in a group text with your friends, you've seen their personalities play out. All right. Um so I'm going to take a little poll to see which of the friends you are in a group text with friends. Anybody here? you're the lurker. You won't say anything like a message. You'll just sit back in the back and just like that's you. Okay, good. Good to know. Um, now in most friend groups, you'll have the lurker. But in most friend groups, you're also going to have the person who only responds with gifts. Anybody? That's you. That's 100% me. I'm not going to say anything serious whatsoever. I'm going to crack a joke and respond with an image every single time. Right? That's me and that's my role. Uh, anybody, you're the oversharer in the group text. You're just the one who like stop. People are like, "Shh, enough. All right, we're going to mute you." Right? Um, we're all have our different personalities and we see it play out in different group settings. Well, here in this setting, Zofar looks at the others and says, "You've been the ones who have said the nice thing. You've been kind. You've done all that, but Job needs the truth. He needs to hear it straight." And so he offers a word of pacing by saying, ' Let's get to this already. The second thing he does is he offers a word of priority. Let me read it to you. In verse 5, he says this, "But if only God would speak and open his lips against you, he would show you the secrets of wisdom. For true wisdom has two sides." Now then, that God has chosen to overlook some of your iniquity. That's what we were talking about earlier. He's saying God has overlooked some of your iniquity. And in verse 7, he says, "Can you fathom the depths of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?" He says, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take a moment of priority here. Understand what's going on in the big picture." He's saying God is on the move. God is big. As a matter of fact, if you've been with us for some time now, you know that that's been one of the themes that Job has used and his friends as well is this idea that God is so big. As a matter of fact, God would say or Job would say that God is so big, who can even communicate with him. That's the reason he goes on to ask for a mediator over in uh the last interaction that we saw. He asked for a mediator because he god's so big. And one of the things it reminds me of is it brings my attention back to Pastor Louie Gigglio who offers uh some of the scientific approaches to how big God is. He uses this illustration where he talks about a golf ball-sized earth. Uh if you've ever held a golf ball in your hand, you know that it's pretty small. And he tells us this scientific fact. He says if Earth were scaled down to the size of a golf ball, here's how big our galaxy, solar system, all that stuff is. If Earth were the size of a golf ball, the nearest star would be over 600 miles away. It's a reminder that you and I are so small. As a matter of fact, he would go on to say in the same talk this quote. He would say, "I'm not trying to make you feel small, but he would say this, I'm trying to help you see that you are small so that you can see how big God is." Let me just remind you today that same God who holds all of the galaxies and stars in place knows your name and cares about you. Full stop. That God cares about us. So when we talk about prayer and taking things to God in prayer, he does care for us. Although he's got all this going on, he cares for the things that are going on in our lives. And so we see this word of priority. But we also see a very important shift in Zofar's conversation when he talks about a word of positioning. He says it in verse 13, as for you. That's a highlight circle underlined moment. Verse 13, as for you. Here's what Zofar says. He's offered Job all this word of context and he's eased into it. But he says, "Here's what you need to fix." Verse 13, "As for you, if you redirect your heart and spread out your hands to him in prayer, if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it and don't allow injustice to dwell in your tents, then you will hold your head high, free from fault. You will be firmly established and unafraid. For you will forget your suffering, recalling it only as water that has flowed by. Your life will be brighter than the noon day. Its darkness will be like morning. You see, check this out. One chapter before this, Job has said this phrase that everything feels like darkness. He says even the light feels like darkness. This is all bad. He says, but Zofar flips the script and says, yeah, it looks pretty bad today. It looks difficult and dark and hopeless. But he says, "If you redirect your heart and go to God in prayer, all of this other stuff will happen. God will do what only God can do if we trust him to do it." And as a matter of fact, here what we're reminded of is that Zofar speaks directly to Job's push back. He says, "Yeah, it feels like darkness, sure, but if you redirect your heart and go to God in prayer, your life will be brighter than the noon day. That darkness you spoke of, Job says its darkness will be like the morning. It will be full of light. We find hope in this. As a matter of fact, it says such in verse 18, you will be confident. So far says, because there is hope and you will look carefully about and lie down in safety. You see, after Job has thrown his pity party and just gotten completely focused in all of the pessimism of this, what we find is that Zofar says, "If you will redirect your heart, this can all change." The hope that's found in Zofar's redirect or correction is that no matter what the current circumstances are, the end can be good. We haven't even began to touch on the reality of what God's going to do at the very end of the book of Job where he restores Job to heights he had never even been at before. Not to mention all of that, Job's friends here are saying, "Hey buddy, turn back to God. He will move powerfully." And so for us, the reminder here is that we need to kneel before the God of the heavens and redirect our hearts towards him, which is a word that Job really needed because what does Job do in this story? Well, here's what happens if we continue in Job 12. Job begins his conversation in Job 12:1. Then Job answered, "No doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you, but I also have a mind like you. I am not inferior to you. Who doesn't know the things you're talking about?" And it's in this first verse of Job's interaction with Zofar that we see the turn and the transition and we see Job answer with a word of passive sarcasm. Anybody here today feel like you are fluent in sarcasm? Anybody? Yep. Here's what we know to be true, unfortunately, about words of sarcasm. They are often, if not always, unhealthy in the way that we use them. They're sort of this way that we respond that doesn't always say the thing that we mean. And what we find here is Job answers by saying, "Surely you're the people and wisdom will die with you. You are the most wise people." He says, "But I'm not inferior to you." He's saying, "I'm smart, too." He goes on to say, "You're saying things that are obvious who doesn't know the things that you're talking about. Everyone knows that God's big and that God will answer your prayers if you turn your heart to all these different things." And he begins to do this. But what we find here is very important is it reveals that Job is not doing well. And what we find in this is his friends are pushing back against him pretty consistently. and he's reacting with this sort of emotional reaction which is completely understandable. Can we just be honest here? Nobody blames Job for being in a bad place. It's understood. All of the difficult things that we've covered that have happened to him have led him to this place. And so he gets this sort of passive sarcasm. But what what happens here is he doesn't stay in this moment of being passive. He flips to a portion of the text where he begins to push back specifically against Zofar. In chapter 13:1, he continues the same language and Job says, "Look, my eyes have seen all this. My ears have heard and understood it. Everything you know, I also know. I am not inferior to you." And so, it's in this moment where he begins to push back. He says, "I know what you've said, but he says, I know that, too." And then what does he do? He doesn't stop there. He says in verse three something that we might miss if we just read it individually. In chapter 13:3 it says this, "Yet I prefer to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God." You see, check this out. What happened one interaction ago is Job is going back and forth with a friend saying, "Man, I just need someone to go between me and God. I need a mediator because God doesn't hear me." And actually what's happening is Job is growing. There's some hope in the midst of this. Even in the middle of his pity party, Job is growing in his faith because he goes from wanting a mediator to go in between him and God to saying in chapter 13:3, "I prefer to speak to the Almighty." He said, "I want to go directly to God and not through you." He's growing. He's making progress. In his push back, we see his growth. But the third thing that we see Job answer with is a word of pity. His pity party continues. The invitations have been sent. The balloons are out. And he continues verse six by saying, "Hear now my argument and listen to my defense." He He says to his friend who's given him the honest truth, pulled no punches, who's gone right after him. He says, "But but listen to my excuses." I've heard it often said that excuses are like buttholes. Everyone has one and they all stink. Yeah, that's it. That's the excuse that we're getting here from Zofhar. He he talks to Job, but Job just pushes back. He says, "Just hear my argument, but I have a reason. I know there's there's stuff that's going on in my life." Zofar didn't handle any of that. He says, "You need to turn back to God." As if Job hasn't been spewing his pity party for 10 chapters now. He's just continually in this cycle. And what it's led to is that Job actually answers in chapter 13 verse 15 with a word of pessimism. Here's what he says. Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. Which is such a conflicting deep statement. We could spend, I believe, a sermon just on that one phrase. Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. Job has extreme trust in God, but he's gotten to the place where he's pessimistic, saying, "All right, God. Even if you take my life, I'll trust you." His expectation for the outcome is no longer good. It has gone bad. Some of us find ourselves in this season where after a difficult job moment, we are left with just answers to everything of pessimism. We only look for what could go wrong or south or bad. and we carry with us the weight of everything that could go wrong. And so what happens here is Job begins this word of really it's it's heavy, but it's a word of pessimism. And and here's the the version or the understanding for pessimism that I want you to have today. Pessimism is when you and I carry with us the weight of everything that could possibly go wrong. It's when we carry with us the weight of everything that could possibly go wrong. A pessimist goes on a road trip and thinks, "Okay, we could get a flat tire, the engine could overheat, we could run out of gas, all the things could happen, right? They think of all of the different things." And most often times the pessimist sees those things where the optimist sees things that could go right, the memories that could be made, the good things that could be happening. But in this moment, because of his current condition and circumstances, Job begins to be pessimistic. And what happens here is it ultimately begins to teach us about a backpack. Now, I don't know if you've ever done this, but um in middle school and high school, um some friends and I got to do some backpacking. Anybody been backpacking before? Anybody? Okay, awesome. A few of you, actually. So, here's what backpacking is if you're not familiar. It's when you go camping, but instead of driving into your camp spot or glamping by taking a camper, all right, because that's cheating. You take everything you need for the weekend in your backpack and you walk in, hike in to your camp spot, camp for the weekend, and then come back out. And it's an incredible experience, and I love getting to do it. But it taught me a really important principle. All right. Um, when I started going backpacking, I thought I knew everything. All right. Um, as most high school students do. And so I thought I knew everything. And so I would pack my backpack and I put everything that I needed and wanted for the weekend in my backpack because I knew that for a few steps I could carry an extremely heavy backpack. I got this, I thought. But here's one of the things that I learned actually pretty quickly into this process is I learned that a heavy backpack for one or two steps was okay, that I could carry the weight, but if I was going to make it all the way into the campsite and back, I needed to be extremely intentional about what I put in my backpack because every little bit of weight mattered. If I could just encourage you on one spiritual principle today, it's this. As you look at Job's reaction, he begins to fill a backpack with pessimism of all the things that have gone wrong about God doesn't listen to him. This has been terrible. I wish I wasn't born. All of these things Job says are pessimism that he puts in his backpack and he tries to carry it all on his own. Understand this. You and I were not designed to carry the full weight of pessimism on our own. We weren't. That's exactly what Zofar says to Job in chapter 11:13. He gives him a way out, a way to put the backpack down. He says, "As for you, if you redirect your heart, spread out your hands to him in prayer. If there's any iniquity in your hand, remove it. And don't allow injustice to dwell in your tents. Then you will hold your head high, free from fault, and you will be firmly established and unafraid. If I could just encourage you today on one simple thing, it would be this truth that we need to take the weight of pessimism of all of the things that could go wrong or have gone wrong in our lives, all of the test results, all of the history and the baggage and the story that we've walked through and all of the junk of life. And we need to take that off in order that we redirect our hearts back to God, focus on God, and spread our hearts out to him in prayer. And when we do so, just as Zofar promises Job, I promise you, if you will do those things, God will do what only he can do in your life. Let me pray for you this morning. God, we come before you and I just lift up to you this church and myself, God, with this principle in mind, understanding that as we read the book of Job, there's so much that goes wrong and it conditions Job towards pessimism of seeing everything as wrong. But my prayer today, God, is that the people in the room and myself would be a people that do not get weighed down by pessimism. rather that we would be the type of people who would tune our hearts towards you, God. That we would redirect our hearts from looking at our circumstances and all the things that could go wrong. That we would simply focus on you. And that a byproduct of that as we pray is that God, you would step into our lives, into our situations, and do what only you can do. God, my prayer is that you and I understand, God, as people, we understand that you can move powerfully, but that we have to take off that pessimism in order to step into what you've called us to. God, I pray that you move powerfully in our midst. Pray all this in your name. Amen. Let's stand as we continue in worship. Saints and angels bow before your throne. All the elders cast their crowns [singing] before the lamb of God and sing. You're [singing] worthy of it all. You're [singing] worthy of it all. For from you are all things [music] and to [singing] you are all things. You deserve the glory. All the saint angels bow before [music] your throne. All the earth [singing] has their crowns before [music] the lamb of [singing] God and sing. You're worthy of it [music] all. You're worthy of it all. Oh Jesus. For from you are all [music] and to you [singing] are all praise. You deserve the glory. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. [music] You're worthy of it all. [music] Oh, you are all and [music] you are all you deserve the glory day. Day and night and [singing and music] day. Day and night, night and day, let it srise. Day and [music and singing] night, night and day, let it srise. Day and night, night and day, let in. Let's lift up our worship. Day and night, night and day. [music] [singing] Day and night, night and day, let rise. Day and night, night and [music] day, let day and night, night and day. You're worthy of it all. [music] You're worthy of you are and to [music] you are all you deserve glory. You're worthy. [music] You're worthy of You're [music] worthy. You're worthy of you are and to you are you. [music] Thank you guys so much for joining us today. Hope you guys have a great week. See you guys next week. Thank you guys for having me. Thank you. I was