Holding On To Your Faith // God's Not Done - Pastor Bryan Carter

father we bless your name today we magnify you because you are worthy of all praise you are worthy of all honor and we exalt your name today and we declare lord that we worship you and we worship you alone we worship you for who you are we worship you because of your love and your grace and your companionship and your friendship and your lordship and your fellowship we we worship you and we say thank you god that no matter where we are you're there with us that you're there with us at our homes you were there with us in our apartments you were there with us in our singleness you are there with us as couples as family you are right there you were there with us as teenagers you were there with us as young adults you were there with us as singers at every season at every moment and every interval lord you are there and we say thank you we say thank you after all we've seen after all we've experienced after all we've been through we sit here today and we say thank you we thank you for worship and what it does for our souls what it does for our hearts and lord we long where we can we long for normalcy but in in the meanwhile we're not going to let that stop us from worshiping your name we're not gonna let that stop us from praising your name so we'll praise you right where we are because you are worthy and we say thank you we honor you lord we present our worship to you we present our hearts to you and we say lord this is yours it's in jesus name that we say this prayer and the people of god said amen amen amen amen come on and give god praise today we are thankful thankful thankful thankful thankful we thank god uh for today and we thank god for you and uh we are just excited that you're with us and we have been worshiping under this theme of god's not done we started on new year's eve we started talking about how god's not done and caleb's story came to mind today we're continuing in that space as a matter of fact um this series i think has meant so much to us i think god has been speaking to us in such a a rich way through his word that we're we're not we're not ending this series today now our prayer and fasting for 21 days it ends today unless you want to keep going all right but but the series we're going to continue on in it all right because we still think there are some stories and some pictures that god still wants us to catch our heart with and so we just go roll with it normally i'm i like to keep things all compact but listen it's a new year we're in a new season so we're going to just keep rolling in this thing and just looking at stories and characters from god's word to encourage us as god's not done one of the things our team wanted to do in this series on this day as we finish our season of prayer and fasting is that we wanted to to remind some people that god's not done you know what i mean we wanted to bless some people and remind people and encourage people on their journey that god's not done there's a family in our church that's been going through a unique challenging season as so many have and we just wanted to to to encourage them and remind them that god's not done let's watch this video and their story together hello everybody hi guys you guys been doing all right we're good well we just wanted you guys to know that uh we got your prayer requests that you turned in in december and just know we've been praying for you guys and we know 2020 has been so demanding on so many people that's been rough we just want y'all to know you're not alone i want you know we've been thinking about you we've been praying for you man we sure appreciate it pastor clark we absolutely do we've been in this series y'all know god's not done and uh and so as we walk through this series we've just been really trying to encourage people and no matter what we're facing no matter what we're going through and we just believe and know that he's not done he's still working and so part of that effort is to also bless people you know and so we will have a special gift for you guys as y'all kind of walk through this season we want to let you know that uh that we're gonna bless you guys with uh with five months of free rent and pay your mortgage so from we take her five months five months man thank you pastor clark thank you all so much oh my goodness so no we love you and we pray those five months of your mortgage being paid is a blessing to you and your family thank you thank you thank you you're welcome god's not no it's not done thank you lord god's not done and so we celebrate with them and others we've been blessing people all day simply because we want to remind them that god's not done and sometimes god shows up in our lives in unusual ways just to encourage us as we continue to walk through this journey friends we've been praying and fasting for 21 days and we have been examining this whole ideal this theme of god's not done and and and i want to look at a particular text today in the book of job if you got your bibles would you open them to job chapter 38 job chapter 38 uh job chapter 38 we're going to begin uh right there and i wanna i wanna i wanna look at job 38 through chapter 42 all right it's about three to four chapters so keep your bibles open as we make our way through four chapters here in the book of job as we look at job's story you know we've been looking at different stories every week looking at different characters and their journey of faith and how we see this theme of god's not done realized in their particular story all right here's the one verse i want to read i want to read verse 1 i mean job chapter 38 verse 1 says this then the lord spoke to job out of the storm he said who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge brace yourself like a man i will question you and you shall answer me where were you when i laid the earth's foundations tell me if you understand who marked off its dimensions surely you know who stretched a measuring line across it or on what were his footing set or on what who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy to stop there and i want to talk for a few moments about holding on to your faith holding on to your faith the book of job is one of the most intriguing books in all of scripture job's story is uniquely positioned here in the old testament as we are introduced to this character by the name of job now job is a person that goes through an imaginable suffering matter of fact when you read the first two chapters of this particular book you discover that job lost so much job lost his children and job lost his health joel's marriage began the struggle job lost his reputation job went from being one of the most influential one of the most prosperous one of the most successful persons you could ever meet to being one of the most depressed and difficult seasons he'd ever face in his life matter of fact when you begin to read chapter two you find him by the local trash heap mourning the the situation that he has gone through friends have you ever been in that situation where you've seen trouble in your life not happened just on one occasion but happened in many parts of your life for job it wasn't just financial it was financial it wasn't his family it wasn't his children he had to deal with this in so many ways not only did he have trouble in all these ways but the story also reveals to us that job ends up everybody has a word for job about what job is going through he has three friends that show up and they sit with him for several days and in the first several days they sit with him and they don't say a word but then all of a sudden after six seven days they start talking they start trying to give him a word for why he's going through what he's going through they try to tell him listen job the reason you're going through all this is a job you did something wrong you need to confess to god you need to deal with the sin in your life and you wouldn't be going through all of this isn't it crazy how everybody some people always have a word for your life they got their own struggles they got their own issues they got their own problems but sometimes they want to tell you what you need to do in your life this is joe's reality his friends probably would have been better just to sit there and be with him and not try to tell him what's happening in his life job begins to walk through that he has another friend that begins to talk to him and for 36 chapters 37 chapters either job is speaking or his friends are speaking as they are wrestling with what he is going through what about you have you ever been there in a moment in your life where you were wrestling through what you were going through when you were trying to figure out why is this happening what's going on what did i do when will it end what job is wrestling with it's a theological concept called a theodicy it is this problem of evil and suffering that happens sometimes in our lives it's the problem that we see that we don't understand that we can't process that we can't comprehend this is exactly where job is living job wrestling with his challenges wrestling what he's going through but then in chapter 38 things begin to change because there in the text the text starts this way then the lord spoke to job out of the storm a storm was there and that storm was the entrance for god's voice to be heard in the life of job everybody else has been talking finally god shows up and says listen let me have a word about your situation and god begins to speak to the ju begins to speak to job out of the storm and i want you to notice this friends that when he begins to speak he starts in chapter 38 and goes all the way to chapter 39 and the first thing the job see job has accused god of mistreating him job says listen i deserve better than this job says listen i have served you i've been faithful and i don't get why this is happening in my life job says listen i don't i don't understand i feel like you've been absentee in my life i feel like i don't get this what i love about job is job is completely honest about how he feels about the moment or the season or the circumstance that he's in i want to remind somebody today that god is not intimidated by your questions by your struggles by your difficulties that how you feel about what you're going through and what you're processing that there are moments and times where we feel like god may be distant from us and he reminds us that it's okay to have these moments god is not intimidated by your struggles or your sufferings or your difficulties or your pain or even your questions then all of a sudden god starts speaking in the text i want you to notice this in genesis i mean in job 38 he asked job a couple of questions he says who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge he says brace yourself like a man joe now i want to question you and i want to see if you could answer me god job has been asking god questions and god shows up and says okay you want to ask me questions i got some questions for you too and he begins to ask job a series of questions at the core of this question and simply he's trying to say job who who who are you joe that you feel like you can judge my justice my presence my dealings and look at what he says he says where were you verse 4 when i laid the earth's foundations look at verse 8 who determines where the sea stops at the shore verse 12 have you ever caused the sun to rise in the morning or to set at night verse 16. have you ever been to the bottom of the ocean verse 19 where is the light stored at night and where is darkness stored at day verse 22 where is the snort the snow stored and where's the hell story those first 38 verses he peppers job with questions because he's trying to reveal this he wants he wants job to understand that god is revealed in creation it was it was a several years ago felix baumgarter had an incredible accomplishment he traveled to the edge of outer space and he lost himself and he traveled 24 miles in four minutes and 800 going 800 miles per hour in one jump before he landed on earth and there was another man named nick who walked across the grand canyon on a high wire these are incredible accomplishments but these have nothing to measure against the god that we serve the god that we serve is so great that he makes sure the sun rise and the sun sets we think we're smart with all of our technology and all of our advancements but the problem with all of our technology is that it always needs an upgrade but you serve a god that never needs an upgrade never has to go in for maintenance never has a recall an issue from the manufacturer god is so great and god is so amazing and sometimes we think we can process and understand god and god is on an entirely different level friends you and i can hardly keep up with the keys to our cars and yet god can keep up to the keys to the universe he is god has always been god notice this he says joel where were you when i created all that if you want to ask some questions let me let me see what you can do joe he doesn't stop there he keeps on going here and he gets to verses 38 in the 39 he moves in the nature and he begins to reveal he says this god reveals himself in nature and it's there that he walks him through nature and says listen where you there where where where where the ox sits down or where the ostrich was created were you there and he goes all throughout nature looking at all of these animals because he's trying to get job to understand job i know you're trying to figure out what you're going through i know you're trying to question and wonder where i am i know you're trying to figure out what happened why it happened and when it happened and what god is trying to reveal to joel is a job i've been at this a long time i've been working i've been moving and just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean that i've forgotten about you doesn't mean that i've overlooked you i am still god and i've got you he gets to job chapter 40 and in job chapter 40 here's the first response from job back to god i want you to catch it there in job chapter 40 in verse 3 look at what he says he says this and job answered god i am unworthy how can i reply to you i put my hand over my mouth i spoke once but i have no answer twice and i will say no more i want you to watch how job responds this is job's response joe's response is simply this i am unworthy i am unworthy this is joel's response to god he he he is listening to god and he says listen god i am so unworthy i want you to catch this point write it down only when i recognize my weakness can i appreciate god's greatness only when i recognize my weakness can i appreciate god's greatness friends in those moments where it doesn't make sense in those moments where things don't add up job is wrestling and god begins to remind him and job says listen i put my hand over my mouth i am unworthy i don't care how successful you think you are trouble can make us think that we deserve better that i that i worship or that i that i give or that i serve or that i do but trouble also has to remind us that we are so unworthy that the fact that god has given us health and strength is a gift from god that the fact that god allows us to have a relationship with him is a gift for god the more we realize how unworthy we are the more we can recognize how great how mighty how strong how significant how worthy god is to be praised this is what happens in isaiah chapter 6 when isaiah comes to the temple and he he sees this god god high and lifted up and he falls down and he worships him and he acknowledges his his unworthiness and friends one of the ways that you make it through this season one of the ways that you and i continue to see god's work is by understanding and realizing how unworthy we are god is faithful and god is mighty and god is strong and we are unworthy and everything he does for us is a grace gift from god so god has won his first speech and he gives a speech to him to reveal to him that i reveal myself in nature i reveal myself in creation and notice joe's response he responds by saying i am unworthy but then there's a second speech in the text and god starts speaking to job again in chapter 40 and verse 6. he speaks to him again out of the storm and he he asks him he a series of questions see the first speech was about god's power and control but the second speech is about god's justice it's about god's justice he he he is he has questioned god's justice he said god it's not just what's happened to me you've been there asking that question that age-old question that's found all throughout scripture why did the wicked prosper why is it the harder that i work and sometimes the more difficult things can be why is it why is it that it's easier for some than others why is it that i've had to face some of the challenges and the struggles that i've had in life that sometimes there are moments and scenes where we wonder about the justice of god that we have questions about the justice of god and the difficulties that we go through so god responds to him and says listen okay if you think i'm unjust if you think i can't i can't subdue the prideful if you think i can't reign in those that are out of control he then says listen let me let me see how you can do he said okay you you try you you take my place joe and let me see if you can handle and do a better job than me he said let me give you two illustrations if you can handle those two then you you got this and so he says okay let me see and so he says in chapter 40 he gets to um he gets to verse seven and eight he says okay okay you wanna you wanna try me and he says verse 15. he says okay here's what i want you to do i want you to look at the behemoth in the text it's really hippopotamus and he says listen if you can subdue and control the hippopotamus and make it do what it wants to do make it sit down make it rise you can handle that you can have my job then it gets down to verse 41. he says if you can catch a crocodile the the text says levithian which is a crocodile on a fish hook and you can handle it and subdue it he takes two of the most powerful creations and animals listen if you can handle them and control them and dictate to them then you can do this and immediately as he begins to job begins to reflect on what god has said we get to the conclusion in chapter 42 which is where i want to finish and spend the most of our time on and look at what he says then job reply to the lord come on verse 2. i know that you do all things well no purpose of yours can be throtted job has been wrestling and struggling and all of a sudden after god finishes speaking job gets to job 42 and here is joe's reply back to god i know that you do all things well what job has come to understand is that while job was looking for an explanation while job was trying to add up how and what and when and why god when he gets to the conclusion doesn't tell joe why he's suffering doesn't tell job why he went through what he went through doesn't tell job how long it's going to have doesn't tell job this is what happened he doesn't reveal any of that to job all that god tells you joe what you need in the midst of your struggles what you need in the midst of all you're going through is me he says joe what you need is me because job if you have god despite all the other stuff you're going through if you've got me i'll get you through financial challenges if you've got me i'll get you through health challenges if you've got me i'll get you through relationship challenges if you've got me i'll get you through career challenges if you've got me i will get you through uh uh uh mental challenges if you got me i will get you through marriage challenges i will i will get you through problems with your kids if you have me he's saying the joke job in the midst of your questions in the midst of your doubts in the midst of your struggles in the midst of all of that he says job what i want you to know is that because i'm with you despite all you've gone through just like i had no creation just like i handled nature just like i've handled you just like i've been with you i will sustain you in the midst of your suffering he says i don't want you to ever think that god is not able to handle what i'm going through that god is not able to handle the compounded issues that show up with one time he says no i want you to know that you serve a god that is so able that is so faithful that is so mighty that is so strong that has been handling creation from the beginning of time and will handle it to the end of time and because he can handle that he can handle whatever you and i go through whatever you and i may face listen suffering is an incredibly difficult part of each of our lives but he comes through and he declares these words in verse 2 of 42 i know that you do all things well it's a bold statement after all that job has gone through but what job is revealing is that he believes and he knows that god is sovereign job doesn't have answers but job does have god job reminds himself that in the midst of all that i'm going through that god is sovereign that the god that i serve is faithful and able to handle everything and anything that i'm going through suffering in our lives somebody's been praying for 21 days and it still hadn't changed you've been fasting for 21 days and the door has still not been opened and i want to talk to you today because i don't want you to think that just because you prayed and fasted and just because we asked god for it that it may happen in 21 days sometimes it may not happen in 21 days it still may be in the same situation but the hope is that you and i begin to see and begin to realize that we serve a sovereign god and because god is sovereign i can trust him even when stuff doesn't make sense this is the reality of our lives this is the reality of our stories that we serve a sovereign god what does it mean sovereign it means god has all power it means god is in control it means everything that happens in my life is he's a god allowed or god sent it means that that that my struggles are real it means that my pain is real it means that my heartache is real but it means that although bad things and suffering may happen it does not discount who god is it does not discount how god can work it still means god is good it still means god is faithful it still means god has the power it still means god is with me it stills means he'll never leave me nor forsake me it stills means he's my strength it still means he's my comforter it still means he's my healer it still means that i've been redeemed it stills means that he'll never leave me nor forsake me it still means that he's going to protect me it's still me he's going to keep me it steals me he's going to make a way it still means he wipes every tear it still means that god is who god said he is he's on them benevolent he's omnipresent he's omniscient he is a god that's still in control this is the promise that you and i must possess and understand to not let our sufferings make us doubt and disbelieve that god is who he said he is job had all these questions job had all these struggles job had all these doubts but job got to the point where job declares in chapter 42 verse 4 verse 2 i know that you do all things well that's what he says it doesn't mean that he understands everything it doesn't mean that it was easy it doesn't mean that it made sense to him he had lost his children he had lost his family he had lost his income he had lost so much but when he gets to the conclusion he says listen i've lost a lot but i found out god is still with me i've lost a lot but i found out god can still sustain me i've lost a lot but i've found out that god is who he said he is he says i know that god can do all things well catch this and the next section says no purpose of yours can be throtted with no purpose of yours can be stopped listen to job job says listen i've been through a lot but i'm here now and i want to tell you job says no purpose of god can be stopped he says i've learned i've discovered that that that no purpose no will no plan that god has can be stopped by anything else that because god has served sovereign his purpose his plan his timing his design his way cannot be stopped the devil can't stop it your enemy can't stop it your boss can't stop it the doctor can't stop it you can't stop it the hater can't stop it your ex can't stop it your past can't stop it what others say can't stop it when god has a plan when god has a way even the evil and the brokenness and the sickness of this world even though it tries to disrupt it god's plan will still be accomplished if it's god's will it's god's will if it's god's vision he'll provide the provision if it's god's plan then god will provide it god's plan can not be stopped that's what job said job says i've been through all kinds of pain i've been through all kinds of suffering and job says i've discovered that what god has for you is for you can't no devil take it can't no person take it can't no other person take it you can't even mess it up what god is going to do is going to be done there may be some interruptions along the way and some unexpected challenges but god will get you where god is trying to take you and god is going to do what god wants to do here's what job said job says i've been through hell and back but god's not done this is job's declaration job's declaration after all he's been through and look at verse three he says who he said he said he says he says in verse verse three says he says verse verse four he says he says i i uh verse three says who is this that i've scoured my plans without knowledge surely i spoke of things i didn't understand things too wonderful for me to know listen to job job says listen i'm sorry god he says he gets the next verse says listen he he says he says he says god i'm sorry i'm sorry god for thinking you forgot about me i'm sorry god for questioning your time and i'm sorry god for for how for looking at somebody else's life instead of looking at my own it's god i'm sorry god for thinking that that your plan was done i i'm sorry god for for for questioning your justice and questioning your judgment and questioning your time i'm sorry god for thinking that it was finished i'm sorry god for doubting what you could do i'm sorry god for giving up god he says i'm sorry and he confesses back to god and he says god some stuff i don't understand i don't get it god i don't get it is what he said he says god i don't get it and he said i've gotten to the point where i've had to be okay with the mysteries of life every now and then and it gets down to verse 5 and says these words my eyes have heard of you but now my eyes have seen you therefore i repent and i despise myself i repent in the dust of ash and ashes here is job and job says i don't understand and joke says i get it god they're going to be questions in my life that will always have question marks because i don't know why i don't know why covet is here i know we live in a broken and fallen world but i don't get it he says god we had a we had a a team member that lost a in two weeks time lost a grandmother and a grandfather to coven and we had those services on yesterday and i don't get it on friday at our church we had a memorial for a family who had a late-term miscarriage i don't get it they're this family the early this week a family in our church is having surgery on a on a newborn i i don't get it and all of us have all these questions and struggles and doubts and and and and issues and job says listen i don't understand why i went through what i went through but he says now that i'm i'm i'm in this now that i'm where i am he says what i what i've discovered is that there's gonna be some mysteries in my life there's gonna be some challenges in my life there gonna be some pressures in my life there gonna be some strains in my life that i don't get because there's a lot of stuff about life i don't get i don't get how the sun rises i don't get how the sun sets i don't get how the seasons change i don't get how he blessed me with a job i don't get how he got me through school there's a lot of stuff i don't get and there's going to be some suffering that we may not get and job gets there and says listen i i heard it with my ears but now i've seen it with my eyes joel reminds us of this reality of this tension of the struggle of this this this reality that that there is a process in our in our in our journey of our faith a process in our journey of our walks with god he says i used to hear some stuff he says but now i've seen some stuff i used to hear about what god can do i used to hear about how god could get you through i used to hear about what somebody else said he says but now my my eyes have seen for myself i used to hear about somebody else's story used to hear about what mama said and hear about what daddy said and hear about what grandmother said but he says now in my life i've had to deal with enough stuff that it's not what i heard it's what i have seen that is my life it is what i've seen you know what i'm talking about you used to hear about what god used to hear about what he's done for them but now he's reminding us that there's a point in your life where you got to see it for yourself and friend somebody today you know that's your story that in this season what you've seen and what you've seen god do you've seen god bless you in a pandemic you've seen god elevate you in a pandemic you've seen god restore in a pandemic you've seen god heal in a pandemic you've seen god walk with you in the pandemic you have seen god now for yourself that's what job says joe said i used to hear about it but now i have seen it and he says i repent in my asses and if you keep reading after he goes through this moment now listen you do know you got to have one of these moments can it can can can i talk to you just a second you you do understand that you got to go through this to get to where god wants you to go you do understand if you pretend and act like everything it if you if you if you if you if you ignore the grief if you ignore the pain if you ignore the questions if you ignore the challenges if you ignore it you're not gonna get where god wants you to go but when you get to your point and you you're honest about what you've had to face you've honest about where you've been you've honest about what god has been showing you in this season and revealing to you in this season if you're honest about your loss if you're honest about how you felt you're going to have a moment like this and when you keep reading the text when you when you get down to chapter 42 and verse 10 verse 10 of 42 says this after job had prayed for his friends the lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before did you hear what i just said i said i said i said after he prayed for his friends the lord restored what he had and gave him twice as much as he had before in other words god's not done it it looked like god was done but when god got through god restored what he had now mind you it does not mean that he didn't have the wounds and the hurts and the grief of his past he still mourned the loss of his ten children that he lost but what he discovered about god is that god is so faithful god can help you rebuild your life after you've lost so much i wish somebody here today would would shout back to the tv you know how to talk to the tv you ought to just talk back to your phone you ought to just talk back to your computer and say listen god can help you to rebuild god can help you to restore god can help you to do more in your ladder than you did in your past matter of fact you ought to just say it right there to yourself the best is still yet to come i've been through some stuff we've been through some storms but somebody ought to just declare the best is still yet to come in a broken world in a broken society with a broken political system and all that we've been through somebody ought to say i can't wait till god sets everything in order i can't wait till he comes back and begins to put everything where it belongs to be but in the meantime i'mma keep on pressing i'm gonna keep on honoring god i'm gonna keep on serving god i'm gonna keep on trusting god but i believe i believe i believe that he can restore that he can lift up that he can put you back together again job teaches us that i know that god does all things well hallelujah somebody you ought to praise god right where you are you ought to thank god right now that job shows us god i know you do all things well doesn't make sense god but i'm going to trust you anyhow i don't make didn't always come together but god i honor you anyhow come on family right where you are i want to invite you right now to a time of prayer we've been walking through this season together and i want to invite you i want to invite you to join us in a time of prayer these 21 days of prayer these 21 days of fasting and and god has been so faithful to you god has been so faithful to me god has been keeping us in every season keeping us in every circumstance and in these moments we ought to know that god's not done i want to invite you right now to a moment into a season of prayer right now we want to conclude together as we just pray to god together you can type in your prayers or you might want to just begin to brag on god in the chat on what god has been doing in your life what he's been revealing in these 21 days we've been hearing from people all over about how god's been moving in their marriages and moving in their singleness and moving in their relationships and how god has been moving and working and answering prayers you ought to type them in the chat right now and we can have a praise party in the chat as we begin to celebrate and we begin to thank god for what he's done and what he's doing and how he's working come on y'all let's pray together father we thank you right now for who you are and how you work and how you're moving we are blown away we in an awe and we just want to say thank you we want to say thank you god for your faithfulness for your loving kindness for your care and we just honor you today so now lord we want to say thank you for 21 days of prayer and fasting thank you for what you showed us thank you for what you've revealed to us thank you for what you've taught us and lord we are going to to continue to trust you through every season and through every circumstance thank you god that you're not done we love you we honor you in jesus name amen

Channel: Concord Church

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Keywords: concord church, bible, dallas, message, concord worship, church, faith, gospel, we grow people, grow, family, concord dallas, worship, praise, concord, texas, music, word, serve

Id: CX4621qSsD0

Length: 40min 33sec (2433 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 26 2021