Sunday Service | Job | When The Going Gets Tough | 12th May 2024

[Music] well good morning everybody it's good to have you with us this morning sorry it just caught me off guard there good to have you welcome worshiping with us this morning I want to begin by reading a Psalm Psalm 145 one of my favorite Psalms actually um it's a great Psalm uh just encourages us to give praise to God so if you have a Bible and you want to turn to Psalm 145 uh please do so it's going to be on the screen as well so don't worry if you don't Psalm 145 says this I will extol you my God and King and bless your name Forever and Ever every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever great is the Lord and greatly to be praised his greatness is unsearchable one generation shall commend your Works to another and shall declare your Mighty Acts on the Glorious Splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works I will meditate they shall speed at the might of your awesome deeds and I will declare your greatness they shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud for your righteousness the Lord is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love the Lord is good to all and his Mercy is over all that he has made all your Works shall give thanks to you oh Lord and all your Saints shall bless you let's just pray sh as we uh begin our service this morning Our Father we do thank you that we can come this morning to Worship You worship you you are great and you are greatly to be praised and we're going to worship you through different means this morning through prayer through the reading of your word through the preaching of your word through song uh and we just pray that you'd help us to to lift you on high this morning as we do so that we would just shake away any distractions uh that we might have this morning to focus our minds our hearts our souls completely on you that you would get the praise and the glory through our worship this morning in Jesus name amen we're going to begin uh by singing our first song you alone can rest you as the psalm kind of encourages us to give praise to God our first song focuses on praising God for his salvation and that he deserves the highest of Praise let's stand together and sing our first song Who alone could save themselves through all Lord could save and their own soul could heal a shame was deeper than the sea Your Grace is deeper still through our Lord could save themselves their own soul could a shame was deeper than the sea Your Grace is deeper still you Al and resue you alone and sa you alone can lift us from the you came down to find us let us out of death to you alone belongs the highest praise you oh Lord have made a way the Great by [Music] you for where when our hearts Were Far Away Your Love went F still Yes Your Love Goes far still and you alone can resue you alone can save you alone can live us from the grave you can down and find us let us out of death to you alone belongs the highest praise to you alone belongs the highest prise to you alone belongs the [Music] highest well the psalm encourages us not only to give praise but also to give thanks and that's going to be the theme of our next song just simply titled give [Music] thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son and now let the we say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us and now let the we say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for [Music] usks please do go ahead and take a seat so I didn't introduce myself at the start if you don't know me my name is nigon part of the leadership team here at Cornerstone so if you visiting with us for the first time it's great to have you with us if you're watching at home on the live stream uh great to have you watching as well I just want to go through a few notices uh from the church um as as we normally do uh we do have the crush area available at the back for those not to threeyear olds so if you have a child of that age uh feel free to utilize that any point during the service if you are taking a child over if you could remain with them uh during that time that would be uh helpful Cornerstone kids will be running today Beth was down to lead this but she's not feeling well at the moment so if we could just pray for Beth during the week uh that she'll feel better soon uh so Karen and Becky will be leading that um this morning this is for primary age children so at some point during the service I'll let you know when you can head to the back and head out to the class uh for that moving up to our secondary age um group we have our youth growth group meeting at our house this evening at 5 o' we're going to be looking at what the Bible says about heaven uh just continuing in our series about what the Bible says about different topics uh so again if you can make that if you know somebody that wants to come along to that please come and speak to myself afterwards and give you a bit more information there's still a few leaflets at the back um with the schedule on for what's coming up as well so feel free to take those at some point um after the service our Wednesday prayer meeting will be at the Mitchell's house so as usual if you can make this at 8:30 and they love love to have you join them but if you can't and you have something you'd like prayer for uh please pass that on to Steve or Jackie um and they'll happily mention that for prayer on Wednesday uh Art Cafe is also meeting this week uh they'll be meeting at the strawberry Thief Pub um so again if you're part of that group or if you'd like to know more information uh speak to Karina or Heather uh they'll be able to give you some more info about what goes on there um and how you can be involved with that a couple of things further ahead we've got the big help out I keep calling it the big day out it's the big help out um so we did this back I think it's during lockdown or just after lockdown wasn't it we did a yeah we did a a litter picking day just um around the area here so we're planning on doing one of those again that's Saturday the 8th of June so if you want to bookmark that from 3 to 4:00 uh speak to Joel Pete if you want any more information on how you can be a part of that um and yeah you be a barbecue at the hack so if there's there's no better incentive to to come along and pick litter if there's going to be a barbecue at the end isn't there so encourage you to do that we you know we had quite a few people come and do it last time it's a great time of Fellowship you know you think picking up rubbish is not that fun but it was good it was good fun and we found the skull of a deer as well so you know interesting things happen um and then a little bit further on um on the fourth and fifth of July we've got some Cordo courses coming up so we've mentioned these before these take place over in chiam uh so if you to speak to Steve or cor if you'd like more information about that uh this one is the Bible Feast theme so they're going to be looking through the book of Titus uh and also so you got the mini intensive just before that looking at John's gospel so if you'd like more information speak to Steve or Karina um otherwise have a look on C's website they'll have information there on how you can book um and um the price I presume it's a suggested donation again is it yes um there'll be prices and or suggested donation prices on there uh and then one last thing we don't have a slide for it but in two weeks time uh there'll be several of us away at different um things some of us going to Big Church Festival Steve's going to be away that weekend in Poland as well um and other people I think there's just generally quite a few people away uh so we're going to be having a service here still um but it's going to be sort of a cut down version we're not going to be streaming so if you're watching at home on the live stream uh in two weeks time 26th of May we're not going to be uh streaming the service uh we're just going to sort of have a basic setup here so come along still um we we'll still be here uh but it will just be a kind of cut down version um to to normal I'm going to ask David if he'll come and lead us in a time of prayer now as well if ly wants to come as well she can come along good morning I've just um had a few verses on my on my mind this morning um Matthew 11 um 28 says come to me all who labor and a heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light let's pray Lord thank you for the the week we've just had um I just want to lift up um anyone who was struggling this week um of anything going on Lord I pray you just give them give them energy give them strength um I particularly want to pray for for Davidson's friends family and and work colleagues Lord um after this coming this past week Lord I pray you just give them all strength and rest and Lord just just help them feel your presence and know you're there Lord when times are lonely and when when times are sad Lord just just put your your hand on them Lord and just um make make yourself known to them and may they feel your presence Lord I just pray for the coming weeks we've got the big church Festival coming up Lord just pray that it goes really well thank you that it it just reaches out to so many people and that every year so many people come to Faith Lord and people who turn up not really knowing what what Jesus is about not really knowing what what church is but they turn up and then by the end Lord are just so captivated by it all and they just give their life to you Lord I pray for that again may may it just be a a huge blessing to to everyone who goes I just pray particularly for the people who are are helping out to the people who are leading for the the acts who were performing Lord and just all the volunteers that giving their time and and just to to help this event run smoothly Lord and thank you that that so many are going from this church Lord and I just pray that you bless them for for their time that they're volunteering and also um thank you that they that um the event goes on every year and just seems to grow each year Lord thank you um thank you that we can all gather here today and and worship your name but I just want to lift up all the churches which which go on where they can't come to to worship as easily Lord and they're just persecuted or or it's even illegal to to meet Lord and just bless them thank you that they do still meet and even in the danger of death Lord they just still still know that it's so important just to meet and just encourage each other and read your word Lord even if if they only have a small part of the Bible because it's it's illegal in their country thank you that they just they just continue I just pray you'll be with them for anyone who's who's tired anyone who's scared anyone who's who's depressed lonely Lord I just pray that you really you really bless them and may they feel your presence and may they know that they can always turn to you amen thank you well Psalm 145 continues there a couple of great reminders that God is with his people in verse 14 it says the Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bow down Verse 18 says the Lord is near to all who call who all who call on him to all who call on him in truth and we're going to sing our next song uh again we we've this is a new song to us we we sung it a few times in the last few weeks we're trying to sort of keep it consistent through the series because it's quite a relevant song we said before it's a a song of lament where the question is asked where are you Lord uh and the psalm reminds us that we only need to draw near to him that he upholds those who are falling and is near to those who call upon him so let's stand and sing uh this song again together where are you Lord [Music] we've cried a thous tears we'll cry a thousand more where are you Lord our souls are pouring out we fall to the floor where are you Lord we long to see your face turn up Upon Our distress where are you Lord [Music] our B's waste away with down to Skin and Bones where are you Lord we search for our with r our way with stones where are you Lord will call upon your name till you bring us where are you [Music] Lord take heart to my soul remember the Lord's great love you know his mer is to be new every morning great is your faithfulness have hope oh my soul and wait for the sun to rise he is your portion and his grace never season great is your faithfulness our hearts are full of sin we've wanted from the light where are you Lord your Ang of fire that rages through the night where are you Lord we wait until your round reach again to rede where are you Lord take Heart of My Soul remember the Lord's great love you know his meres to be new every morning great is your [Music] faithfulness have hope oh my soul and wait for the sun to rise he is your bortion and his grace never ceases great is your faithfulness take heart my soul remember the Lord's great love you know his mercies to be new every morning great is your [Music] faithful we're going to continue with a similar thing that God is our hope and our strength in our Despair and in our weakness we're going to focus I'd like you to to kind of focus on the encouraging words of our next song my hope is built on nothing less [Music] my hope is buil on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest PR but holy trust in Jesus name Christ alone Cornerstone weak made strong in savior's love through the storm he is Lord Lord of all [Music] when darkness seems to hide his face I rest on his unchanging Grace in every high and stormy G my anchor holds within the ve my anchor holds within the F Christ Alone Cornerstone weak made strong in the savior's blood through the sto he is Lord Lord of all [Music] when he shall come with trumpet oh may I then in him be found dressed in his rightousness alone and f that stand before the throne and F the stand Before the Throne Christ Alone Corner Stone we made strong in saor God through the stor he is Lord Lord of all Christ Alone Corner Stone weak made strong in the savior's love through the storm he is Lord [Music] please do go ahead and take seat if you go to Cornerstone kid children if you'd like to head to the back uh Becky and Karen will be waiting there for you before Steve comes uh to speak to us let's just Commit This Time To God In Prayer again let's pray father we do thank you again now for the the opportunity the privilege to to become to come before you uh and to hear you speaking uh to us through Steve uh we ask that you would just open our hearts to receive you now um that we we may have been doing so already but now as we hear your word just uh speak to us challenge us convict us uh encourage us uh strengthen us whatever it is that we need at the moment we thank you that you can meet uh either any of those needs and so we ask that you would speak to each of our hearts now bless Steve as well uh just Empower him with the Holy Spirit to uh to deliver the message to us now in Jesus name amen well good morning from me uh as as n said my name is Steve uh and it is great to meet together isn't it to worship you if it is your first time really warm welcome it's good to see some uh new faces it is great uh to to have you with us this morning and as I said isn't it a privilege just to be able to sing God's Praises uh no matter how our weeks have been uh we can turn to him uh and trust him so this morning we are continuing our series uh in the Book of Job called when the going gets tough uh The Book of Job is a truly amazing book uh in which we get a glimpse of uh intense suffering both from a Heavenly perspective uh and from a human perspective and last week uh we thought a bit about job's response uh to the uh suffering that he had been through uh and we also thought about the fact that it was a master class uh in lament job turned to God he shared his complaints he prayed boldly and he trusted uh God he even went as far as to worship uh right at the beginning of his grief Journey uh which can only have been through an overflow of his heart I wonder if you've uh uh been reading God's word this week whether you've spotted any other characters uh who have been lamenting uh maybe you've seen times in your own life you've been able to look back uh when lamenting has been a reality or maybe you've seen it in uh each other's lives or friends lives too this week we're going to be thinking about the friend's uh response uh to Jo J's suffering it could be said that uh job's response was incredibly positive uh and this week we're going to see that the friend's response was kind of the complete opposite more of that uh as we go along but I do just want to make it uh clear this morning that this uh sermon isn't designed to address any specific issues uh within Church Life uh Cornerstone I am not saying that we are like job's friends and that we need to change in fact I'll probably say the complete opposite and it is a great place to be as we Face struggles uh together however uh I know that in the past uh I have said some very job friend likee things and I know that there is so much that I can learn from them if you've uh read through uh job you'll see uh that there are responses from job's wife uh these three friends called it elifas bildad and zofa we also have a response from a chap called eliu and a response from God himself we don't hear much about his wife except she tells him to curse God and die right at the beginning she seems to go away from him but I assume that there's some kind of restoration because at the end of the book um we see that they have more children today we're going to focus on the these three three friends uh which take up a majority of the uh The Narrative of the book but particularly focusing on uh elifas eliu is in fact a fascinating character and we've kind of changed the series round a little bit but I'm I'm hoping to have a week on him uh and uh uh and definitely cover God's response uh as well so uh before we look at some of the the specifics I want us to think a little bit about uh the some clues that we have for interpreting uh the friend's uh response if you sit down with a few uh people and you talk about these three friends uh and what they think about them you're probably going to hear a variety of views some people will will see them in uh entirely positive uh terms you know they're they're in God's word after all and therefore you know they must be good some uh will take a kind of balanced approach acknowledging that they do say some good things or okay things alongside some wholly unhelpful things and we can learn from them both uh use the the good things uh as examples and stay clear of the bad still others uh will take a very negative uh stance on them and see them as the polar opposite of job himself if job's response was wholeheartedly positive job's friends are wholeheartedly negative and kind of purely from a literary P perspective uh that contrast should Stand Out personally uh I lean fairly strongly towards the negative view of these three friends and I just want to share a few reasons uh why first of all we have God's evaluation in chapter 42 verse 7 uh God uh says uh well after the Lord had spoken uh these words to job the Lord said to Elan the Tonite my anger Burns against you and your two friends for you have not spoken uh of me what is right as my servant job has as we read uh the friend's responses we should be mindful of the fact that God wasn't happy with what they said about him it might be a sweeping kind of generalization but if we're scrabbling for kind of some good things to say maybe we should should kind of just go with God's evaluation secondly uh we have job's own comments about the friends uh in chapter 16 verse 2 uh in response to one of el faz's speeches job says miserable comforters are you all job was in a really tough place he needed comfort and he didn't get it from these friends in uh chapter 13:4 he says as for you you whitewash with lies worthless Physicians are you all Physicians are are supposed to make make well or alleviate suffering the friends did neither thirdly when uh reading of uh when reading the friend's response we need to remember Satan's accusation uh in chapter 1 and two I've mentioned it before but remember that we have the privilege of seeing uh some of the Heavenly conversation that was taking place and Satan effectively says that that job only loved God because of the secondary blessings uh that God had given him Satan says if if you take away the good god-given things god-given blessings uh the true nature of job's heart uh would be revealed effectively he asked the question does he love God more than the things of the world and it really is a good question to ask ourselves but not necessarily in the midst of immense suffering if you bear the uh this accusation of Satan in mind as you read when job's wife says do you still hold fast Integrity Curse God and die is she making that same accusation you know if we were there we would want to be incredibly gracious as we know that her loss is exactly the same as our husbands if not greater and acknowledge that hurting people sometimes say crazy things but is she unknowingly and unwittingly reinforcing Satan's accusation and the friends seem to be doing exactly the same by trying to come up with something that job has done wrong were they accusing him uh exactly the same in in effect continuing Satan's work that might sound a little strong but if they're not speaking the truth are they just continuing the LIE uh one final uh helper for interpreting these uh friends response is found in El faz's uh Vision it sounds weird saying elifaz is um forgive me uh in in chapter 4 uh but I wonder if you've uh if if you read that before if you do have a Bible just keep your finger in in job flip around if you want put some of the verses on the screen but chapter 4 which is where uh elifaz first speaks is quite uh interesting chapter 4 verse uh 12 uh says this uh now a a word was brought to me stealthily my ear received the whisper of it even there it sounds a little Sinister uh doesn't it he can't quite hear the these words clearly verse 13 continues amid thoughts from visions of the night when deep sleep falls on men dread Came Upon me and trembling which made all my bones shake a spirit glided past my face the hair of my flesh stood up again this seems to be a bit of a fearful experience it seems to have freaked him out a bit verse 16 continues it stood still but I could not discern its appearance a a form was before my eyes that there was silence then I Heard a Voice he can't quite make out this uh figure it's quiet and then speaks did this Spirit speak truth or not can more man be in the right before God can a man be pure before his maker we know the answer to that question we know that he can through Jesus we also know because we have chapter one and chapter two uh that job was right before God maybe this spirit is a liar Verse 18 even in uh his servants he puts no trust in his in his angels he charges with error again God seemed to trust job that's how this all started is the truth being Twisted here with with charging angels with error God does but only the Fallen ones how much more those who dwell in houses of clay whose Foundation is in the dust who are crushed like the moth this Spirit seems to then accuse the the house dwellers too the the humans and all of them could this Vision be from the accuser as well are the friends continuing Satan accusation it's a chilling thought isn't it on a practical note I think it is really important to to evaluate kind of dreams and uh Visions even words given by other people uh and to interpret and evaluate them well according to what we know about God God can and does speak through dreams and Visions sometimes and through other people some times but not all the time and if we hear what is not good and true it's probably not a vision from God so with that in mind uh let's think a little bit about what a good friend is compared to job's friends just uh three things uh this morning first of all a good friend is present a good friend is present that may sound obvious uh but it is one positive and maybe the only positive thing that we can take from job's three friends take a look at uh chapter 2: 11 to uh 13 now when job's three friends heard of all uh this evil that have come upon him uh they came from his own place elifaz the Tonite bildad the shuhite zofa the uh nthite uh they made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him and when they saw him from a distance they did not recognize him and they raised their voices and they wept uh and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads towards heaven and they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him for they saw that his suffering was very great these three friends were from uh different geographical areas and they didn't obviously didn't have uh mobile phones or or Whatsapp or social media but they heard about what had happened to job they clearly spoke to each other uh because they made an appointment to come to him and show sympathy and comfort him when they were arrived they were shocked by what they saw and they joined him in his suffering and sat with him for a week not saying a word how many positive examples are there uh for me uh in there how often do we uh not even know when friends are struggling I know that we're we're British and and all that stiff up a a lip but we can't be present if we don't know and that involves both the struggler and the friend communicating how often do we not engage with those uh who For Whom the going has gotten tough out of fear you know I don't have any words to help when a a loved one has been lost or a friend is self-harming or a friend is addicted to pornography no one feels equipped in those situations but my encouragement is just be present be there sit in silence make a cup of tea cook a meal be present so a good friend uh is present and and job's three friends seem to uh be in it for the long haul don't they that was good unfortunately things go downhill a little as soon as they open their mouths uh but again uh we can learn from that so secondly a good friend uh doesn't Comfort themselves a good friend doesn't Comfort themselves that may sound a little odd because on the surface uh the friends uh just seem to accuse job they seem to be intent on misapplying biblical truth to their own ends uh the truth that they twist is that people reap what they so which in general is a a true principle uh isn't it but but normally it's applied to an entire nation over a long period of time we know that it's true because we know that the wages of sin is death but we also know that it wasn't true for job he didn't get what he deserved he didn't reap what he had sown the friends repeatedly said to him you must have done something wrong for God to treat you like this in chapter 8 verse4 uh bildad says if your children have sinned against him he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression that is not the best way to comfort a grieving parent but he's effectively saying they must have done something wrong chapter 8 verse 13 says such are the paths of all who forget God the hope of the Godless Shall Perish and verse 20 says behold that God will re will not reject a blameless man nor take the hand of evildoers God won't reject the the the blameless person and he's rejected you job so you're clearly not blameless you can pretty much pick any chapter where the friends speak and it will be clear to see uh when you pause uh to think though uh what they are doing is comforting themselves the the logic kind of goes uh like this uh you job must have done something wrong to deserve this kind of suffering you know I clearly haven't done what you've done therefore this punishment will not come to me it's it's it's interesting logic and they keep keep on going they just keep trying to find what poor job has done because once they have that once they found this out they'll know that they won't go through the same level of suffering thankfully we know that job is innocent we know that their theology is wrong but at the same time it's really scary how often we fall into the same way of thinking it even if it doesn't come out loud you know you drive past someone on the motorway uh they they've broken down there's steam billowing out of the Bonnet what's the Thought They really should have checked their level shouldn't they you know I've checked mine and I'm doing 70 down the fast lane it's not going to happen to me is it I can drive on in my self-righteous comfort you see a mom struggling with a toddler having a tantrum in a supermarket I'm so glad that I feed my children natural organic nonprocessed foods for every meal my precious tarquin would never do that you ever thought like that maybe you don't have a tarquin apologies if you do but it's so easy to fall into that way of thinking isn't it we do it all the time we tend to comfort ourselves and justify our own actions before being the comfort that we can to others we inadvertently say they must have done something wrong and I'm okay okay so if a good friend is present and not comforting themselves it's worth noting that not only did they speak wrongly about God but they also spoke less of him as the dialogue progresses it's an interesting exercise as you read through job and I've I've mentioned this before uh that you highlight uh in one color where God is mentioned uh and uh where mankind uh is mentioned in another color uh you could also highlight where uh where people are encouraged to kind of look up to God and trust him uh in one color and and where they're not uh in another I've mentioned before that if you if you do that and you flip through your Bible with your your your colors uh in front of you uh that the as the conversations continue God is mentioned less until eliu and and God turn up what is even more interesting uh is that he is mentioned less by the three friends job appears to remain fairly constant I guess the uh friends got it doubly wrong didn't they as both what they said about God was not right and they spoke of him less I wonder what would have happened if those were reversed so what does it look like to uh walk alongside one another in times of difficulty well first of all recognize that conversation takes time and healthy conversation about God and His goodness May well take even longer the immediate aftermath of loss or experiencing grief is probably not the time to the share the depth of your theological knowledge it does depend on how well you know the person and and indeed where the person was uh spiritually before the loss but my encouragement is just be gentle and gracious a good place to start is probably to lament uh with the person who is suffering we can turn to God together and share our complaints pain and suffering is not how it was meant to be some of you will uh remember the the sentences up our our sleeves that we've uh talked about previously uh and and in the midst of uh struggles and difficulties uh we can see the reality of what we hate about life when friends uh struggling we can say this is pants this is not good I hate this it's not as it was meant to be and we can share the reality about God himself that in time uh might lead on to some of those other questions uh as well sentences too above all as time progresses it's really important to speak the truth to one another and not the LIE uh probably one of the most misquoted verses but Ephesians 4 uh 25 tells us to put off the lie and speak the truth to one another another and that's exactly what job's three friends didn't do the reality is that they propagated Satan's lie and accusations so let's be uh good friends to one another and let's speak the truth about our God as we uh come to uh finish let me uh share a couple of practical things uh remember that the the loudest voice that we often hear is our own voice as we speak to ourselves even even as we listen to others we can ask ourselves is what I'm hearing true or not if it's not in the midst of difficulties and grief and loss just try and forget it focus on what is true also uh try and remember that people can say some crazy things in the midst of Crisis uh people uh who are suffering often get things wrong and even speak wrongly about God don't worry about it that moment probably isn't the time to correct them if it becomes persistent uh a persistent thought then uh talk about it another time when things aren't uh as raw if you can uh if you are in the midst of suffering remember that people who are trying to help will also say some crazy things they genu genuinely generally mean well they've made an effort again try and try and ignore the unhelpful things and know that they are seeking to love you a couple of uh verses to to leave you with uh remember that Jesus is our ultimate friend fascinating that David shared as he was praying uh this morning that these verses had been on his mind they've been on my mind too Matthew 11:28 come to me all who labor and are heavy ladened why come to him because he says I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light we can always turn to Jesus the reality is we can learn Jesus that sounds odd doesn't it learning a person and not learning about a person learning Jesus as Ephesians 4 says and I'm just going to finish uh by by reading those verses it's interesting if you if you read these verses with um with job's friends in mind Ephesians 41 17- 27 says this now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must must no longer walk as the Gentiles do or maybe no longer walk as job's friends do in the futility of their minds they are darkened in their understanding understanding are alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their Hardness of Heart they've become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality greedy uh to practice every kind of impurity we don't know that about job's friends but uh a generality that that happens but that is not the way that you learned Christ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and Holiness therefore having put away falsehood literally says having put away the lie I believe that's talking about the devil's lie having put away the LIE Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another be angry and do not sin do not let the sun go down on your anger give no opportunity to the devil job didn't have the benefit of having Ephesians uh to read but it's amazing when you put it on top of what was happening in job you see the reality of the heart response uh to what was going on my encouragement for you is if you are going through um trials and suffering at the moment share it with friends lament with each other the reality is we can trust God through these times let's pray as we close father we thank you uh that you are God we thank you again for the for the Book of Job it is such an encouragement to my heart to see the reality of how you are in control uh even in the hard times and I pray uh for those uh of us those in the room who are going through hard times trials sufferings grief uh and loss uh Lord may we be there for each other uh may we comfort each other may we be good Physicians to each other above all as the as time goes on May we lift each other's eyes to the real reality of who you are I thank you that you sent Jesus uh because he loves us as a demonstration of your love for us to die in our place taking uh the death that we deserve so that we can have life and I thank you that that life has started right now and we look forward to the future when it will be fulfilled uh but thank you uh that we can trust you through these times and I pray that you'll continue to encourage our hearts just as we finish with a a song or two uh may you draw our hearts to the reality of who you are so we want to thank you we want to praise you in Jesus name amen amen back tonight thank you Steve was a kind of thought through a number of our songs this morning just about praising God our next one we're going to sing two songs to close uh our first of which uh just focuses again our pray on God it's going to be unbroken praise if you want to stand together uh we'll sing this song [Music] Together praise unbroken praise unending be yours be yours forever more praise uned praise [Music] UNF be yours be yours forever [Music] more be yours be yours forever more unbroken praise be all God forever oh my praise be your God forever Lord take this life let it become your throne un broken praise [Music] be my surrender my devote be yours be yours forever more be yours be yours forever more unbroken Grace be your God forever oh my grace be your God forever Lord take this F let it become your thr un broken praise be [Music] yours so let my Deeds have run my words and let my life outweigh my soul so let my Deeds out run my [Music] word and let my life F way my soul unbroken praise be all go forever all my praise be your go forever Lord take this life let it become your throne unbroken praise be all unoken unbroken praise be [Music] all my unbroken praise be yours so let my Deeds th run my [Music] words and let my life th way my soul unbroken praise be your our final song yet not through uh sorry not yet start this again yet not I but through Christ in me it's just a great reminder of this song that as s said you know even as Believers we can we can slip back into of Darkness sometimes we could we we falter we're still uh we still sin from time to time and uh it's just a great reminder this song that through Christ's strength uh we we can do all things we can overcome those struggles so we'll continue and close uh with our final song [Music] what gift of Grace is Jesus My Redeemer there is no more for heaven now to give he is my joy my righteousness and freedom my steadfast love my deep and boundless peace to this I hope my hope is only Jesus for my life is Holy B to his oh how strange and divine I can sing all is mine yet not I but through Christ in me then is dark but I am not forsen for by my side the savior he will St I labor on in weakness and rejoicing for in my need his power is display to this I hold my sheer will defend me through the deepest valley he will lead oh the night has been one and I shall over come yet not I but to Christ in me no fate I dread I know oh I am forgi the future sure the priceing has been PID for Jesus fled and suffered for my paron and he was rais to overthrow the grave to this I hold my sin has been defeated Jesus now whatever is my pleas all the Shams are released I can sing I am free at all I but through Christ in me with every breath I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know he will renew me until I stand with joy Before the Throne to this I hold my hope is only Jesus all the glory we ever more to be when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet all but through Christ in me when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not I but through Christ in me yet not I to Christ in please do go ahead and take a seat thank you for joining with us today just off the back of that song I want to leave you with a verse short verse just from four uh Philippians 4:3 it says uh through Christ I can do all things uh through him who strengthens me just a great encouragement whatever we face this week we can look to Christ we can turn to him knowing that he will be with us and will give us the strength that we need amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in [Music] [Music] [Music] come [Music] [Music]

Channel: Cornerstone Church Swindon

Views: 23

Keywords: Jesus

Id: 0yeOimoP3-4

Length: 88min 5sec (5285 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2024