# Digging for Answers

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Job
Date: November 1, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/digging-for-answers

## Transcript

0:00 · In Job 28, 21, wisdom is hidden from you, but in Colossians chapter two,

0:06 · wisdom is hidden in him and the difference is it's hidden in the

0:12 · God man who has been revealed to us.

0:16 · And this is our enduring truth this morning.

0:18 · The thing that we get to practice and live out is wisdom is not

0:22 · hidden from you, it is revealed in Jesus Christ.

0:30 · And if you have your Bible, go ahead and grab it and open it and

0:33 · flip to Job chapter 28.

0:35 · If you don't have a Bible, you can grab the one in the chair right

0:37 · in front of you, we're in page 459 in there, but Job chapter 28.

0:42 · And as you're flipping there, I've got a question for you that

0:45 · I want you to think about, and this will kind of harken back

0:47 · some childhood memories, is did you as a kid ever try to

0:51 · dig a hole to China?

0:54 · Yeah, right?

0:55 · Well, you know what I'm talking about.

0:56 · Like, you're like, I'm going to make it to China.

0:58 · Um, I remember very vividly in elementary school, I went on a

1:02 · trip with my buddy and we went to Mexico with his family and

1:06 · we were on the beach and we're like, we're going to make

1:09 · this hole get to Mexico and we got deep, all right?

1:12 · Like literally we had to like repel each other in and like

1:14 · pull each other out and we got so deep that we were trying

1:17 · to get this water out and we kept on scooping it.

1:20 · I think we got below sea level and as we spent three hours

1:23 · trying to get water out, it kept coming back in, but

1:27 · here's why we were so like, we're going to make this hole

1:29 · work because back at home in Phoenix, Arizona, when you try

1:34 · to dig a hole, you get about eight inches, maybe a foot

1:38 · and you're like, I'm out, right?

1:41 · Like the ground is hard.

1:43 · You try to put a bush in the plant and you're like,

1:46 · this is why I'm calling a landscaper.

1:48 · Andre said, I'll have you on speed dial.

1:49 · You can put it in the ground.

1:50 · I'm not doing it.

1:52 · And it's like, it's just too much.

1:54 · It's like so hard, like we're going to do this the right way.

1:58 · But here's what's crazy about this is Arizona is known for

2:02 · people digging in the ground in digging, trying to find something.

2:07 · You know, Arizona is known for its five C's and one of

2:10 · those C's is really important that we get out of the ground.

2:13 · Any guesses on that?

2:15 · Copper.

2:16 · Someone said citrus in first service.

2:18 · I didn't even know that was one of the five C's.

2:20 · All right.

2:20 · So I'm like, you don't get citrus out of the ground.

2:22 · Anyway, but copper is right.

2:25 · And what's crazy about is Arizona produces actually 70% of the

2:29 · copper used in our country and throughout North America.

2:33 · That's so much copper comes from our state.

2:36 · And what's crazy about this is that men and women for years have said,

2:40 · I know the ground is hard, but I'm going to dig.

2:43 · I'm going to push and I'm going to get past it.

2:47 · And you see today in Job chapter 28, we actually see what Job is

2:52 · talking about here in verse two.

2:54 · He says iron is taken from the ground and copper is smelted from

2:58 · ore Job is talking about our state here.

3:02 · But here's the reality that we're going to find as Job talks about

3:06 · digging into the ground, looking for answers to his problems.

3:11 · And it comes to this suffering reality today is the book of

3:15 · Job takes us from why to who, meaning over and over again,

3:19 · in this book, Job's been asking these questions of why is this

3:23 · happening? Why is that happening? Why do bad things happen?

3:26 · God, why, why, why, why, why, why?

3:28 · And he doesn't get answers to it, but instead he's constantly

3:31 · pointed back to the God who is behind all of it.

3:35 · But here's the crazy thing that we take in Job chapter 28 in this

3:39 · little detour is, but wisdom was not what they were looking for

3:44 · the whole time as they're digging into the ground, as they're digging

3:48 · into their life, looking for the answers to questions.

3:52 · The one thing they didn't have on their bucket list trying to find

3:55 · as they're looking for copper in different fine ores here is they

4:00 · weren't looking for the wisdom that God put right in front of them.

4:05 · As we pick up in the book of Job previous to this, if you've been

4:09 · tracking alongside with us is Job had left off last week after

4:15 · hearing just round after round of his friends pounding on him and

4:19 · telling him how to fix all his problems.

4:22 · And maybe you've been in there as you've had people in your life

4:25 · trying to fix your problems and your friends and your parents and

4:28 · your family members.

4:29 · And Job was just exhausted by all this ending.

4:33 · And as he's sitting in his suffering, as he's sitting in the

4:36 · ash sheep of his issues into that bleeds, this silence and

4:42 · Job does something nobody expects.

4:44 · As it's quiet, as answers have run out, he bursts into song and

4:51 · poetry in Job chapter 28.

4:53 · And as I was reading this, I was like, I thought Disney invented

4:56 · princesses singing for no apparent reason, but apparently Job did it

5:00 · 4,000 years before Disney ever did.

5:03 · And as Job bursts into song with this, here's what we're going to

5:07 · see is as he goes into this poem, it's almost like everything gets

5:12 · paused in the questions that everyone was asking all of a sudden

5:16 · start to fade away.

5:17 · Cause for 25 chapters, they've been on the ash sheep, digging

5:21 · for answers.

5:22 · Why did this happen?

5:23 · What did Job do?

5:24 · What is God doing behind all of it?

5:26 · But here's the problem.

5:28 · They were digging for an explanation.

5:31 · They were never digging for the wisdom that God wanted to impart

5:34 · upon them.

5:36 · And you see today, we're going to find out that there's a

5:39 · is information tells you what happens, whereas wisdom tells you how to

5:45 · live when you don't know why it happened in the first place.

5:49 · So this morning, as we go on this journey with Job, he's going to

5:54 · take us on a little mining trip.

5:56 · He's going to take us through three shafts, three ways to dig.

6:00 · And we're going to find today that when we dig for life's answers, he's

6:04 · going to show us the path we typically take, but ultimately the

6:08 · destination we need to end with.

6:10 · And it first starts as we dig for life's answers through refining

6:14 · our work, through refining our work.

6:16 · Job chapter 28, starting in verse one, as Job begins this journey,

6:21 · he says this, surely there is a mine for silver in a place

6:26 · where gold is refined.

6:28 · He says, iron is taken from the ground and copper is smelted from

6:31 · ore.

6:32 · A miner puts an end to the darkness.

6:33 · He probes the deepest recess for ore in the gloomy darkness.

6:38 · The miner cuts shafts far from human habitation in places unknown to those

6:43 · who walk above ground, suspended far away from people.

6:46 · The miners swing back and forth.

6:50 · Food may come from the earth, but below the surface, the earth is

6:54 · transformed as by fire.

6:57 · Its rocks are a source of lapis lazuli containing flecks of gold.

7:01 · No bird of prey knows the path.

7:04 · No falcon's eye has seen it.

7:06 · Proud beasts have never walked on it.

7:09 · No lion has ever prowled over it.

7:11 · The miner uses a flint tool and he turns up ore from the root of the

7:16 · mountains.

7:17 · He cuts out channels in the rocks and his eyes spot every treasure.

7:21 · He dams up the streams from flowing so that he may bring to light what is

7:27 · hidden.

7:28 · You see, Job, as he opens this chapter, he starts to describe a miner and

7:35 · he goes down into the dark with a lamp.

7:39 · He says the miner cuts a shaft far from human houses and habitation.

7:44 · He swings back and forth and back and forth in the dark where nobody

7:49 · up top can even see him.

7:51 · What I love here is Job is describing hard labor and work.

7:55 · And you got to think about this is Job was describing mining, which is hard

7:59 · today, but 4,000 years ago was even harder.

8:03 · There was no hard hats.

8:04 · There was no oxygen sensors.

8:06 · There was no OSHA, which maybe that was a good thing.

8:08 · I don't know.

8:10 · It's just a man and his lamp and a rock face.

8:15 · And Job says, but the man goes down anyway, because he knows what's

8:19 · down there is worth it.

8:21 · Check out how he describes some of this in verses nine through 11.

8:24 · It says the man moves mountains.

8:26 · Literally he turns rivers.

8:28 · He goes into the dark and he brings treasure up into the light.

8:32 · What I love about this church is Job is celebrating human ingenuity.

8:39 · And honestly, we should too.

8:41 · You look at verses seven and eight, he says, the Falcon has the

8:44 · sharpest eye in the sky yet has never seen these paths.

8:47 · The lion is the proudest beast on the earth and it has never walked

8:50 · there, but a human being with a lamp and a flint tool goes where

8:56 · no animal has ever gone.

8:59 · And what Job is describing here is that God made us to do exactly this.

9:06 · In Genesis chapter one, God told the very first humans, Adam and Eve

9:09 · to subdue the earth, to subdue every mine, every lab, every hospital.

9:15 · He's seen every engineer who figures out how to get copper out of a

9:19 · mountain is doing something that God has designed us to do.

9:24 · I mentioned Arizona is known for its copper.

9:27 · Do you know what the highest producing copper place in the

9:30 · entire North America is?

9:33 · Anyone want to guess?

9:34 · Yeah, it's called a Morenci.

9:36 · You don't even know that exists because it's not a place you want to go.

9:40 · It's about four hours east of here.

9:41 · You're almost to New Mexico.

9:43 · Usually if you go that, you're like, I'm too close to New Mexico.

9:45 · So I'm going to go back to Phoenix, right?

9:48 · There ain't nothing there.

9:49 · Uh, New Mexico is boring, but this little town of Morenci, it's crazy

9:55 · because generations of people have put food on the table by digging into that

10:00 · ground and how beautiful it is that when we push the boundaries of who we

10:05 · are, when human ingenuity says, I'm going to strive for more, I'm what's

10:10 · known as an early adopter, meaning when I see something that's new in

10:14 · technology, that's groundbreaking.

10:16 · I want it.

10:18 · And where I fail in this most of the time is an Apple products.

10:22 · Cause I don't own a percentage of Apple.

10:24 · Apple owns a percentage of Andrew.

10:25 · All right.

10:26 · It works the reverse way.

10:28 · So literally I was like, the iPhone duos came out and I had it pre-ordered.

10:34 · I had it literally paid pre-ordered.

10:36 · It's going to come to me and I'm watching all these reviews online.

10:40 · And I'm like, you know what?

10:41 · I'm an early adopter.

10:42 · I got this.

10:43 · It might break, but mine wouldn't break.

10:45 · And I'm like, I'm going to do this.

10:46 · And finally, like the negativity beat me down so much.

10:49 · Like I even envisioned having it.

10:51 · I was like, I can pull it out.

10:52 · I can preach from it right here.

10:53 · And then like, I can have that technology in my hand.

10:57 · And I finally canceled my pre-order because the negativity of the world

11:00 · told me it was a bad idea and I might regret it, but iPhone duo 2.0

11:04 · next year is coming anyway, but here like our world strives for more.

11:10 · Our world is just like, Hey, let's increase in technology.

11:13 · Let us better ourselves.

11:14 · Let us push ourselves in church.

11:17 · That's a great thing.

11:18 · It is something God ingrained in us.

11:22 · In verse one, Job says, and he starts this off.

11:25 · He says, the mind is a place where gold is refined.

11:29 · If you were with us last week, we said, and as we looked at

11:32 · Job's friends, talk to him that you might be too tired and too

11:36 · beaten down by life to find God.

11:39 · But the phrase we use in that, but you're still the gold.

11:42 · He's refining that Joe leaked this language in, but this week

11:46 · I love as Joe picks up on that refining language, he shows us

11:50 · the other side of it, that we as men and women are pretty good

11:55 · refiners to give us enough time, give us enough tools and we can find,

12:00 · we can build, we can develop almost anything.

12:04 · And that's how most of us, if we're honest, we also

12:07 · handle our pain and our troubles.

12:09 · They're like, Hey, I'm going through something.

12:11 · Don't worry.

12:11 · I can think about it.

12:12 · I can research it.

12:14 · Genius can strike and I can figure it out.

12:17 · I don't know if you're like me, but all my best ideas come in the

12:20 · middle of the night when I'm laying in bed, I'm tired.

12:24 · I'm ready to go to sleep.

12:25 · Last night I was chasing four kids as a Pokemon through my neighborhood.

12:29 · As it's raining, trying to get umbrellas, literally I had a Pokemon onesie.

12:33 · Um, but I'm like going through and we're trying to get all

12:35 · candy around our town and I'm laying in bed just tired.

12:38 · But that's where all these ideas come into my head.

12:40 · And then I start writing them down on my phone, start doing research.

12:43 · Then I have AI fix all that stuff and make it better the next day.

12:46 · But it's like engine, like we were struck and all of a sudden

12:49 · we want to fix our problems.

12:50 · We want to fix our issues.

12:52 · And those are good things.

12:53 · But Job tells us here, he's building this is that we'll hit a limit.

12:59 · Cause Job is setting us up after 11 verses of everything we can dig up.

13:04 · Everything we can accomplish on our own power.

13:07 · Verse 12 asks us the one thing we cannot do on our own.

13:12 · And we see our second thing is we dig for life's answers first by refining

13:16 · our work, but then it also leads to reaching beyond our limits.

13:21 · Keep going in verse 12 as Job sets this up, but he says, but where can

13:26 · wisdom be found and where is understanding located?

13:31 · He's like, we dig, we search, we accomplish, but

13:34 · there's this thing called wisdom.

13:36 · And where is it?

13:37 · It's not in the mind.

13:39 · Verse 13, no one can know its value since it cannot be found

13:43 · in the land of the living.

13:44 · The ocean depth say it is not in me.

13:47 · While the sea declares, I don't have it.

13:49 · Gold cannot be exchanged for it.

13:51 · And silver cannot be weighted out for its price.

13:54 · Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of a fur and precious

13:58 · onyx or lapis lazuli gold and glass.

14:01 · Do not compare with it.

14:03 · In articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.

14:07 · He says, coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.

14:11 · The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.

14:16 · He says, Tofaz from Kush cannot compare with it.

14:21 · And they not can, it cannot be valued in pure gold.

14:27 · Job spent 11 verses saying humans, if you give them time,

14:33 · and energy and passion can find anything except this.

14:40 · He said they could find anything they want.

14:42 · They can, they can make a new mousetrap.

14:44 · They can develop something else, but they cannot find this.

14:48 · And this he talks about is wisdom.

14:51 · Some of you're like, I know wisdom can't be found in my husband's mind.

14:54 · I've been searching for it for a while and I don't know where it is.

14:56 · Right.

14:58 · But he's saying wisdom cannot be found in the land of living.

15:01 · He says, you can't dig deep enough.

15:02 · In verse 14, he said, the ocean depths say it's not in me.

15:06 · So, so let's test that theory a little bit.

15:08 · How deep have human beings ever dug?

15:12 · In 1970, the Soviet Union started drilling a hole in far North Russia.

15:17 · And they wanted to see literally how far they could go.

15:21 · I think they were trying to end the world.

15:23 · I'm not sure.

15:24 · Okay.

15:24 · It seems like a terrible idea, but get this, they drilled for almost 20 years.

15:32 · Any guesses on how far they got 50 miles.

15:39 · That's a good dig.

15:40 · You, that's a big guess.

15:42 · Seven and a half.

15:43 · Someone said seven over here.

15:44 · Cause you've Googled it cheaters, right?

15:46 · You took too long to say that.

15:47 · If you knew it, you knew it.

15:48 · All right.

15:50 · But seven and a half miles was crazy about this.

15:55 · Is it still the deepest hole that humans have ever made when they got

15:58 · down there, they said the rock actually functioned like plastic.

16:02 · Instead of stone, literally like it was defying the laws of physics.

16:06 · The more they got there and didn't understand it.

16:08 · Now you see here that in, in seven and a half miles sounds deep until you

16:13 · realize that the center of the earth is almost 4,000 miles down there.

16:19 · What's crazy about this is put this in perspective, 20 years of the best

16:25 · engineering in the world, and we got less than one fifth of 1% of the way there.

16:31 · That's what it looks like when we reach beyond our limits, we can go further

16:36 · than anybody ever has, and we're still barely scratching the surface.

16:41 · And guys, this is just the earth.

16:44 · The questions Job is asking go a lot deeper than a rock.

16:49 · Job has been crying out throughout this book is why did my children die?

16:54 · Where is God in this whole situation?

16:57 · Is he fair?

16:58 · Is he just?

16:59 · Does he know about me?

17:00 · Does he love me?

17:02 · Does he even care what is happening?

17:04 · Here's the deal.

17:04 · Church, you can't drill a hole to those answers.

17:09 · But if we're honest, some of you have been trying for years.

17:13 · You've asked the questions.

17:15 · Why did the marriage end?

17:17 · Why did the baby not make it?

17:19 · Why did God let this happen to me?

17:22 · And why did I go through this tragedy through my life?

17:25 · And you ask and you go deeper and deeper and you've dug more than maybe

17:29 · the people around you know, and you still haven't hit the bottom of it.

17:35 · But Job continues and he says, well, if we can't dig to it, Job says,

17:38 · we definitely can't buy it.

17:40 · In verses 15 through 19, Job references gold and silver and onyx

17:44 · and lapis azulea and coral and crystal and topaz.

17:47 · Job takes the entire whole jewelry store and empties it on the counter.

17:52 · And he says, wisdom says when we're trying to buy it, that's,

17:56 · that's not enough.

17:59 · I love in 28, 18, this beautiful verse and the second half of it,

18:04 · it says that the price of wisdom is beyond pearls.

18:09 · We can't buy it.

18:12 · And think for a second of who's writing this.

18:15 · When we are introduced to Job and Job chapter one, Job used to be

18:19 · the greatest man in the East.

18:21 · He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels.

18:23 · If wisdom were for sale, Job could have bought it.

18:26 · Job in today's terms was worth tens of millions of dollars.

18:31 · Rumor has it that Job had one of Elon Musk's flying cars and personal

18:35 · robots on preorder 4,000 years ago, right?

18:39 · This dude was loaded.

18:41 · But Job with all the money in the world says, I can't buy wisdom.

18:48 · Every answer his friends gave him, they were free, but they were worthless.

18:54 · Every possession and put in in mobility he had was trying to be

18:59 · spent to get this and it was worthless.

19:01 · He couldn't find it.

19:04 · And you think about this for us today, church, we live in the

19:08 · most informed generation in human history is we are literally carrying

19:13 · a library on earth in our pocket every single day, but we are not

19:20 · any wiser.

19:21 · We might not know more TikTok dance moves, but we're not any wiser.

19:26 · And Job shows us that we might know more answers than ever, but we

19:30 · still don't know how to live.

19:31 · I mean, think about this for a second.

19:33 · We have figured out how to split the atom as mankind, yet we don't

19:38 · know how to stay married across our worlds.

19:42 · We can map the human genome and it has been done, but we can't figure

19:46 · out how to forgive a brother who has wronged us.

19:50 · We can find copper seven miles down into the earth, but we can't find

19:54 · peace seven inches into our chest.

19:59 · You see information is something you can dig up, but wisdom is

20:02 · something you have to receive.

20:05 · And here's the deal.

20:06 · This week, you're actually going to feel that this Tuesday is

20:10 · election day and I last week, I got to fill out my ballots.

20:14 · I dropped them in the mail.

20:15 · Me and my wife, we, we dropped those off and, and had what we

20:19 · voted on there, you know, put of what we think is best for our

20:23 · community and church, this is, this is something we all get to

20:25 · exercise here in America and you should vote.

20:28 · You should speak what you are feeling and how to make our

20:32 · community the best possible place it is.

20:34 · We have that freedom here and we should exercise it.

20:36 · And here's the thing at Crossroads.

20:38 · We're never going to tell you how to vote.

20:39 · We're never going to tell you go which way to go, but you

20:42 · should exercise it.

20:43 · I was just hearing a stat this morning that probably about 50% of

20:47 · those who can vote in our state will vote.

20:49 · 50% of people are deciding how we are going to live in the

20:53 · society that we have in Surprise and in Arizona and beyond.

20:59 · But here the question becomes, well, how should I vote?

21:02 · Like, what are the ways?

21:03 · What is behind that?

21:05 · And here's the thing, because you're being told how to

21:07 · vote by a lot of different ways, one by the thousands of

21:10 · text messages we were getting.

21:11 · Oh my goodness.

21:14 · After the midterms are over, can I stop getting the

21:16 · text? I've blocked every politician in the entire nation,

21:20 · but I'm still getting them, right?

21:21 · You're getting the letters and the mail.

21:22 · You're getting the ads.

21:24 · You're getting the signs on the side of the road, which I'm

21:26 · ready to kick those over because then our Cross Church

21:28 · signs stand out a little bit more, right?

21:30 · But there's all this information bombarding us on

21:33 · how we should speak.

21:35 · But here's what I will tell you as a church member, as a

21:38 · follower of Christ, one thing we should all be doing is

21:42 · asking for the wisdom of God to be a part of it.

21:46 · James tells us in the New Testament that if we ask for

21:49 · wisdom, it will be granted, and we're going to see in

21:51 · just a second where that wisdom comes from.

21:54 · But here's where we continue on this on Wednesday morning,

21:58 · whatever the results will be, whether your candidate wins

22:01 · or loses.

22:02 · And no, we can't put our hope in those candidates

22:05 · because they are fallen just like us.

22:08 · But throughout scripture, we remember Daniel 2 and so

22:11 · many as that God says he removes kings and he

22:14 · establishes kings.

22:15 · He gives wisdom to the wise, the same God who holds

22:18 · wisdom, holds the outcome and the same one who will

22:21 · sustain us no matter what happens.

22:26 · So Job continues down this line and he's building

22:31 · this case.

22:33 · He's like, hey, we need to work as hard as we

22:35 · can.

22:36 · We need to make sure we are digging into the

22:38 · ground.

22:38 · We're bringing our resources up, but we will

22:40 · come to a point where we cannot do it on our own.

22:43 · We will reach our ends and beyond our boundaries.

22:47 · But this leads to verse 20, which I love.

22:50 · And as we dig for life's big answers, it leads

22:53 · to our last one.

22:54 · As we do this through relying on someone

22:56 · greater, check out verse 20, as he continues

22:59 · on this, he says, where then does wisdom come

23:03 · from?

23:05 · He's like, it doesn't come from my ability.

23:06 · It doesn't come from my riches.

23:08 · It doesn't come from anything I can

23:10 · you facture, but where does it come from and

23:14 · where is understanding located?

23:18 · Job says it is hidden.

23:20 · It is hidden from the eyes of every living

23:21 · thing and concealed from the birds of the

23:23 · sky.

23:24 · Abaddon and death say that we have heard

23:27 · news of it with our ears.

23:30 · Job continues and kind of get to the

23:32 · darkest part of this passage.

23:34 · And he's like, wisdom is hidden from every

23:38 · living thing.

23:38 · We can't find it.

23:39 · He says the birds can't see it.

23:41 · In verse 22, he even unpacks the sports.

23:43 · He says even death and destruction have

23:46 · only ever heard rumors of it.

23:48 · He says, nobody on earth has it.

23:50 · Nobody under the earth has it.

23:52 · But then in verse 23, as he gets to the

23:55 · depths of the despair and the darkness,

23:58 · the whole chapter turns on one phrase and

24:02 · check out verse 23, as Job is wrestling

24:04 · with this, I can't find it.

24:06 · I've reached the end of my limits everywhere

24:08 · I go.

24:09 · The wisdom is not there.

24:10 · But he says this, but God understands

24:15 · the way to wisdom and he knows its

24:19 · location.

24:22 · Job says, but God, we can't find it.

24:28 · But God knows exactly where it is.

24:30 · And he tells us how God uncovers it

24:33 · to us in verses 24, that God knows

24:35 · why God knows where it is.

24:37 · He says this, verse 24, for he looks,

24:39 · this is being God to the ends of the

24:40 · earth and he sees everything under the

24:42 · heavens.

24:42 · When God fixed the weight of the wind

24:44 · and distributed the water by measure,

24:47 · when he established a limit for the

24:50 · rain, I think God raised the limit for

24:53 · Surprise Arizona over the last weekend.

24:55 · All right.

24:55 · We were limited for a long time, but

24:57 · he says when you establish the limit

24:59 · and he established a path for the

25:00 · lightning, look at verse 27, he

25:02 · considered wisdom and he evaluated it.

25:07 · He established wisdom and he

25:10 · examined it.

25:12 · Job says that God knows where wisdom

25:16 · is for the same reason that he

25:18 · knows how much the wind weighs is

25:20 · God made it.

25:22 · He's like, it's not apart from him.

25:24 · He knows it intimately.

25:26 · He knows it deeply.

25:28 · As a parent, you understand this

25:30 · because you made your kids and you

25:33 · know your kids.

25:34 · I know my kids, the difference of

25:36 · them, right?

25:36 · They're all like have their own

25:38 · personality.

25:39 · Archie will be an engineer.

25:40 · Arlo likes to run into walls.

25:41 · Maybe he would be a good miner.

25:43 · I didn't think about that until

25:44 · now.

25:46 · Aria is just like the sweetest

25:48 · little girl.

25:48 · She's bossy, so she's going to be

25:50 · in some leadership role, telling

25:51 · people what to do because she

25:52 · likes to do that.

25:53 · And then Alice, two and a half

25:54 · years old, she's already like takes

25:56 · care of more babies than I've taken

25:58 · care of in my life.

25:59 · Like she has so many babies.

26:00 · She's like, hold my baby and like

26:02 · rock it and tells me how to do it.

26:03 · I'm like, you're an expert on this.

26:04 · But all your kids, you know them

26:06 · so well.

26:06 · When your kids lie to you, you're

26:08 · like, that ain't true.

26:10 · They're like, how do you know?

26:10 · Because I know you, right?

26:12 · I just know I made you.

26:13 · I created you.

26:14 · I know.

26:16 · And God's like, he knows the

26:17 · wind.

26:18 · He knows the rain.

26:19 · He knows the limits he set.

26:20 · Why?

26:21 · Because he created it all.

26:22 · And he created wisdom.

26:25 · Wisdom isn't some buried

26:26 · treasure that God forgot about.

26:28 · It's the blueprint he used to build

26:30 · the entire worlds.

26:32 · So if God has it, the only way we

26:35 · get it is if he hands it to us.

26:38 · And in verse 28, he does exactly

26:40 · that.

26:40 · Check this out.

26:41 · Is he being God said to mankind

26:43 · that the fear of the Lord, that

26:46 · is wisdom and to turn from

26:49 · evil is understanding.

26:53 · Now we break this down for a

26:54 · second.

26:54 · The fear of the Lord doesn't

26:56 · mean being scared of God.

26:58 · It means taking God seriously.

27:01 · It means trusting him and

27:03 · worshiping him, living like he

27:05 · is who he says he is, which is

27:08 · the God, the creator, the

27:09 · sustainer and the propeller of

27:11 · the entire universe.

27:12 · That's a big God.

27:14 · And notice what God did not

27:16 · say.

27:16 · He didn't say wisdom is

27:17 · understanding why he didn't say

27:19 · wisdom is having all the

27:21 · answers.

27:22 · He said wisdom is two things

27:23 · to trust me and to turn from

27:26 · evil.

27:28 · See, you can do both of those

27:30 · without knowing a single reason

27:32 · for your pain and your

27:34 · suffering.

27:35 · And this is good news for any

27:37 · of us today who might be

27:39 · sitting in the middle of ash,

27:41 · sitting in the middle of a hard

27:42 · season is we might not get a

27:44 · clear answer to our struggles,

27:46 · but we have the God who tells

27:48 · us how to push through it.

27:51 · But here's what will blow your

27:52 · mind is you go back to the

27:54 · very front of the book of Job

27:55 · in Job, chapter one.

27:57 · And this is, I just love this.

27:59 · How clear this connects in such

28:01 · a powerful way.

28:02 · But in Job, chapter one, verse

28:04 · one, we are introduced to the

28:05 · book of Job that says there

28:06 · was a man in the country of

28:07 · Uz named Job and listen to

28:08 · how he's described.

28:10 · He was a man of complete

28:12 · integrity who feared God and

28:16 · who turned away from evil.

28:19 · He feared God.

28:20 · He turned away from evil.

28:22 · Those are the exact same

28:23 · phrases we see in 28, 28 in

28:25 · chapter one, verse one.

28:27 · It's leaking what we'll see in

28:28 · 28, verse 28, how God

28:30 · describes Job is the same way

28:33 · that Job describes wisdom

28:34 · coming from God.

28:36 · And for 25 chapters, the

28:39 · friends have dug through

28:41 · Job's Job's life, looking

28:42 · for the hidden sin, like

28:44 · bro, you did something wrong.

28:45 · There has to be some

28:46 · explanation of why your life

28:48 · is so messed up.

28:49 · You did something to make

28:50 · your kids turn out this way.

28:51 · You did something to get laid

28:53 · off from that job.

28:53 · You did something to make

28:54 · your marriage fall apart.

28:55 · There has to be a reason.

28:57 · Let's find it, Job, and

28:58 · let's blame you.

29:00 · But here behind all of it is

29:02 · he was actually the wise

29:04 · man in the whole story.

29:08 · And this is the suffering

29:09 · reality we see as wisdom was

29:11 · never what they were looking

29:12 · for.

29:12 · They wanted an explanation to

29:14 · life's problems, but God

29:17 · had already given them an

29:18 · example right in front of

29:19 · their face.

29:21 · And we see Job is actually

29:22 · an example of what we'll see

29:23 · a greater Job in Jesus

29:24 · Christ in the New Testament.

29:27 · But here's what's so crazy is

29:29 · this part of the book, it

29:32 · actually turns the story of

29:34 · Job because up till now,

29:36 · Job has been searching for a

29:38 · reason to his problems.

29:40 · But Job, after this, will

29:42 · search for a person that

29:44 · is greater than his problems.

29:47 · After this, Job just wants

29:48 · to see God's face.

29:50 · And that's exactly what it

29:51 · means to rely on someone

29:52 · greater is wisdom doesn't

29:54 · start when you figure out

29:56 · God, it starts when you

29:57 · trust that God that you

29:59 · can't figure out.

30:03 · This year has been awesome

30:05 · in the life of Cross Church,

30:07 · but also hasn't been

30:08 · without its challenges.

30:10 · If this is your church

30:11 · family, back in March, we

30:13 · rolled out a discipleship

30:15 · initiative, which is a

30:17 · nicer way of saying a

30:18 · capital campaign, right, that

30:20 · we're going to raise money.

30:21 · And we said we want to do

30:22 · this so that we can start

30:24 · more churches.

30:25 · We started here at 175th

30:27 · and Bell in 1998 as

30:29 · Palm Vista Baptist Church.

30:31 · And since then, God's just

30:32 · an incredible things over

30:33 · the life of the church.

30:34 · And as the church has

30:35 · grown, God has given us

30:36 · a vision for, Hey, what

30:37 · if we didn't just grow

30:38 · here, but what if we

30:40 · also sent people out to

30:41 · start more churches in

30:43 · more locations and see

30:45 · lights in different

30:45 · communities?

30:46 · And he's done that this

30:48 · past year.

30:48 · We opened two more

30:49 · locations.

30:49 · We have six different

30:50 · churches that are part of

30:51 · our Cross Collective and

30:53 · God has been great.

30:54 · But in March, when we

30:55 · launched this vision and

30:56 · we did this, we had some

30:57 · people right away.

30:58 · We're like, I'm out like

30:59 · you're asking me to give

31:00 · money.

31:01 · Nope.

31:01 · I'm not part of that.

31:02 · And they left and then

31:03 · the coming months, people

31:04 · kind of gave us a soft

31:05 · yes, but then there

31:06 · are some people that

31:07 · as time went on that

31:08 · they jumped off and

31:10 · they jumped off for that

31:11 · or for various reasons.

31:12 · And I'm like, guys, like

31:13 · we're growing.

31:14 · There's exciting things

31:15 · happening and they're

31:16 · like, yeah, but we

31:16 · didn't like this.

31:18 · We didn't like that music.

31:18 · We didn't like the kids

31:19 · ministry.

31:19 · We didn't like that.

31:20 · We don't like you.

31:21 · That's my favorite.

31:22 · I'm like, I liked you.

31:24 · I'm sorry.

31:25 · But in there people

31:26 · have left and here's

31:27 · the problem.

31:28 · I'll be honest with you.

31:29 · It hurts.

31:31 · And I'm like looking

31:31 · around and my God, like

31:33 · you gave us this vision

31:34 · like, and now these

31:35 · people are leaving our

31:36 · church.

31:37 · Like what is happening

31:38 · right now?

31:38 · Is this actually going

31:40 · to work or is this

31:41 · thing going to sink

31:42 · because we're trying

31:44 · harder, but we're not

31:44 · getting the results that

31:45 · we thought we were.

31:46 · And then we stepped

31:47 · back for a second.

31:48 · And here's just the

31:49 · glory of God and how this

31:51 · as, as we evaluated

31:52 · this year today, we started

31:53 · looking at numbers and

31:55 · right now, year to

31:56 · date, compared to last

31:57 · year, which in the

31:59 · life of our church, we

32:00 · are 40% up and giving

32:02 · that we were over the

32:02 · previous year on track

32:04 · for the largest giving

32:04 · year we've ever had in

32:05 · Cross Church.

32:06 · Okay.

32:06 · You celebrate God for that.

32:10 · We've had more baptisms

32:12 · here at Cross Church

32:13 · surprise and across our

32:14 · collective than we've

32:15 · seen in the life of

32:17 · Cross Church.

32:19 · You can clap for that too.

32:20 · And I'll give you one

32:20 · more we do.

32:23 · We're seeing the growth

32:24 · in our numbers, the

32:25 · growth in our attendance,

32:26 · more people coming last

32:28 · week.

32:29 · Kyle shared this.

32:30 · We had more kids on

32:31 · this campus on any

32:33 · Sunday we've ever had

32:34 · outside of Easter.

32:35 · We had the most kids

32:36 · we've ever had here.

32:38 · And we're just seeing

32:38 · in our students are

32:40 · exploding numbers we've

32:41 · never seen.

32:42 · God is just doing a

32:43 · work here.

32:46 · And here's the thing is

32:48 · sometimes when things

32:49 · don't happen on our

32:50 · schedule or by our

32:52 · means, or when we think

32:53 · we work hard enough

32:54 · and all of a sudden we

32:54 · don't see the immediate

32:56 · results right in front

32:57 · of us.

32:57 · Sometimes God is saying

32:58 · you just need to trust

32:59 · me and things will be

33:00 · okay.

33:02 · And God, as we've

33:03 · trusted him through

33:04 · this, what we're

33:05 · finding out is our

33:06 · staff has not got

33:07 · smarter.

33:08 · We've got dumber if

33:08 · anything, because AI has

33:09 · made us dumber.

33:10 · But we haven't gotten

33:11 · more talented, but

33:12 · we've trusted the God

33:14 · of the universe to

33:15 · provide the path that

33:16 · he has taken us down.

33:18 · And guys, he is

33:18 · providing and here

33:21 · when Job comes to the

33:22 · end of himself, when

33:24 · he says, man, I tried

33:25 · to make this all happen

33:26 · on my own by

33:26 · working harder, man,

33:27 · I tried to buy the

33:29 · issue to my problems

33:30 · and it didn't come

33:31 · out when he finally

33:33 · comes to that God

33:35 · I'm just going to

33:36 · trust you and fear

33:38 · you and know that

33:40 · you are in control

33:42 · is when his life

33:43 · starts to turn.

33:46 · But here's the

33:47 · question of how do

33:48 · we get to that point?

33:50 · Because in verse 21,

33:53 · it seems pretty

33:53 · hopeless when Job

33:55 · describes wisdom.

33:56 · He said it is hidden

33:57 · from the eyes of

33:58 · every living thing

33:59 · and concealed from

34:01 · the birds of the sky.

34:03 · Maybe today you

34:04 · feel like that's you

34:05 · like life has handed

34:07 · you a lot of issues

34:08 · and you're like, I

34:09 · feel like I want to

34:11 · know how to fix

34:12 · myself. I feel like

34:13 · I want to know what

34:14 · the next step forward,

34:15 · but I feel like Job

34:16 · and I feel like God

34:17 · has hidden the path

34:19 · that this wisdom

34:20 · is not there

34:22 · that I don't see.

34:22 · Here's my next step.

34:24 · Here's the direction

34:25 · I need to go.

34:26 · Well, I love this.

34:27 · As Job says,

34:28 · this path is hidden.

34:30 · 2000 years ago,

34:32 · Paul writes to another

34:33 · church who they had

34:35 · some wisdom

34:36 · and knowledge issues.

34:38 · In Colossians Chapter

34:39 · two, Paul writes

34:39 · to a church that was

34:41 · literally in a city

34:42 · that they were selling

34:44 · wisdoms.

34:45 · We think multi-level

34:46 · marketing and Ponzi's

34:47 · are new. Now they're

34:48 · happening in Colossae.

34:49 · They're like, buy these rocks.

34:50 · We got from Sedona

34:51 · and you'll be smart, right?

34:53 · It was right here.

34:55 · They were trying to sell

34:56 · wisdom and Paul writing

34:57 · to this church in Colossians

34:59 · Chapter two, verse two,

35:00 · he says this.

35:01 · I want their hearts

35:01 · to be encouraged

35:03 · and joined together

35:04 · in love so that they

35:05 · may have all the riches

35:06 · of complete understanding

35:07 · and have the knowledge

35:09 · of God's mystery.

35:10 · Who is the knowledge

35:11 · of God's mystery?

35:12 · Christ Jesus.

35:14 · In verse three,

35:15 · I love this, in him,

35:18 · in Jesus are hidden

35:21 · all the treasures

35:22 · of wisdom and knowledge.

35:26 · Here's the beauty in this

35:27 · is Paul uses the same word

35:29 · hidden that Job used

35:32 · in verse 21 of Chapter 28.

35:34 · But listen to the difference

35:35 · in Job 28, 21,

35:37 · wisdom is hidden from you.

35:40 · But in Colossians

35:41 · Chapter two, wisdom is

35:42 · hidden in him.

35:44 · And the difference is it's

35:46 · hidden in the God man

35:48 · who has been revealed to us.

35:52 · And this is our enduring

35:53 · truth this morning.

35:54 · The thing that we get

35:55 · to practice and live out

35:57 · is wisdom is not hidden

35:58 · from you.

35:59 · It is revealed in Jesus Christ.

36:03 · Here's what I love is

36:04 · when God hides

36:05 · something from you,

36:06 · it is out of our reach.

36:07 · But when God hides

36:08 · something in Jesus,

36:09 · it is held for you.

36:11 · It is kept safe.

36:12 · It is waiting for anybody

36:13 · who comes to him waiting

36:15 · for him to be revealed

36:17 · to us when we say yes to him.

36:19 · And Paul says it again

36:20 · in First Corinthians one,

36:21 · he says Christ Jesus became

36:23 · wisdom from God for us,

36:26 · that Jesus became all

36:27 · the foolish things of our world

36:28 · that we want to know

36:29 · how we live right,

36:30 · how we can know God,

36:31 · how we can answer

36:32 · the great mysteries

36:33 · of our world.

36:34 · It starts with Jesus.

36:36 · And look how Paul

36:37 · finishes that sentence

36:38 · in First Corinthians.

36:39 · It says Christ became wisdom

36:41 · for us so that he could be

36:42 · our righteousness,

36:44 · our sanctification,

36:46 · be our redemption.

36:47 · The wisdom of God

36:48 · isn't a tip sheet

36:49 · for getting you through life.

36:52 · It is a savior

36:53 · who makes you right with God,

36:55 · who makes you new

36:56 · and buys you back

36:58 · from the sin of your flesh.

37:01 · Back in our parable series

37:02 · this summer,

37:03 · Jesus told us about a merchant

37:05 · who found one pearl

37:06 · of great value

37:07 · and he sold everything

37:08 · he had to buy it.

37:10 · In Job 28,

37:11 · he says the price of wisdom

37:12 · is beyond pearls,

37:13 · but this is a different pearl

37:15 · altogether, church.

37:16 · This pearl has a name

37:17 · and the name is Jesus Christ.

37:19 · And here's how we know

37:21 · this wisdom is for people

37:22 · like Job,

37:23 · like people like you and me

37:25 · who are in the dark,

37:27 · who have hurt,

37:28 · who have suffered,

37:29 · who are in the midst of our pain

37:30 · looking for the answers

37:32 · to life's questions

37:33 · and feeling like

37:34 · we're getting no breakthrough.

37:35 · We are in the dark,

37:37 · but Jesus went into the dark for us.

37:40 · Let's go ahead.

37:42 · You see, to everyone watching

37:43 · 2,000 years ago,

37:45 · the cross

37:46 · looked like the most foolish thing

37:49 · God could possibly do.

37:51 · A king on a criminal's cross,

37:53 · a savior who couldn't save himself,

37:55 · but Paul says

37:56 · what looked like foolishness

37:58 · was actually the wisdom of God

37:59 · on full display.

38:00 · He was stripped of everything.

38:02 · He was mocked by people

38:03 · who had all the answers.

38:04 · He was buried in the ground

38:06 · and three days later,

38:07 · what did Jesus do?

38:07 · He dug himself up out of the grave.

38:09 · Amen.

38:14 · And here's the problem with this,

38:17 · is sometimes we hear that

38:19 · and we're like, great.

38:20 · I'm gonna say yes to Jesus right now

38:22 · and he's gonna give me all the answers.

38:23 · He's gonna fix my problem.

38:24 · I'm gonna pay my rent.

38:26 · I'm gonna get a new life

38:27 · and it's gonna be great.

38:31 · Job never got to hear

38:34 · what happened in chapter one

38:35 · that God and Satan were making a wager

38:37 · he didn't even know about.

38:39 · Job never got the answer

38:41 · of this is why your life fell apart,

38:44 · but he got something better.

38:45 · He got Jesus himself.

38:49 · You remember that hole you dug to China?

38:52 · How far did you get in that hole?

38:54 · Be honest.

38:56 · Six inches, eight inches.

38:58 · Maybe an overachiever got two feet, all right?

39:02 · Someone between service said

39:03 · her kids dug a hole so big

39:05 · that they made a pool.

39:06 · I'm like, that sounds made up,

39:09 · but I'm gonna give my kids shovels after today

39:12 · and hope I get a pool in my backyard.

39:16 · But you dug,

39:18 · and as you dug, eventually you probably tired out.

39:23 · But what if by some miracle,

39:25 · God handed you down a holy shovel

39:27 · that could just push through that Arizona soil

39:29 · and you just kept digging?

39:31 · And as you got tired,

39:32 · God gave you the strength

39:33 · and you kept digging and you kept digging

39:35 · and somehow by the miracle of God,

39:39 · you dug through the entire earth about 8,000 miles.

39:43 · Here's the crazy thing,

39:44 · if you do that in Surprise, Arizona,

39:46 · you ain't ended up in China.

39:48 · You're ending up in the middle of the ocean.

39:52 · And as we dig through life,

39:54 · searching through answers,

39:57 · sometimes we end up in an ocean

39:58 · and what did Job say about the ocean and the sea

40:00 · when it comes to wisdom?

40:02 · It ain't there.

40:05 · That we can dig and we can fight

40:09 · and we can put our ingenuity to the test

40:11 · and that is great,

40:13 · but if we want that to save us,

40:15 · we'll come up short every time.

40:18 · When we reach beyond our bounds

40:20 · and reach beyond our ability

40:22 · and we get frustrated that we start relying

40:25 · on other people that are greater,

40:27 · here's the fear church,

40:30 · is we start relying on the wrong people who are greater,

40:33 · the people we perceive to be the greater,

40:36 · the people in our lives that we look to as mentors,

40:39 · the people that aren't say they're gonna promise

40:42 · a better future like the politicians,

40:44 · the tech moguls, the AI, whatever,

40:46 · all the great things of our world,

40:48 · but when we rely on them to be our wisdom,

40:52 · to be our guide,

40:55 · to be the answers to the big questions of life,

40:58 · they will fail us time and time again.

41:03 · But who will not fail us

41:06 · is the God man in Christ Jesus

41:10 · who died for us,

41:12 · who rose again

41:14 · in him, in him,

41:16 · who wisdom is hidden for us,

41:19 · but is revealed to us

41:22 · so that we can experience it for all of eternity.