Learning to Seek and Trust in the Person of God - Pastor Greg Addison - January 18, 2026

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you, choir and congregation.

Good morning.

Somebody did somebody told y'all it's cold outside.

But it's a beautiful morning, brisk day.

Good to see you this morning.

We're excited.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Job 42.

And while you're turning, I want to tell you a little bit more about that dessert with the pastor and all that other stuff we're doing that night.

A lot of fun things that afternoon.

We're concocting this sort of event on February the 15th.

We're excited about the Ask the Pastor thing.

I've had a number of people say, Pastor, when can we just sit down and ask some questions?

We got questions about stuff.

We want to know what you think about.

We'd like to get some information about that.

One person came and asked me and said, you know, you'll make the comment on occasion that you're not talking about politics and you know all about that you want to.

And if you want to have a cup of coffee, we can talk about it, but we're doing church when we're in church.

And they said, Well, can we have the cup of coffee and talk about that?

So, Job, a lot of questions, a lot of people discussing.

You guys have been awesome in your excitement over all this.

So, what we thought we'd do is we'd just experiment with this.

So, we're going to have on that afternoon an ask the pastor.

It is a freewheeling.

Ask whatever you want, have at it.

You can play Stump the Pastor if you want to.

I'm just going to warn you, it's not very difficult to do that.

We'll over the next couple of weeks, we'll have some cards in the Bible recap room where you can write out a question that you might want me to answer if you want me to look at it a little bit ahead of time.

But we're not going to filter them.

We're just going to have at it.

We're just church family, so we're going to have a little food and a little coffee, and we're just going to we're just going to have some fun talking through that.

So somebody had several requests to do that, so we're just going to do that.

And then after that, we're working on a family movie night.

So we'll do that and then we'll hang out and eat some, drink some coffee, do that, and then we'll go.

We have figured out how to make the Fellowship Hall of Movie Theater.

So we're going to have family movie night that night at 6 o'clock.

So 4 30 and then 6.

So come and have fun with us and let's just jump in and see how it goes and see what happens.

Also, I just want to celebrate with you again.

One of the things we've been looking forward to is the first Sunday that we got to baptize folks from both campuses on the same Sunday.

God is good.

Amen.

And we are so excited, and it's just a wonderful time to see what God's doing and how we're reaching folks and how He's using us to do that.

And so we're just thrilled.

And I just want to say thank you for how you've jumped into the spirit of the Bible recap deal.

We've jumped in, people are talking about it, they're asking questions about it.

I got texts this morning.

It was awesome to swap some texts with some guys in the church about what's happening and how much they enjoyed this, or what about that.

So it is really exciting to read through and encourage each other together.

And so let's here's what we're going to talk about as we finish up the book of Job.

I know at the end of the week we shifted to Abraham, and we'll start him next week, but I wanted to finish the book of Job.

So uh turn with you're in Job 42.

Here's what we're going to talk about today: learning to seek and trust God and his person and who he is.

I think that is ultimately one of the major themes of the book of Job, and it's the lesson that God brings together in this last picture.

Now, why is that important?

Well, here's one of the things I enjoyed about this platform and the tools that they're providing for us as we're reading through Scripture.

If you've not picked up that a card in the Bible recap room or looked at it online, there's a little prep deal that you can read before you do your reading.

Each day you pray through these things or you think about this and ask God to do that.

One of them, the fourth one there, correct any lies I believe about you or anything I misunderstand.

I think that's a really important prayer and an approach to Scripture, and you really see that as a major theme here in the book of Job.

For example, uh Job is trying to figure out why this is going on, and he's got these buddies that come to him, and I think they're probably well-meaning, you know, the Bible says, describes when they get there, they spend seven days fasting and praying before they start speaking into this moment.

So I think they're probably good old run-of-the-mill average church folks, and they're trying and they're sort of, but they got stuff they don't understand, and they've got it all messed up, and they are giving him bad advice because they don't understand God in the way that God wants to be understand, or he's trying to reveal himself to us.

And I think this book has that in that, and I think that's an important thing.

And I just want to point that out to you.

I think it's a great tool, and we'll see some of that as we move forward.

So as we get to Job 42, this is the culmination of the story, right?

He's going through all these things as a part of this spiritual warfare with Satan trying to oppose the work of God, God allowing him to be used to get this spiritual victory.

His friends, as we said, show up and they get in all these discourses back and forth.

The Bible says through most of that, Job did not reject God.

He did not sin before God.

As it continues to go on, it does become clear, though, that Job begins to be deeply discouraged and he doesn't understand.

And that misunderstanding of who God is, he begins to challenge the Lord.

There's a point where he says, Hey, like I know I didn't do anything wrong, and you ain't told me what I'm doing wrong, and you ain't told me why we're going through all this, so I want my day in court to vindicate myself, and you tell me what I did wrong.

I mean, it's kind of like, and we're like that sometimes.

So he does get that point where he gets frustrated and he's discouraged and he's trying to argue all that.

And finally, God gets to the point where he's okay, it's now here's the lesson.

The Bible says in Job 37, he shows up and he begins to speak to Job, and he speaks very clearly.

In fact, the Bible says that he shows up in the midst of a tornado with lightning and storms and all of this, and he speaks loudly to Job.

He reveals all of who he is.

And here's the end of that discussion as God tells him, You didn't make the planet, you didn't make the animals, you don't know how all this is going, you don't know what the plans are.

I am God, you're not.

Would you challenge my holiness and my justice from your position when you don't know all this stuff and I know everything and made it all, and I am God?

And here's where Job responds.

42 verse 1, then Job answered the Lord or replied to the Lord and said, I know that you can do anything, and no plans of yours can be thwarted.

You, God, asked, Who is this who conceals my counsel with his ignorance?

Surely, now Job says, I, Job, spoke about things I did not understand, and things too wonderful for me to know.

Verse 4, you, God, said, Listen now, and I will speak.

When I question you, you will inform me.

In other words, he's saying, God, I hear you.

I was challenging you, and you answer what I did wrong, and tell me all.

And he said, I heard you when you said, I don't question you, you question me.

You don't listen to me, I listen to you, your God.

I love this verse right here.

I wish I had weeks to do this verse right here.

I heard rumors about you, or another version says, I heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.

In other words, man, I heard sermons about you, I worship you, I thought I knew things, I learned stuff, all that.

I had no idea until you revealed yourself in a deeper way who you really are.

Now I've really seen you.

And Job says, Therefore, I take back my words and repent in dust and ashes.

Verse 7.

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has.

Then he continues in this rebuke with them.

Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves.

In other words, he is telling them they sinned before God, and they sinned against Job in this discouraging him and trying to give between him and God with this bad advice.

And so he requires them to give a repentance offering, but he wants them to do it in front of Job so that they're also fixing their relationship with Job while they are repenting before God.

Then my servant Job will pray for you.

I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves.

You see, God has is a God of grace.

And these guys may have had good intentions, they didn't know, and so God is working through what their problem is, but he has grace for them as well.

For you have not spoken the truth about me.

Here's their problem, their folly, for you have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has.

Then Eliphaz the Timanite, Bildad the Shuite, and Zophar the Namathite went and did as the Lord had told them.

By the way, at the Asta Pastor deal, do not challenge me with Old Testament names, okay?

And as the Lord accepted Job's prayer.

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his prosperity and doubled his previous possessions.

And then you get this incredible picture of what God has done for Job.

All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to his house and dined with him in his house.

They sympathized with him and comfort him concerning all the adversity the Lord had brought on him.

Each one brought him this gold and earring and stuff.

What he's picturing here is where Job thought he was alone.

Now people are coming back around him again.

So the Lord blessed the last part of Job's life more than the first.

He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

That's like doubling the numbers that he had before.

And then it says he also had seven sons and three daughters.

Well, he had seven sons and three daughters before.

Job didn't lose those.

They're in heaven with the Lord.

The Lord doubled his number of kids.

He just did it one set at a time.

So God is still working with gracious and blessing Job and doubling what he has.

Verse 14.

I told the campus over at Chaffee, I said, I'm waiting for the day as a pastor where I show up in the hospital, newborn baby, and somebody says, Pastor, meet our daughter Karen Hepok.

Just a thought there.

No women as beautiful as Job's daughters could be found in all the land.

In my journal, I wrote, wow, his daughters are almost as pretty as my daughter Mabry.

And their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.

Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

Then Job died, old and full of days.

Let's talk for a minute.

Here's the big idea, and then I want to break it down.

The big idea, as we've talked about through the first several lessons, as we're looking at the biblical principles of coming to Scripture, Scripture is God's story about Him and His work.

That's the theme of this story.

And if you think about Moses writing, you know, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and all that, and you think about this story fitting in that time frame.

It's one of the earliest stories that we know.

What's happening is at the very beginning of God's word, he is setting up in all of this the theme and the truth that he is the actor, he is God, this is his story, his work of redemption, and we are to come to him.

That's really the lesson that Job learns.

At the end, as we read, he came to him and said, I heard reports about you, but now I see who you really are.

He brings Job to that place where he burns away all the stuff in Job's life that might be there, and he comes to realize how deeply unaware of who God was and how much he's now learned about who God is.

And from that, we have to learn as God's children the priority to seek and learn who He is and what He is doing.

That is your call in life.

That is what you're supposed to be doing, is seeking the Lord.

It's not I come to the Lord and say, Will you fix my marriage or you make this work better, or I'm having a terrible day, will you comfort me?

Or here's a word of promise that's for me.

No, all of that is drawing us to the person of God and for us to come to Him who He is and what He is doing.

That's what this is all about.

And that's what Job learns, and that's the lesson for us to learn.

So truth number one begins with this.

And it is the first, literally the first lesson, the first words out of Job's mouth.

That God's sovereignty is immutable.

He is God.

You have got to acknowledge that fact that He is God.

And that means certain implications for us that He is God and I am not.

I am not allowed to put myself in the decision-making process above the person or plans of God.

And in our culture today, we've lost this awe and sense of who God is.

The Bible even says all throughout Scripture, things like in Proverbs, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

That word fear is not like, oh, I'm terrified, like I'm about to get run over by a truck or something like that.

The fear of God is an awe of who he is and a recognition that you are God and I am not, and you are charge and I am not.

You are God.

Listen to what he says.

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

I love this part where he says, I spoke about stuff I didn't understand because your ways are too wondrous and above mine.

There are two things I want you to think about the sovereignty of God.

First of all, his unsearchable ways.

That word unsearchable is an incredible word.

Romans chapter 11, verse 33 says that your ways are unsearchable.

Romans 11:33

Bible says in the book of Isaiah, I believe, he says, your ways are higher than my ways.

God is God and is over all of this, and he is at work, and he is in work in ways that we don't see or understand.

Remember, Job had no idea about the conversation in heaven where Satan was trying to oppose the work of God and he challenged God and he challenged Job's faith and all of that.

He had no idea that was going on, but there was a battle in heaven that was important for all of the generations of people who would be followers of God down through time like us.

We are coming to the book of Job to learn these lessons.

God is at work in ways that Job would not have understood.

And later when he got to heaven, he figured out, oh my goodness, that's what was going on.

Wow, and he's blown away because God used me for that.

And a bunch of people in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on a continent that Job had never heard of, were spending every day of two weeks reading about him, learning these lessons that God used him to teach.

I mean, God is at work and it's just so much.

In Jeremiah 33.3, now he doesn't always hide all these things from us.

Jeremiah 33.3 says this, call on me and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things.

God is there and he will teach just as he taught Job, but we have to begin with a presumption that I cannot understand all of this or I don't understand it yet until God reveals it to me.

Here's the next thing he says.

I know that your plans, one version says, cannot be thwarted.

Another says, cannot be stopped.

God's plan of redemption will never be unraveled.

He will accomplish it.

Period.

End of story.

That is the truth.

Now, that means for us, stand in the way of God's plans and get run over.

Sin before God and be judged.

But it also means if you give your life to Jesus Christ as your Savior, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him will never perish.

Jesus said, They are in, we are in his Father's hands, and no one can pluck us out of the Father's hand.

Paul said, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things that are present, nor things that might come, nor any other created thing, which has ever been or ever will be, can ever separate me from the love of God, which is found in Christ Jesus.

And when you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ and you have trusted in the gospel, the good news of salvation, God's plan of redemption, nothing can stop God's plan of redemption, so nothing can stop your salvation or take it away from you.

That's why Job, in the midst of all this learning, he says, Listen, my Redeemer lives, and even if my body is gone, he will stand and he will elevate and raise us up for all eternity.

Even from the one of the oldest stories in Scripture, God is teaching the ultimate redemption of his people and of this planet.

And it cannot be stopped.

Satan thought that when Jesus gave up his spirit on that cross, he had finally won.

And he had no idea that that was the opening salvo of a three-day battle in which he lost for all of eternity because Jesus accomplished God's plan and conquered death and sin.

And so the sovereignty of God means a lot for us.

The first thing it means is you had better acknowledge that God is God and you are not, and that should change our perspective about our pursuit for holiness and our evaluation of our sinfulness.

Man, we spend a lot of time, and I do, God cares for us, and you'll hear a lot of that here in this message, and you'll see that.

But listen, too often we turn, Adrian Rogers, my pastor where I grew up, used to say, we create this idea of a mush God.

He looks like a grandfather, and he's all mushy and gooey inside, and he loves everything, and he never judges stuff, and he's just up there like a granddad for us to go get whatever we want.

And that is a very narrow interpretation of who God is.

The mush God is not who the creator God of the universe is.

He is God, he is holy, it is his plans, and when we violate his plans, it is sin before him.

And God makes it clear to Job in this journey, he rebukes him and he changes his perspective and he lets him see the magnitude of who he is.

Even when God shows up to speak to Job, think about this.

God speaks in a lot of ways in Scripture.

If you know Christ as your Savior, if you've given your life to him and you have been saved and he lives in you, the Bible says that our bodies are the Holy Spirit, temple of the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit lives in us, and Romans 8 says that his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're his children.

Man, he can just impress himself on us.

Clarity is never God's problem.

We always know what God's saying.

We just don't always obey it.

He speaks in one story in Scripture, he speaks, he stops a dude on a road and speaks through his donkey.

He writes on a wall with a flaming hand.

He calls Job to look at his creation because the Bible says in Romans 1 that the evidence of God is in all of his creation.

He speaks through dreams, and Daniel interprets dreams.

I mean, he speaks in all these ways.

He speaks through prophets and pastors and men like Paul and preachers.

In the story of Elijah, after Elijah had been discouraged, after this victory.

And he's running for his life from evil queen and king and all, and he gets this scourge, and God puts him in a mountain, gives him a rest, and then he steps him out on this cliff and he says, Watch.

And God comes roaring by in his tornado and all this kind of stuff.

And the Bible says, God was not in that, God was not in that, God was not in that.

Because what Elijah needed was the encouragement of the presence of God and the direction of God.

And so the Bible says, I'm not in that, and the Bible says in a still small voice, he spoke to Elijah.

But he didn't use a still small voice with Job.

He's making a point.

Job 37, when he begins to speak, the Bible says there was a tornado and there was lightning and his voice was thunderous.

And God spoke and he said, I am God, because it was time for Job to learn.

You be quiet, you listen, you follow, I am God.

And there are times in our lives where we need to shut up and recognize that the thunderous voice of God is calling to us to humble ourselves before Him and know that He is God.

Now let's think about what that means for a minute.

Have y'all heard of the Great Commission?

Go into all the world.

Baptizing the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to deserve whatever I've commanded you.

Have you heard of that?

The command of Jesus?

The last thing Jesus said before he ascended to heaven.

Y'all don't worry about when I'm coming back.

That's not for you to know.

Don't worry about it.

Here's what you're gonna do: you're gonna get the power of the Holy Spirit, and you're gonna go be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.

Almighty Creator God in a thunderous voice has spoken.

Are you praying for your love list of lost people that God put in your life?

Almighty God has commanded us through the Great Commission.

Through the very words of Jesus, who was his plan of redemption, to with power under the leading of the Holy Spirit, to share Jesus and be a witness of the gospel and to tell people that Jesus died for their sins and rose again so they could be saved and redeemed.

Our picture of Almighty God and the fear and awe of his unsearchable ways and his unstoppable plans should put me on my knees before God praying for the people he's put in my life who are going to die and go to hell if they don't know Jesus.

How are we gonna reach the river valley?

How are we gonna see more people saved?

How are we gonna impact all those people that I've told you about that I drive from that campus to this campus and are not in church and don't know anything about Jesus?

How are we gonna do that?

We are only gonna do that in a sense of awe and obedience from God, where we are pursuing the Great Commission like it matters and like the creator God of the universe told us to do it.

That's the command before us.

It is only when we live that life and pursue Him.

This is not some legalistic, you know, check the box obligation thing I'm going, I'm I'm talking about.

So all those people on TikTok and all that nonsense about preachers are just telling people what to do and not to do, they don't have anything to do with what we're talking about.

When Job sees God, he falls on his face before God and says, You are God, and your plan is unstoppable.

And he gets with the program.

This is the matter of our heart and our willingness to obey before God.

Modern churches, we can't even get people serving a nursery.

We can't even get Baptists to show up at church on time.

Visitors get on the internet and they look and they see church starts at 10:30 and they show up at 10 after 10 because they got to figure out where the nursery is and how to get that.

And good old Baptist folks, we show up to Sunday school at 9:50 or you know, or at 10.50 or whatever, and the visitors have been there greeting the other visitors that show up.

I mean, it's just one of those things we've got to understand.

This is the lesson of the book of Job, and this is one of the foundational, the story he tells first, and he sets for all of humankind to follow the model and learn.

And God's sovereignty, God is sovereign, he is God.

And there are times we've got to have a sense of awe about who God is.

God is loving, he's caring.

I'm gonna point out to you all of the grace that is in this story.

But that's what makes grace even more beautiful and powerful.

That it is the Almighty God of the universe against whom we have sinned, who himself stepped out of heaven and went to the cross and paid the price for our sin.

Because he loves us.

The more you see the magnitude of who God is, the more overwhelmed you are with the grace of God and the love of God.

Which brings us to truth number two.

We must seek God through.

And this is as beautiful a picture of what we should be doing every day of our lives as there is in Scripture.

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not speak.

God says, Hear and I will speak, and I will question you, and you make it known to me.

And Job, in response, says, I love this particular version I'm going to read to you.

I had heard of you by the hearing of my ears, but now my eyes see you.

Is that incredible?

Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.

You can't get any more of a beautiful picture of humility than that.

But here again, the greatness and the magnitude and the awesome of God and the fear and awe of him is what gives us an understanding of how rich his grace is for us.

1 Peter 5 says this: humble yourself before God, and he will exalt you in due time, casting your cares on him because he cares for you.

There is a difference in the moment where Job comes to God and he says, Yeah, I need a trial because I know I didn't do wrong, and it's not fair what you're doing to me.

It's not fair that you're doing that, and I want my day in court to plead my case.

There's a difference between that.

Man, God, I'm overwhelmed.

I know you got a plan.

I trust you, I love you.

I'm just here.

Will you carry me through this?

Will you protect, provide, whatever it is, God?

I'm just dependent on you.

I'm casting my cares on you in humility.

See, there's a difference between those two things.

All throughout Scripture, again, this is a fundamental story that teaches us about who God is and what our humble search for Him should be.

And then that theme is pulled all the way through Scripture.

That's why I put New Testament verses on this Old Testament lesson that we're learning.

Repentance.

The Bible says that he repented in dust and ashes.

That dust and ashes is a picture of mourning.

And in Old Testament culture, when they would repent, man, they were serious about repentance.

1 John 1 says, if we confess our sins, that means that we agree with God about what they are.

You think about going to court and you are confessing I am guilty of the sin of which I've been charged.

I confess my sins.

Then it says he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You see that here.

The friends, they messed up and their folly and all of that.

But the Lord says they did what the Lord told them.

They humbled themselves in repentance, and the Lord accepted Job's prayers and forgave them.

See, he dealt with them with grace because of repentance.

We think repentance is this horrible word, and we have this picture of some white-haired evangelist wearing a tie and his big white hair, and he's pounding on a pulpit and he's saying, Repent, repent.

He's all red-faced, and we think all this kind of thing, oh, that's terrible.

You're being ugly.

Look, we got this messed up view of what repentance is.

Repentance means that you come before God and you say, I know that I've sinned, but I know that Jesus died on the cross to forgive me of my sins, and I am sorry, and I place my faith in you, and by faith I trust in the incredible, overwhelming picture of your grace that you have forgiven my sins.

That's what repentance is.

And repentance is not something that you do once and then you're all clean like Jesus were.

You start the journey of repentance.

You repent the first time when you give your life to Christ and you become a Christian, and then you begin a journey, the rest of your life, of repenting over and over and over.

Because as you grow to become closer to the Lord and you begin, as Job does here, I mean, the Bible says that Job was the most godly man in all of that part of the world in chapter one.

God affirms him, and he says he didn't sin and all of that.

And then you get to this point where God has revealed even more of himself to Job, and Job is humbled, going, Oh my goodness, I've got to repent before God.

This is a godly man who's been brought deeper, gotten closer to the Lord, and seen more of him.

And the closer we get, the more we repent, and the more we trust in the grace of God.

And repentance is a beautiful thing.

It's not some pounding on the pulpit ugly thing.

It is the first step to forgiveness and experiencing God's grace.

That's what repentance is.

And trust and faith.

He just says, I was speaking into stuff I didn't know.

I outpunted my coverage, and you're God, and I'm not, and like I'm just, okay, whatever a God, you're God, whatever.

I'll be obedient.

We trust in faith, casting your cares on him because he cares for you.

Philippians 4, I just put that verse on there and give you another one.

Don't be anxious for anything, but in prayer with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds.

We have sermons on that.

I don't have to preach that, but it's that picture of I'm casting my cares on him.

I'm not demanding my day in court, and you prove to me I did something wrong, and shame on you for treating me this way.

But it is, God, I am dependent on you, and I'm casting my cares on you.

That's how you seek the Lord.

That's how you seek the Lord.

Truth number three, I'm gonna preach a little bit on this one.

Is that okay?

I love this picture, man.

You don't get a better picture of church and what it should be and why we're supposed to be in church and all that than this.

These three dudes, man, they messed up.

Here's what we learned: counsel and deep friendship should be from people with the same pursuit of God.

The same pursuit of God.

These guys come and they start telling them all this stuff, and God talks about their folly.

I will accept his prayer for you, not to deal with you according to your folly, for you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.

Here you have a man who loves the Lord, and I think these guys were probably good old average church folks.

I mean, again, they knew enough when they came to Job to spend seven days in prayer and fasting for him and all that, and then they begin to speak, and then you realize that they don't have the same pursuit of God that Job does.

Because they take their own impressions of who God is and their own theology according to their life and experience instead of pursuing God through his word and all of that, and then they just start to tell him stuff that's wrong about God.

You don't YouTube questions about God, you don't listen to these goofballs on TikTok that are on there, and I don't even spend that much time on it and I get them all the time.

I don't know what about my algorithm when I the barely that I'm on there to go like videos of my grandson or something, that I get all these crackpots who get on there and they start talking about all this stuff that's against God's word and not in the picture of who God is and all of that.

There is so much garbage out there it is unbelievable.

We go to work with people that won't come to church, we can't get them to come to church, but they went to vacation Bible school when they were eight, and then we ask for their counsel and get their counsel.

And we end up being like Job.

The Bible says Job did not speak falsely about the Lord.

He talked about the Lord, which meant he had to climb over these three guys who were supposed to be his friends, pushing him away from God just to stay faithful in his pursuit of God.

We're supposed to have people around us that are on the same journey pursuing God the same way that we are.

Listen, that's why you're in church.

Because we take on the attitudes and the actions of the people who are around the most.

And we're supposed to be around people who are searching God the same way we are.

So when we hit these moments, what they come to us and say is, let's sit down and pray with this together.

Let's search God together.

Let's get a promise from God's word.

Let's pursue Him.

Let's find out together instead of rendering opinions.

There's one point where Job slams them and he says, It's easy for you to judge when you're not having difficulty.

How many times do we see people gossip and cluck their tongue and say, Well, that's what you get when you make that kind of choice?

Is that not true?

Where do you think gossip in the church comes from?

It comes from that kind of nonsense.

And so, if you're going to be a godly person, that means that you are pursuing God and the people around you do not have to climb over your life or opinions to get to God.

We're supposed to be encouraging each other and walking each other to Jesus.

And that's when church is at its best and it's wonderful.

Listen, we don't have a complicated church.

I mean, I see all this and I hear all these people, and you read all this stuff, and everybody's attacking the church.

Let me just say, be careful attacking the bride of Christ.

You tell me someone who doesn't defend their bride.

And they talk about church, you got all this structure, and you do all this kind of thing.

Listen, we don't have a lot of that complicated stuff.

Here's what we do: we study God's word together, we pray to and worship together, we get in each other's lives and we encourage each other to Jesus.

And then we try to get involved in missions and sharing the gospel.

That's it.

That's all we do.

It's pretty simple.

That's what we do.

Like the 15th, most of that is just being together and pointing each other to Jesus and watching a movie together and young families coming together, and we're just building relationships because we're encouraging each other to Jesus.

We do Sunday school, we do small groups, you get involved in ministry like a choir because they love each other, they're serving together, or you go teach in the youth group, and man, they're loving each other and loving kids, and we're just loving.

That's what we're doing.

We're just being the body of Christ.

That's all we're doing.

There's not a bunch of bells and whistles and complicated junk.

We're not doing all that because the most important thing we do as the body of Christ is we help each other and we encourage each other to the Lord.

And we make sure we're not having to climb over other people to get to Jesus.

He gave us three things to get through life with.

Three things.

You have three spiritual weapons.

The Bible says are mighty in God for the pulling down of stronghold.

You have three weapons to get through this life and to grow and pursue Him.

Number one, you have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit when you got saved.

Number two, you have the Word of God, which the Bible says is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness.

And you have the body of Christ.

Forsake not the gathering of yourselves together as the habit of some.

Again, the picture we're talking about, Hebrews 10 says, but encourage one another and all the more as you see the day of Jesus approaching.

That's a beautiful picture.

That's what these guys did not do, and that's why God rebuked them and corrected them.

Because our job is to be together, to encourage each other, to point each other to Jesus and say, Jesus coming back.

That's how it happens.

That's what we're supposed to be doing.

In your life, you do not need people who are not walking with God giving you advice.

Whether you get it on TikTok or YouTube or in the office or at school or on your ball team or wherever it is, if they're not pursuing God, now they they don't have to be perfect, none of us are.

I tell folks when they come in my office and they tell me they got some issue, and Pastor, I'm embarrassed, I'm sorry I got this.

I say, Whoa, listen, if you're looking for perfection, don't look for me, because I'm like, I messed it up when I came in and turned the light on.

There's already sinners in my office at that point.

So just join the club, right?

But I'm pursuing the Lord and you're pursuing the Lord, and so we can help each other pursue the Lord together.

And if somebody's not pursuing the Lord in the way you are, then there's then there's these guys.

And they are going to get in your way.

They are going to hamper your search for the Lord.

And if you pull out of church, if you're not involved in church and you buy all that nonsense about, you know, they're all doing this and they got to what I whatever all that junk is, if you do that, then you have taken one-third of your spiritual weapons out of your arsenal.

You have removed them.

And so we we these things are serious.

It's not obligations.

This is God's word telling us this is how it works.

And he literally steps in and rebukes these guys for this.

But, again, I think they were well-meaning, regular, average old church folks.

They stopped in their pursuit.

Things were okay for them.

They were just checking the boxes, doing church twice a month or whatever.

And because of that, they had these bad perspectives.

So God loves them, but he corrects them and he does not let them stay there.

And you are not going to do this, and you're going to repent, not just to me, you're going to repent to Job for hampering his walk.

And then the Bible says he heard Job's prayers.

I bet you these guys are different after this experience, don't you think?

They become real friends, I would bet you after this.

And finally, and this brings it together.

God cares for us.

He cares for Joseph, for Job.

He protects Job.

He speaks to Job.

He blesses Job.

He carries Job through this.

God cares for us.

Humble yourselves before him, and he will exalt you in due time, casting your cares on him, because he cares for you.

And here's what God does.

When you are seeking God, as Job did, at the beginning, when he is still not overwhelmed, and he says, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

And even as he then begins to struggle, he doesn't turn away from God.

He doesn't curse God.

He says, Okay, I don't understand this, and I think you're doing it wrong, and I want you to tell me about it, but he's still bringing his stuff to the Lord.

He is still pursuing the Lord.

And in this book, you will never find a moment where God punishes Job.

He rebukes Job, which is different.

He reveals himself to Job.

Again, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.

God reveals himself to Job.

He rebukes him, he teaches him.

He says, Listen, you've got to get your mind right.

You're demanding of me, and now I'm telling you, you need to follow me.

That's this business where he says, You said, I'm telling you way it ought to be, and you said, Who's hiding my counsel with your ignorance?

And Job acknowledges, man, I'm speaking in stuff I didn't understand.

He is rebuked, but he's corrected.

Again, the Bible teaches this lesson.

You go back to 2 Timothy, for God's word is inspired and is profitable for doctrine.

This is how it works for reproof.

Reproof is rebuke.

The word of God tells us, Greg, you're doing that wrong.

You don't understand that.

The Bible talks about in the book of Proverbs rebuke and how effective it is when you rebuke a wise man because he learns from that.

God will rebuke and teach.

Jesus said in John 15 if you abide in him and I in you will bear much fruit, and God will prune us to bear more fruit.

More fruit.

He is helping us, changing us, holding us accountable, transforming us, and then he will raise up his children.

Humble yourself before God and he will exalt you in due time.

He blesses Job.

He uses Job to correct his three friends.

He blesses them with all this stuff.

He makes a testimony for him all throughout the quarters of time that people come and they look at the story of Job and they realize that if you humble yourself before God, he will exalt you.

Job says, even if I die and my body's gone, my redeemer lives, and I will live with him and I will be raised up with him.

My mom has been in the hospital all week.

And we've been praying for her.

How's your mom?

How's your mom?

How's your mom?

My mom loves Jesus and believes in heaven.

My mom is either going to be raised out of the bed or she's going to be raised in heaven.

But she will be raised up.

That is our God, and that's how much he loves you.

And he is at work doing this in our lives.

But we must humble ourselves before him and pursue him.

Trusting in him and casting our cares on him because he cares for us.

And that journey, this lesson, it culminates and begins with the decision to trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, to give him your life, to realize I am a sinner.

I have done that.

I've sinned before a holy God.

He is going to judge sin.

But he loved me so much that Jesus stepped out of heaven and he took on his own punishment.

He gave up his own holiness for me and he took on my sins and your sins.

And then he rose again, conquering death and sin, because his plan cannot be stopped.

And he has offered you salvation.

Your pursuit of God begins with placing your faith in him as your Savior.

Trusting in his plan and redemption to save you.

You must humble yourself before God and ask for his forgiveness and surrender your life to him.

But as you see from this story of Job, he will bless you, he will reveal himself to you, he will teach you and grow you, and he will raise you up.

Whatever that means in your circumstances, in this life and for all of eternity through salvation.

And if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, I can't think of a better passage of Scripture in which you to see that my Redeemer lives and to give your life to Him.

I want you to bow your heads as we close.

And if you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to invite you in just a moment.

I'm going to pray.

Our people are going to stand and sing a testimony.

We're not going to go on and on and on.

It doesn't take that long, but it gives you an opportunity for you to give your life to Christ.

If you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, give your life to Him today.

If you need a church home, listen, you've been floating, maybe attending, but you're not plugged.

You are missing one-third of the spiritual weapons at your disposal by not walking with people who are pursuing God.

Join.

Just come.

We'll talk to you about it.

It's not hard.

We just want to know you're saved and baptized biblically.

And man, you just come and join.

Jump in.

Build relationships.

Encourage someone else.

Let us encourage you.

Come join.

And for my brothers and sisters here, thank you for your study.

Listen, are you seeing God and hearing his voice and humbly responding to what he speaks to you about?

Lord, we come in this passage of Scripture and we ask that you give us the faith and the humility of Job to turn to you.

Lord, I pray for someone who needs to be saved.

They have seen a picture of God that is, and you have blown them away with your picture of who you are and how you love and your grace and restoration and revealing yourself.

And you use that to call them to yourself today.

Lord, I pray that you'll help us to see who you are.

Not in terror, but in awe.

And respond to you as the God who is unsearchable and unstoppable, but the one who asks us to cast our cares on you.

Give us the freedom to respond to whatever it is you're speaking to each person's heart today.

In Jesus' name we pray.

And all God's people said, We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.

Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.

Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.

Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith at First Baptist Church.