WEBVTT 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:08.000 Minister to the first 165 years. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:10.080 Welcome to chapter and first. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.480 The Bible teaches the ministry of first minutes. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.679 You'll find our ministry first. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:26.719 Welcome to the section of the legacy theories of our chapter and first podcast. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:33.520 Chapter and first is a podcast that highlights the Bible teaching and teaching the history of First Baptist Church. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:39.520 We've been blessed to have incredible men of God as a part of our history. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:51.439 And the legacy theory of our podcast gives us a chance to go back and hear some of the godly methods here incredibly powerful and impacting methods. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:55.280 Today we're going to listen to a man named Angel Martinez. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:06.959 Angel was a gifted, God-empowered evangelist, and he did evangelism meetings and rallies around the world and all over the United States. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:21.040 In fact, as a high school kid at Briarcrest Baptist High School in the early 80s, when we had a spiritual emphasis in revival, it was Angel Martinez who came and preached at our high school. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:24.719 He preached an unholed number of souls. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:32.719 And only when we get to heaven will we find out how many people are saved under the evangelism ministry of Angel Martinez. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:41.040 Angel was a longtime member at First Baptist Church and used this as his home base and was referred to as the staff evangelist. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:56.239 And so we are so honored to be able to be a part of his ministry throughout the years, and we are blessed to be able to let you hear this message from Angel Martinez as a part of our legacy series. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.280 Let me repeat that. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:25.360 You and I, in our natural abilities and talents, are no match for the problems that surround us. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:30.479 Because we need help, we need spiritual help. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:32.639 And that's the message of the book of Job. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:40.400 If you read it from chapters 1 through 42, the writer is simply trying to say, we cannot make it alone. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:42.960 We need divine help. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:52.560 You know, Job and his friends try to reason this thing out, and there is no intellectual solution to the mystery of human suffering. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:56.639 No matter how you look at it, it baffles you from every angle. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:04.960 And therefore, we must learn how to bring into operation the principle of faith and the principle of trust. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:12.319 You know, in Hebrews 11:6, the writer said, without faith it is impossible to please God. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.879 In other words, and he's talking about Christians, not unsaved people. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:30.240 He that cometh to God, and we come to God through prayer, through Bible study, must believe that he is, that God is operating, and that is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:41.840 Now he's not referring to unsafe people there, he's referring to Christians who try to grow in their faith by seeking the face of God and the presence and the power of God. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.240 And so you and I need help. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:49.039 You see, God didn't promise to save us from trouble when he saved us from sin. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:53.199 Now he saved us from all of our sins at the point of salvation. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:55.360 He saved us from our past sins. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:56.479 He forgave those. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.840 He forgave the future sins because he knows what they are too. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:06.240 He knows every sin, every blunder, every transgression that you're going to commit from point now to point death. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:11.280 And so at the point of salvation, he didn't just take care of your past sins, he took care of all of them. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:16.079 God does not save you from point now back to point birth when you accept him. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.720 He saves you from point birth to point death. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:25.920 You see, that's what it means to when it says in Hebrews 7.25 that he can say from the uttermost to the uttermost. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:31.519 Actually, in in uh Greek it's a figure say that used to mean from birth to death. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:33.360 That's what it means. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.399 And that's exactly what God does for every one of us. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:39.040 Hallelujah, at the point of salvation. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:42.480 If it were not for that, not a single one of us could make it. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:54.879 If my forgiveness uh were total from point now to point to birth, and God forgave me, but from point now to point death I was on my own, I'd be lost in twenty minutes or less again. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:56.319 I couldn't make it. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:01.920 That's why the grace of God has to move in and operate for you and for me. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:04.879 So I want you to catch the message of the book of Job. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:12.160 It is trying to show us that man alone cannot face the problem, nor can he understand the problem. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:15.600 And that's why we have all those speeches from all those friends. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:28.560 And Job answers back, and he's baffled, and they're baffled, because God is trying to show a give us a picture of the way that the human mind operates in the presence of sorrow and despair. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:30.639 There is no intellectual solution. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:32.560 You say, Well, I don't understand. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:33.439 You see? 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:40.879 And whenever you look up, whenever something happens to you, and you look up and say, Why did this happen to me? 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:44.240 You're not looking for an answer. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.319 You're looking for an argument. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:49.759 And God is not going to argue with you or with me. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:51.199 He's too smart to do that. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:58.079 We don't have the equipment to understand the ministry and the decipherings of the grace of God. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:06.879 We're going to have to wait and trust and then look back someday from heaven, or maybe even later in this life, and see where certain things fit in. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:15.360 You can do that now with some things that ten years ago, twenty years ago, you thought the world had come to an end because of a certain thing that happened. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:19.040 And now as you look back, you say, Well, maybe that's the best thing that ever happened to me. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.399 At that point, at the time, you did not know it. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:24.560 But that's the way God operates. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:30.000 Alright, so God didn't promise to save us from trouble when he saved us from sin. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:36.560 He didn't save the Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace, he saved them in the fiery furnace. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:41.600 He didn't save Daniel out of the lion's den, he saved Daniel in the lion's den. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:48.959 He didn't save David out of the valley of the shadow of death, he saved David in the valley of the shadow of death. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.079 You see, there are no big problems. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:56.720 There are just little people. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:58.639 That's the trouble. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.279 You know that the trouble is relative. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:03.439 You say, preacher, what do you mean by that? 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.199 Or trouble is relative. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:08.879 It depends upon your strength, not upon the weight of the problem. 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:16.319 Take for example, a little baby can walk up to a 50-pound weight, a little toddler, and he cannot pick it up. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:16.879 Why? 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:18.720 Is it too heavy? 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:20.240 No, he's just a weakling. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:20.959 See? 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:27.600 That little boy may grow up later and become a weightlifter in college, and he can come up to that same weight and pick it up with one finger. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:28.959 What's the difference? 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:29.839 The weight? 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:30.399 No. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:33.759 The strength of the inner person. 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:35.439 That's the difference. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:40.240 When I was with you last time, I brought you a sermon on the book of Job, but I took a different direction. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:43.439 But today I want to talk about the fact that faith is the answer. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:50.720 You know, in the 19th chapter in verse 25, Job looked up and he gave us the total concept of facing problems. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:56.319 I know that my Redeemer liveth, that he shall stand upon this earth in the latter day. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:00.800 And though let skin worms destroy this body, he was suffering physically. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:09.199 Yet in my flesh I'll see God, and mine eyes shall behold him and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.800 Job 19, 25. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:16.079 And that summarizes the mood of the entire chapter, and the entire book. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:21.920 If we're going to win the victory, we're going to have to learn how to look up and say, Lord, you take over. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:24.399 It's in your hands. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:26.720 It's in your hands. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:32.720 I want to say three things about the book of Job and summarize it for you or give you what I call an overview. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:43.120 Sometimes we understand the Bible better if we get up high and look at the whole thing instead of trying to go a piecemeal and uh little by little and go gradually. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:44.399 Let's get an overview. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:46.639 All right, let me give you three divisions. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:49.919 Number one, chapters one, two, and three. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.639 Trust God when things go wrong. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.480 Now the key word is the word T-H-I-N-G-S, the word things. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.960 Trust God when things go wrong. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:00.320 That'll be point number one. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:04.000 Point number two, trust God when people disappoint you. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.600 And the key word is the word people. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:12.480 Because most of the trouble that you're going to have in life is going to come from other human beings, from people. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:18.559 In chapters four through 37, three men came to visit Job. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:24.159 You remember how these friends came, and they didn't do a very good job of helping Job at all. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:32.320 And then in chapter 31, a young fellow who was passing by and heard them arguing, he jumped in and put in four chapters worth of what he thought. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:35.440 And he didn't help the situation either. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:37.440 And the other fellows were older men. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:41.200 He thought a young man wouldn't have the solution. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.720 But uh neither youth nor old age has the solution for human trouble. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:48.720 It has to come from above. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:57.759 Unless we have within us that which is above us, we are going to be defeated by that which is around us. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:02.399 Alright, chapters 4 through 37, trust God when people disappoint you. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:07.120 And then chapters 38 through 42, the last chapter is 42. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:12.000 Trust God when God doesn't talk to you, when God is silent. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:15.519 Because there are times when God won't say a word, but he's there. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:18.720 Don't ever mistake his silence for his absence. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:20.879 He's always there if you're a child of God. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:24.720 That's one of the promises and guarantees at the point of salvation. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:31.679 You know, God does about 34 things for you the moment he saves you, and one of them is to say, I will never leave you nor forsake you. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:38.080 Now you're born again, your name is written in heaven, you have eternal life, you're baptized with the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:45.279 And number five, you're an heir of God, a joint heir of Christ, you're a priest of God, you're an ambassador of God, and on and on I could go. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:50.000 Thirty-four things that happen to you the moment you're saved. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:53.279 And one of them is, I will never leave you nor forsake you. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:55.120 Lo, I am with you always. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:59.519 So many times he's there, but he doesn't say a word. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.960 And you want him to talk out and say, Why, oh Lord, tell me something about my situation. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:13.840 He says, All right, trust God when things go wrong, trust God when people disappoint you, trust God when God is silent but never absent. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:15.200 Alright, let's take number one. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:16.960 Trust God when things go wrong. 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:18.480 You know, for Job, things went wrong. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:29.679 If you read chapter one, the report he got up that morning, a healthy man, a wealthy man, and by sundown, he was broke. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:35.120 That afternoon, the stock market crashed. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:38.000 And if you read chapter one, the reports began coming in. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:39.519 The camels are gone. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:43.039 And the camels were very important to Eastern people. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.600 They were like our 18 wheelers in our day. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.200 There were the trucks that the transportation for goods of that day. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:56.080 And then the cattle, lightning has struck the cattle, and of course, there goes the T-bone stakes. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:57.600 And the sheep. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.240 Well, there goes the new suit for next fall. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:00.960 You see? 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:06.480 And so everything that was represented wealth for a man, everything was gone. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:11.759 And by sundown, Job was broke, and economic problems are going to come to us. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:18.320 I know I grew up during the depression, and problems have arisen all the way through, and you have the same thing in your life. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:28.559 We have to learn how to trust God and seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then he's promised that all these things shall be added unto you. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:37.279 And maybe you're facing that today with this crazy economy of ours, the inflation. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:50.399 I heard a father the other day say to me, He said, you know, just about a just about the time I make ends meet, somebody moves the ends. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.639 And that's about the story of our life economic from the standpoint of economics. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:57.519 And so therefore we're going to have problems in that realm. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.240 And then another problem that came to Job, things went wrong. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:02.799 Another problem, ten children died. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:04.559 Oh, that was a blow. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:10.720 Can you imagine seven boys and three girls, the entire family wiped out in one catastrophic stroke? 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:22.080 They were having a party in the home of the eldest brother, and right in the midst of their party, their festivities, a tornado struck, and seven boys and three girls were wiped out. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:24.240 Can you imagine, Miss, that funeral? 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:29.440 You've been to the funerals to the cemetery to bury one loved one who meant so much to you. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:31.360 But can you imagine ten? 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:39.840 Can you imagine coming home after that funeral and all of the laughter and sparkle of young people gone? 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:42.080 What a tragic time. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:45.279 You can sympathize with Mr. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:45.840 and Mrs. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:48.480 Job at this point. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:50.879 And then after that, another problem. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:54.639 Had to leave town. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:56.960 Didn't want people staring at him. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:58.960 What he had, we don't know. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:05.679 Some years ago I was making a careful study of the book of Job, and I began to think, what did he have? 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:13.120 And so I said, I think I'll just lift all the symptoms because he complained about several things, and I picked up seven symptoms. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:20.159 Some were lodged in poetry, and you had to wrest them from their literary mooring. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:29.279 And I got about seven symptoms, and I sent them to a medical doctor friend, to several medical doctor friends who specialize in diagnosis in internal medicine. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:36.720 And you know I got almost as many answers, different answers, as the number of doctors I confronted. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:40.240 You see, that's why they call it practicing medicine. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:42.240 They're just practicing. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:44.720 They don't know everything. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:50.559 You see, the medical doctor is at the at the mercy of what they call differential diagnosis. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:56.879 The same symptoms can uh obtain, can characterize many diseases. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:00.960 When you go to a medical doctor and say my head hurts, that may mean a tumor. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:13.360 It may mean uh a circulatory problem, a migraine headache where the where the where the carotid artery is is not functioning properly, and you're having a headache on one half side of your head. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:26.639 It may mean uh visual problems, it may mean meningitis, it may mean a fluid imbalance of the brain, it may mean a tumor, it may mean inflammation of the coverings of the brain, the meninges. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:37.440 But on and on you could go, see, and the doctors have to face, in fact, one doctor said whenever a patient comes into the office and says, I've got a headache, it may mean one of three hundred different diseases. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:45.120 And the doctor has to weed them out and say it's not this, it's not that, it's not the other, and then finally zero in on the right one. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:46.480 Maybe. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:55.039 But these doctor friends, one doctor's friend wrote it back and said he had elephantiasis, a disease of that eastern time. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:58.879 Another one said no, he had coccydodomycosis. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:01.759 You know how doctors have long names for what's wrong with us. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:06.399 Coccidioidomycosis, a fungus disease of the lung. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:13.360 Another one said no, he had anthrax, for you have boils and eruptions in the skin, and on and on. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:16.639 And so, but uh Job got sick. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.360 Maybe you've been sick recently, or you're going to be. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:27.519 Some of you are very healthy and you sit here and say, I haven't had a sick day in my life, but one of these days it's going to happen. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:34.879 Some infection will move in, some genetic dysfunction will take over, like a gallbladder or an appendix. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:45.360 Maybe, uh, maybe some uh something you picked up from uh the from your background, from your parents, a bad gene as you grow older will begin to show up. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:51.200 And then all of the problems of geriatrics, as one ages, all these. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:56.559 And so Job got very sick and he left town to suffer alone. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.320 And then on top of that, another problem. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:16:58.799 Mrs. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.879 Job had a nervous breakdown. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:03.919 She said, Job cursed God and commits suicide. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:09.279 And whenever somebody suggests suicide for himself or the other person, he's not well. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:12.640 And remember that suicide can happen to Christians. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:15.759 Like cancer can happen to a Christian. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:38.559 You see, suicide basically is a chemical imbalance of the endocrine system, where deep depressions take over, and the person in the throes of melancholia, in the throes of unsolvable anxieties, or depressions that are beyond the ken of human comprehension or remedy. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:44.079 The person gives in, and death becomes better than life. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:50.319 You know, in 1 Samuel chapter 28, we have the story of a Christian who committed suicide and went to heaven. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.640 His name was S-A-U-L, Saul. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:53.759 He was a king. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:13.920 He'd been saved, but he got away from the Lord in his latter reign, and one day he was fighting the Philistines, and he wanted to talk to Samuel, the old prophet, who was dead, and he went toward the witch of Endor, hoping uh to get some relief, and God allowed uh Samuel to appear, to come back from heaven. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:19.039 And if you read the story in 1 Samuel 28, Samuel said, Saul, you're in trouble. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.279 Tomorrow you're going to lose the battle. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:24.720 And in the midst of the fight, you're going to get very depressed. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:29.680 And you and your sons will commit, you will commit suicide, and your sons will be killed. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:36.319 And by this time tomorrow, you and your sons will be with me. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:38.000 Now, where was Samuel? 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:38.960 He had come from heaven. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:41.519 He delivered that message, went back to heaven. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:43.839 He said, Tomorrow we'll see you in heaven. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:52.480 And surely enough, the next day Saul fell on his own sword, committed suicide, his sons died, and he went to heaven. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:54.799 So this can happen to a believer. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:19:03.839 Like a pen, like a pendicitis can happen to a believer, like cancer can happen to a believer, like typhoid fever can happen to a believer. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:12.880 Just because you're a child of God, you're not uh immune from the problems of human existence. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:20.079 You know, Paul had a thorn in the flesh and God didn't heal him. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.319 Said, tough it out. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:25.920 I'll give you strength to bear it. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:34.000 So Mrs. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:35.440 Job broke down. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:37.200 You know, I've never been too severe, Mrs. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:44.559 Job, whenever I have made a study of this book, because if you notice when the money was gone, this little woman didn't say a word. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:46.559 She stood firm. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:52.400 When ten children died, and every mother in this congregation knows what that would have meant to you. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:57.359 She dried her tears and went right on. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:03.039 But when Job got sick, it was too much. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:07.920 The human psyche can endure just so much. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:11.519 And she went to pieces. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.000 All right, number one, trust God when things go wrong. 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:15.359 Chapters 1, 2, and 3. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:17.759 And things are going to go wrong in your life. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:20.400 You're living in an imperfect world. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.400 This world can go wrong. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:28.000 You know, tornadoes and hurricanes are the world, are the machine, is the machine breaking down? 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:30.640 The machine can break down. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:34.240 The earth and the universe is under the curse of sin. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.000 And whenever anything is cursed by sin, it's cursed by limitations. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:45.119 And tornadoes and hurricanes are deviations. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:47.359 Like when your car breaks down. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:50.960 Cause problems. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:54.319 You're living in an imperfect world. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:56.400 And more than that, you're not perfect yourself. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:04.079 You make mistakes, and many much many of our troubles come because of the mistakes we willfully made somewhere in the past. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:11.759 And then other people make mistakes who love you and whom you love, and when they get hurt, you get hurt. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:15.920 So trust God when things go wrong. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.359 Look up and say, I know that my Redeemer liveth. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:20.400 See? 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.440 He shall stand upon this earth in the latter day. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:24.960 He controls history. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:26.400 He controls my body. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.319 Let skin worms destroy this body. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.359 He controls the future, the resurrection. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:35.680 Yet in my flesh I'll see God. 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:39.759 He controls eternity, and mine eyes shall behold him. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.799 And the word behold in Hebrew means they'll keep on beholding him forever and forever. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:52.000 Though my reigns, by the way, the word reigns in Hebrew is a word for kidneys, be consumed within me. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:58.400 So trust God when things go wrong. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:21:59.759 T H I N. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.680 Or number two, trust God when people disappoint you. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:06.079 Chapters 4 through 37. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:09.119 Now here the uh three men move in. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:14.400 Now they were friends of Job and they were supposed to comfort, but they didn't do it. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:20.799 Because the human mind doesn't have the answer to the mystery of suffering. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:30.400 And Job, they didn't help Job, these men. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:42.960 You know, I'm convinced after preaching for forty-five years that there are some people who should never visit the sick. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.319 Now they mean well when they go. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:48.559 And their intentions are good. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:51.920 But they don't understand the psychology of a sick person. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:57.440 Whenever a person is sick, he's under the umbrella of a different psychology than when he's well. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:03.440 And these men didn't help Job. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.279 And some people should never visit the sick. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:24.480 I have a preacher friend who told me he got sick during a certain part of his ministry, and one day two ladies came to visit him, and they said, Brother Pastor, we're so sorry you're sick, and we have come to comfort you, and we want to sing for you a duet. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.000 You know what they sang? 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:32.559 My ladies son is sinking fast. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:40.960 My race is almost run. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.400 That isn't a good song to sing to a sick man. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:51.839 I got sick a few years ago and had to go into two surgeries right in a row. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:57.440 And you know, sixty-two people came to visit me. 00:23:58.480 --> 00:23:59.839 I counted them. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.519 And not a single one of them said a thing that helped me. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:09.359 Somebody the answer is not to be found in logic. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:18.079 The only I'll take it back, one little preacher, a little country preacher who went to the hospital and looked on the register and he saw my name. 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:21.279 And he had read my books, but he had never met me or heard me preach. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.200 And he was from the country. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:25.920 He said, Well, I think I'll go by and visit him. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:35.440 And he came in and said, I've read your books and I've gotten a blessing from them, and I saw your name on the register, and I just wanted to come and tell you that I'm sorry you're sick. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:36.720 Can I do anything for you? 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:38.000 Can I mow your lawn? 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:47.119 I take care of uh lawns, people's lawns, and preach on Sundays, and I don't have it, they don't I don't make enough money in the little church where I preach uh to support me. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:50.880 He said, Can I mow your lawn while you're sick? 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:53.200 Now that man did more for me. 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:58.160 When you visit sick people, do something for them. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.480 Don't just say words. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:04.240 Don't try to reason it out and say, well, it could be worse. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:08.480 You know. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:14.480 And like Job here, they said you've done something wrong, you've sinned, and God's punishing you. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:17.920 Or they'll come in with some Lulu's. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:22.160 I wish it like Job, they wish they'd just shut up. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:25.039 You know, I don't like for people to come and see me when I'm sick. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:31.599 After these 62 people came the first couple of days, I just put up a sign and said, no visitors, infection in here. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.000 That kept them out, bud. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:35.279 They didn't come in. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:38.000 I told my doctor, I said, I don't want, I don't want folks to come and see. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:41.200 You know, when you're sick, you don't look good, and you don't feel good, you don't look good. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:44.319 I like for folks to come and see me when I'm feeling well. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:49.359 That's what I've never learned while we open the casket. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:51.519 Keep it shut. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.200 Let's remember the folks like they were at their best. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:02.079 People are going to give you trouble. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:05.359 And sometimes your kinfolks will be the greatest offenders. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:08.720 You know your loved ones can hurt you more than anybody else. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:12.559 You know Jesus had more trouble with his own kinfolks than anybody else. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:19.119 In John chapter 7 and verse 5, it says, None of his brethren, none of his brethren believed on him. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:21.839 Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:25.680 After he was virgin born, Joseph and Mary lived together like husband and wife. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:27.680 If you want to read the record, put it down. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:32.960 Mark chapter 6 and verse 3 talks about the family, the little family, and the brothers and sisters. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:35.920 It mentions at least four brothers and at least two sisters. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:37.359 There could have been more. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:41.519 And they didn't believe on him. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:43.359 Oh, that must have hurt. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:48.160 Here he was raising the dead, stealing the storm, feeding the five thousand. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:57.119 And his own kin folks said, That must have hurt. 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:01.599 In fact, in Mark chapter 3 and verse 21, they came to take him home. 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:03.119 They said, You're not well. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.680 You don't have both oars in the water. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.960 Or as they say sometimes, you're not playing with a full deck. 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:16.480 Or as the young people say, you don't have all your marbles. 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:25.039 Jesus, the God who made the universe, his own kinfolks talking to him like that. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:34.079 Don't let it surprise you when sons and daughters and husbands and wives and mothers and fathers break your heart. 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:39.119 They can do it quicker than anybody else. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.839 Than strangers or enemies. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:46.720 Your kin folks. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:49.759 Trust God when people disappoint you. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.759 And they're going to do it. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:54.559 And you're going to have to stand firm. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:58.160 Learn how to put people in God's hands. 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:02.400 When children go a different way. 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:09.119 I've seen pastor friends and preacher friends bring up boys and girls in a beautiful Christian home. 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:15.839 And then one or two of them took off in just an opposite direction of what they had been taught all their lives. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.200 And I've seen mothers and fathers say, What happened? 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:20.880 Why the where did I go wrong? 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:21.839 I did my best. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.839 You see, they've got a freedom, and they can abuse it. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:27.839 And often they do. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:31.680 Learn how to put them in God's hands. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:39.200 I have a sermon on the prodigal son, the story of the prodigal son called, Can you wait on the front porch? 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:40.960 That daddy. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:43.839 He didn't chase after that boy when he took off. 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:48.640 But every afternoon he stood and looked down the road. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:51.920 May have been 30 or 40 years before he came back. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:53.279 We don't have any time. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:55.200 Indicated. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.519 Can you wait on the front porch? 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:02.559 Oh, let's learn how to wait. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:06.000 Let's learn how to be patient. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.720 That's part of trusting God. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:11.839 He's patient with us. 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:19.519 Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be as patient with other people as God has been with us? 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:27.920 What a tremendous world this would be if we could be as patient with others as God has been with us. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:31.359 Now may I close by saying the third thing? 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:33.440 Trust God when God doesn't talk to you. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:38.319 You know, for 38 chapters, for 37 chapters, Job said, Where's God? 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:40.720 Oh, if I could just talk to God, there's something wrong here. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:41.599 Where are you? 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:45.119 Well, he was right there, but he wasn't saying a thing to Job. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:52.240 And God has a purpose for being silent. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:54.720 He knows when to talk. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:59.920 Finally, in chapter 38, he spoke out. 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:03.519 You read chapters 38 through 42, you know what God did? 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:06.880 He asked Job 40 questions. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:11.279 He said, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:13.440 That's a question in genetics. 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:15.440 Has the reign a father? 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:18.000 That's a question in meteorology. 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:20.640 Who controls Pleiades and Orion? 00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:22.720 That's a question in astronomy. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:25.519 Who feeds Leviathan the great sea monster? 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:27.519 That's a question in biology. 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:28.480 And on and on. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:30.000 Forty questions. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:41.519 And Job realized that anyone who had enough intelligence to ask that kind of a question could take care of him. 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:44.880 So you see, Job did not get the answer. 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:49.200 He lost the question. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.119 Job did not get the answer. 00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:56.160 He lost the question. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:05.759 And Job discovered there is more wisdom in the questions of God than there is in the answers of men. 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:13.519