your son Jesus Christ and it's in his name we pray amen okay you're there in
James chapter number five look down at your Bibles at verse number 10 the time
of my sermon this morning is when the hedge is removed when the hedge is
removed look at verse number 10 it says take my brethren the prophets who have
spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of
patience behold we count them happy which endure ye have heard of the
patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful
and of tender mercies and this morning I'm gonna preach it on the subject of
Job and his response to Satan's attack on his life and really just kind of go
through his story and and really just kind of delve into his reaction his
response and how we could apply that to our personal lives this morning but
there in James chapter number 5 we see in verse number 10 that God is basically
admonishing believers and telling them hey you know you need to make sure you
go back to the Bible go back to the Old Testament and really study the brethren
the prophets who have preached the Word of God for an example of suffering what
is he saying you know what when you start going through a difficult time
when you go through a trial you know misery loves company okay and so you
know we love reading about stories of people who are experiencing the same
suffering as we do or have experienced the same trials as we have and have
essentially made it through and so he tells the Christians there in the book
of James that we need to look to them as an example of affliction suffering
affliction and of patience and then he says in verse 11 we count them happy
which endure now that kind of doesn't seem to make sense because of the fact
that you know happiness you know today would essentially mean that you're
you're without problems okay you don't have issues there's no problems there's
no suffering there's no affliction but here the Bible says that those who
endure the sufferings and the afflictions and the pains of this world
are happy and this is true and the reason why is because of the fact that
you know when we endure afflictions when we make it through a trial our faith is
increasing God our faith is increased and then we realize that we can make it
through a difficult situation we can make it through a difficult trial and it
helps us to become fulfilled and in the Lord and full of joy he says behold we
count them happy which endure ye have heard of the patience of Job and have
seen the end of the Lord now Job isn't necessarily a prophet per se he wasn't
preaching God's Word per se but he was a man of God and he did love the Lord in
fact the Bible says that he was a perfect and upright man one that has
chewed evil and he was a man who was greatly esteemed in the eyes of God and
in the eyes of man during his time and it says there that we've heard of his
patience now what does it mean when he says of his patience well patience is
synonymous with endurance okay anytime you see that word patience it could mean
you know essentially that we're waiting but more often than not when the Bible
uses the term patience it's talking about endurance so we could easily say
here ye have heard of the endurance of Job now if you're familiar with the
story of Job ye have heard of the endurance of Job you've seen in the
Bible you've read a story how he was able to just plow through this extremely
difficult situation that he experienced very traumatic suffering a lot of loss a
lot of pain a lot of affliction yet he endured and then his latter end was
greater than his beginning and obviously we can say that he was happy at his very
end and we see there that we saw the end of the Lord that the Lord is very
pitiful and of tender mercies go with me if you went to the book of Job chapter
number one Job chapter number one you know one of the things that I think
about as a pastor is that you know a couple times a year I have to preach a
sermon on how to just make it through certain trials because the reality is
this is that life is just filled with trials it's filled with difficulties and
Christians as much as they want to believe the Bible and they do believe
the Bible have a tendency to want to quit you know they often want to just
throw in the towel and just quit and just say you know I'm done with this
I'm hurting too much there's too much pain this trial will never finish and I
just I can't handle this anymore and so I'm gonna take a break from church I'm
gonna take a break from Christianity I'm gonna take a break from my Bible and
just kind of focus on this particular situation in my life but you know that's
not God's will for your life okay God's will for your life is not for you to
just throw in the towel every time something goes wrong God's will for your
life is not for you to just quit and just throw in the towel and just you
know take a break from church just because you're going through a hard time
and in fact if that's what you choose to do when you go through a difficult time
that same problem that you're experiencing is gonna come back around
again okay because the same test of life come back around until you learn to pass
it okay the same trial the same difficulty the same tribulation is gonna
come back around again again again until you learn the lessons that can be gleaned
from that particular fire that particular trial that you're going
through so it's just best to just kind of grit your teeth and endure and have
patience and just make it through so that you can move on to the next level
okay but you're in job chapter number one and let's just go to the chapter
real quick of course the title of the sermon is when the hedge is removed what
am I referring to when I say hedge hedge is simply like a fence it's a protective
covering it's it's a part obviously here in the book of Job it's referring to
God's protective covering over job and we see that in Job's life that hedge of
protection was just completely removed okay in other words Satan can just come
and mess with his life and and persecute him and allow him to go through a lot of
trials and so we're gonna see what he does when that hedge is removed look at
verse number one it says there was a man in the land of us whose name was
Job and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and his chewed
evil so right off the bat we see that this is a great man okay he's not some
wicked person he's not suffering afflictions because he's suffering the
consequences of his actions it's not a person who's involved in sin the chapter
literally begins with talking about the narrator speaking of him as being a
perfect and upright man now don't get confused when it says perfect that
doesn't mean sinless perfect just means mature complete this is a man who walks
with God consistently he's a man of integrity he's a man of honesty he says
there he's perfect and upright he fears God and he is choose evil what does it
mean to his true evil it means he rejects it okay doesn't entertain it he
doesn't allow it into his home he completely rejects evil he loves the
Lord says in verse number two and they were born unto him seven sons and three
daughters his substance also was seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels
and five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she asses and very great
household so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East so
aside from the fact that he was just rich in faith this guy was actually rich
you know in finances too okay he had a lot of livestock this man was a very
wealthy individual and he was the greatest of all men of the East
insinuating that he was a man of renown in his day okay people respected him we
see that later on in the book so this guy hasn't made so to speak because he
has God he has God's favor God is steams him as being a great man but he's also
physically and with his resources very rich as well it says in verse number four
and his sons went and feasted in their houses everyone his day and sent and
called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them and it was so in
the days of their feasting world gone about that job sent and sanctified them
and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the
number of them all for job said it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed
God in their hearts thus did job continually so it's not enough that he's
just a godly man he even looks out for the for the spiritual well-being of his
children as well he's offering offerings in case you know his children are
cursing God in their hearts so he is so spiritual so to speak that you know he
has enough reserves that he can take care of other people spiritually as well
this is a great man okay we can see why the Bible says that he was perfect it
says in verse 7 I'm sorry verse 6 now there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them let
me explain what this is referring to here okay the sons of God's not
referring to angels first and foremost okay because unto which of the angels
said he at any time thou are my son this day have I begotten thee okay you know a
lot of people will try to use the passage like this to try to teach the
Nephilim doctrine that you know angels went into the daughters of man and made
these huge Giants and stuff you know this kind of stuff you see on on anime
or whatever you know these huge Giants that are eating human beings just
nonsense like that the sons of God are referring to believers my friends Bible
says but as many as receive them to them give you power to become the sons of God
even unto them that believe on his name so that's a title designated to redeem
believers and angels cannot be redeemed okay and so you say well what is this
referring to it's referring to believers in heaven presenting themselves before
the Lord he's like wait a minute wait a minute how can they be in heaven if
everyone in the Old Testament was in Abraham's bosom well first of all
Abraham's bosom according to the dispensationalist doesn't exist okay the
dispensationalist believed that there's like a second compartment of hell you
know this this you got the you got hell you got the hotel hotel hell and then
you have the motel you know Abraham's bosom and they're kind of like across
the street from one another or something and you know G when Jesus died he went
down and he preached to the spirits and in in in Abraham's bosom and then they
believed or whatever and then they go up to heaven that's false okay
Abraham's bosom is the chest of Abraham chest cavity okay and you know they'll
take Luke chapter 16 to try to teach that doctrine only because it says that
you know Lazarus was carried into the bosom of Abraham but you know he could
have been carried into anybody else's bosom too and I'm sure from that time up
until now he's been in a lot of people's bosoms I'm sure he went to David's
bosom and he just kind of hugged him too I'm sure he went to Jehu's bosom and he
you know held them too you know it's not just Abraham the Lord's bosom amen the
sons of God is referring to believers who are in heaven who are presenting
themselves before the Lord of course we know the Bible teaches that believers
present themselves before the Lord in heaven to worship him okay to sing
praises unto him etc and then we see here that Satan comes also among them so
what does this teach us well it teaches us that Satan still has access to heaven
because a lot of people teach that Satan has just been permanently cast out of
heaven from Genesis chapter 3 and on but that's actually not true okay Satan
still has access to heaven according to the Bible and in fact he's not
permanently evicted from heaven until Revelation chapter number 12 where he
goes to war with Michael and his archangels he's permanently removed from
the realms of heaven to come down to earth and essentially persecute
believers during the Great Tribulation okay and this is not a sermon on end
times I know you wish it was and I wish it was too and I'm just kidding but the
the point that I'm trying to make here is that Satan is coming to money so why
Satan coming among them because he's doing what he's always done throughout
all history which is to accuse the brethren so why is he going before God
I'll tell you why to accuse you and to accuse me before God to seek permission
to persecute us to you know put us through trials and tribulations to
destroy our lives and this shows us this little discourse between Satan and God
that every trial that you experience in your life is permitted by God you know
Satan can't mess with your life he can't allow you to go through a trial in your
life without getting permission from God first he has to go to God first to get
permission to do these things you know don't believe Hollywood and this this
this picture that Hollywood paints that you know it's like good versus evil and
Satan you know could possibly win and he needs to just defeat God and his it
doesn't work that way God has Satan on a short leash and Satan has to ask for
permission in order to persecute us and wear us away and so this is what we see
here he comes also among them he's given an account of himself and then it says
in verse 7 and Lord sentence of Satan whence comest thou then Satan answered
the Lord and said from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and
down in it you know because he's the lion right the walks up and down in your
earth seeking whom he may devour verse 8 says and the Lord said unto Satan has
thou considered my servant job now that's one of the most scariest verses
in the Bible but if you think about it's one of the most honorable verses in the
Bible to for the God of the universe to say well have you considered job in
other words he believes in job but he's also offering job to Satan at the same
time has thou considered my servant job that there is none like him in the earth
Wow a perfect and upright man one that fearth God and is true with evil then
Satan answered the Lord and said that job fear God for not has not thou made a
hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side
thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the
lamb put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee
to thy face so what is Satan saying he's basically saying well the only reason
job fears you the only reason he is choose evil the only reason he's a
perfect and upright man is because you've blessed him you've blessed his
hands his resources everything that he has but if you remove all those things
from him he'll curse you to your face now we see later on that this isn't true
it shows us later and I don't want to get ahead of myself but it shows us the
true nature of job that he loved the Lord in spite of what he had right and
spy in spite of how God blessed him he still loved the Lord he says in verse
number 12 and the Lord said unto Satan behold all that he hath is in thy power
only upon himself put not forth thine hand so Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord what is he saying there okay deals on you know you can you
can damage his life the only thing you can't touch is his actual life in the
sense of you can't kill him is what he's saying everything else around him you
can destroy he's giving him permission to do so verse 13 and there was a day
when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house and they came a messenger unto Job and said the oxen
were plowing the asses feeding beside them and the Sabians fell upon them and
took them away yea they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword and
I only am escaped alone to tell thee so problem number one and by the way
anytime you go through a difficult day in your week just read this chapter
because we all get bad news from time to time but good night in the morning this
is like one thing after another simultaneously just bad news coming to
Job of the worst sort so the Sabians come they take away his oxen they slay
his servants verse 16 while he was yet speaking there came also another and
said the fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and
the servants and consumed him and I only am escaped alone to tell thee now I want
to point something out that I actually was thinking about this morning as I was
preparing this is that this trial that job experiences is both you know can be
explained away some of these trials can be explained away but others can't
because you have the Sabians who are just humans coming to rob him of his
oxen killing his servants but then you have fire coming down from heaven
destroying his resources right so you have something that's explainable but
something that is not and it continued that that pattern continues look what it
says in verse number 17 while he was yet speaking there came on also another and
said the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have
carried them away yay and slain thy servants with the edge of the sword and
I only am escaped alone to tell thee so first the Sabians come take away his
oxen kill his servants then fire comes down from heaven kills his resources and
slays his servants as well and then the Chaldeans come and rob him of his camels
and slay his servants verse 18 while he was yet speaking there came also another
and said thy sons and my daughters were eating and drinking wine in their
elders brothers house and behold there came a great wind from the wilderness
and smote the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young men and they
are dead and I only am escaped alone to tell thee so you see how it works you
have two supernatural things that take place and two that are not necessarily
supernatural they are you know things that just kind of happen people robbing
other people murder etc but you know this is some pretty grievous news here
he said why is that why is it that you have you know the Sabians but then you
have the fire of God coming down from heaven and then you have the Chaldeans
and then you have the wind blowing what's the purpose of that well it's in
my humble opinion that the reason this takes place is because of the fact that
this shows us that when a trial happens you can't really pinpoint who's
responsible for it and it it's done like that for a reason because sometimes you
go through a trial and you can you could explain away some of the trial but other
times you're like man is this God though like is God the one doing this so there's
always some sort of divine supernatural element to a trial to cause you to
question is this God who's doing this to me you say why would that happen though
because God wants you to place your faith in him anyways they even if it was
all God you understand that God is still on your side and he still expects
you to behave like a Christian and to respond like a Christian and to execute
the precepts of the Lord no matter how the trials came about if there were all
Chaldeans and all Sabians okay God still expects you to respond the same way if
it was all God if it was just the winds and the fire that comes down from heaven
you know God still expects you to respond the same exact way no matter
what now it is interesting that it says that the fire of God came down from
heaven right and you know one thing the way you could explain this is well first
of all this is you know the testimony of the individual who saw this one but
number two this kind of shows us that God can still give authority to Satan to
do supernatural things now this should come as no surprise because in
Revelation chapter 13 you also see that fire comes down from heaven at the
bidding of the false prophet to slay people and and essentially give
credibility to the Antichrist okay so well how is that possible was because
God enables people to do so he allows people to do so he allows Satan and his
minions to do so as we see here a clear example of that in Job's life okay so
this is pretty devastating aside from the fact that he just loses all his
resources and his employees now he loses his children okay all of them
says in verse number 20 by the way at the latter end of verse 19 it says and
it fell upon the young man and they are dead and I only am escaped alone to tell
thee now don't bypass that that's kind of hurtful too because he I'm sure Job
and his wife are wondering why did this guy survive and my kids all died I mean
that's a reasonable question I'm sure a lot of people have asked you know why
was this person allowed to survive by the way guys this isn't funny okay we're
talking about death here we're talking about people dying okay people have
experienced things like this throughout life you shouldn't this death should
never be something of humor you understand unless of course it's on the
reprobates or something but we're not talking about reprobates at this moment
okay so grow up but he's kind of hurt here because you know you think about it
is like I am alone escaped and that's it then he says in verse 20 then Job
arose rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and
worshiped Wow so instead of just like getting out of God's will instead of
just forsaking everything you know cuz you could easily say you know I've been
worshiping God this whole time I've been serving God this whole time and then
this happens what does he do instead he worships the Lord verse 21 he said
naked came out of my mother's womb naked shall I return thither the Lord gave in
the Lord taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and all this job sin not nor
charged God foolishly how do you think Satan felt when he heard that my god
man I guess he is perfect and I'm right I mean that's a pretty godly response
and you know all of us would hope that we would respond like that if we were to
ever fall into this type of tribulation but who knows this is very difficult for
this man to just rent his garments and worship the Lord and just have the right
attitude about it you know it says a lot about job and his character okay and let
me just say this a principle that we can learn from this particular chapter in
regards to job is that we don't really see what a person's made out of until
until they go through a trial right you know they can talk about their walk with
God they can talk about how much Bible they know how many souls they went to
the Lord you know we can see all that but we don't really know what a person
is really like until they go through a difficult time because that is the
trials what brings out the best in you or the worst in you and you know what
job who's the teabag so to speak it's put into hot water and in that hot water
we're able to see the contents of his heart that he is a perfect and upright
man see the narrator says that he was perfect and upright a man who was chewed
evil you know a man of righteousness but you know what we don't really see that
until he goes through a trial and the principle that we can learn is you don't
really know what you're made out of until you go through a difficult time
it's one thing to say you believe in something and you know this is what you
would do in that situation it's another thing to actually do it when you're in
that situation so let's talk about how Joe responded when the hedge was removed
because the hedge was removed completely and then in chapter 2 we see that it's
removed once again and Satan plagues job with boils and sores just making life
just miserable and then aside from that you know his beloved wife okay you know
she tells them hey just let's keep trusting God the Lord is with you you're
still a man of God let me make you a sandwich everything's gonna be okay what
did she say curse God and die now you know terrible right but you also got to
put yourself in in in her shoes as well and recognize she just lost all her
children you know what I mean and you know the Bible says that women are the
weaker vessel and so weaker emotionally weaker physically weaker mentally you
can see why she would have such a meltdown and say such a thing to her
husband because you know she went through a difficult time as well now
obviously Joe rebukes her for it okay which we'll go through in just a bit
well let's talk about how he responded to the hedge being removed number one he
responded with detachment so what do you mean by that well look at verse 20 again
he says when Joe arose rent his mantle shaved his head fell down upon the
ground of worship and said naked came out of my mother's womb naked shall I
return thither what does that mean you know I came with nothing I'm gonna leave
with nothing he was obviously willing to understand that everything that he
had was from God and if everything was taken away it's okay because I came in
with nothing now hold your place here go to first Timothy chapter number six if
you would first Timothy chapter number six
naked came out of my mother's womb naked shall I return the Lord gave the Lord
hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord the Bible says so the first
thing that he does when he loses everything it says well I came in with
nothing and it's pretty obvious that I'm gonna leave with nothing too now he
obviously thought at this point I'm probably gonna die and let me just say
this every time you go through a difficult trial sometimes you're like
well this is it I can't handle anymore I cannot handle anymore this is all I can
handle and so he's kind of making peace with the fact that well I came into this
world with nothing and obviously I'm about to leave this world and I'm
leaving the way I came in which is with nothing and let me just say this folks
is that we need to make sure we don't drive in our stakes too deep into this
world right don't admire or love your possessions too much that if God or
Satan were to just strip them away from you and just get you out of God's will
now it's easy to say that when we think about literal possessions as in like
vehicles or houses or whatever but how about like children though I mean that
would hit home for me you know if I were to lose one of my children how deeply
that would hurt and how much I would have to be resolved to think that if I
were to lose one of my children I still have to keep serving God because I
didn't come into this world with children and if I were to leave without
children blessed be the name of the Lord it's painful to think about but it's
true and we need to make sure that we detach ourselves from the possessions of
this world and recognize we're not always gonna have them look at 1st
Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 6 it says but godliness with contentment is
great gain for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can
carry nothing out having food in Raymond let us there with be content go to
Colossians chapter number 3 Colossians chapter number 3 this is the mindset
that we as Christians need to have for her to lose our spouse if we're to lose
our children for her to lose our jobs we're for her to lose our resources our
vehicles our homes any type of possession your Bitcoin better keep
serving God just because your cryptocurrency went down the drain you
know and it's it's just it's not worth as much you better keep serving God you
better keep serving the Lord you say why because you're supposed to be
detachment those things anyways the possessions that we have in this world
are the cherry on top for us and they're meant to be a tool for us to use to keep
serving God don't become so enamored with your possessions that they they had
they they just have a grip on your heart then when you go through the slightest
trial you're just like I'm done with the Christian life it shows no depth if
Christianity if that's all it takes to get you out of God's will okay but what
the Bible says in verse 1 of Colossians 3 it says if you'd ever be risen with
Christ seek those things which are above or Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God set your affection on things above not on things on the earth the Bible
says what is he saying be affectionate towards eternal things now look let's
just be honest all of us have possessions here that we might not even
lose in this lifetime we have food we have Raymond we have homes we have
possessions we have all these things that God has blessed us with richly to
enjoy which requires for us to be more disciplined to set our affections on
things above it's easy to set our affections on things above when you have
nothing right we don't have anything we don't have any possessions you're just
not you're not rich or you're poor or whatever maybe you know that's easy to
think upon eternal things because you don't have any things on this earth to
even appreciate anyways but folks it takes more discipline when you do have
an abundance of resources when you have everything kind of on a silver platter
so to speak when you have all these possessions and resources it takes more
discipline to actually set your affections on things above and and think
upon eternal things not just a temporal okay you're in second Timothy go back to
2nd Timothy if you would 2nd Timothy chapter 2 or you're in 1st Timothy go to
2nd Timothy chapter 2 let me read to you from Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 13
these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen
them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confess that they
were strangers and pilgrims on the earth the Bible says so what is the Bible
telling us telling us that these men of God these women of God in the in the Old
Testament you know they were able to think upon the eternal because of the
fact that in their minds there are foreigners here and by the way let me
just say we're all foreigners here I know and I don't just mean those who
don't have green cards they came we're with you okay good you know some of you
are a little more foreign than others I get that but all of us to a certain
extent are all foreigners in this world we're strangers which means a foreigner
and pilgrims which means we're not gonna be here that long verse 14 tells us in
Hebrews 11 for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country
and truly if they had been mindful of that country from once they came out
they might have had opportunity to have returned we see that the the the Old
Testament Saints were eternally minded even though they inherited a lot of
things in the Old Testament houses that they did not build wells that they did
not dig vineyards that they did not plant they still sought for a better
country and you know what let me just let me just give you a you know a
reality check here there's actually a better country than the United States of
America did you know that now look folks I love living in the United States you
know I have this love-hate relationship with America because it's so wicked but
you know it's still better than a lot of the countries in this world I prefer
America over China I prefer America over the Southeast Asia for sure okay I
prefer America even over Guatemala okay I prefer America over any South American
country Central America any country in the world I prefer America over for sure
beyond a shadow of a doubt now with that being said okay America is obviously
wicked but you know obviously we have a lot of privileges here in America
freedom of speech in a lot of the states in America not all of them apparently
you know we're not being evicted from our building here but you know there's
churches out there that are being evicted you know even in the United
States of America can you believe that but here's the thing folks there's a
better country than the United States is you know that it's the heavenly country
and we should be more patriotic over that heavenly country than this one okay
look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse number 1 it says thou therefore my son
be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou has heard
of me among me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who
shall be able to teach others also thou therefore endure hardness as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ stop being a little wimp says endure hardness when
you go through a difficult time don't let that be a reason for you to just
just forsake all your spiritual responsibilities and not read your Bible
not pray endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ which means you
need to view the Christian life as warfare not a walk in the park not a
playground not an area of life where you just enjoy and nothing bad ever happens
folks this is war no man that war it he says in verse 4 entangled himself in
the affairs of this life that he may please him who have chosen him to be a
soldier the Bible says so what is the Word of God teaching us it's teaching
us that if you entangled yourself in the things of this life it makes it harder
to be a Christian if you're struggling to be a Christian or live out the
Christian life today in 2022 it's probably it's not because Christianity
is hard it's because you've entangled yourself in the things and the affairs
of this life you've allowed yourself to become entrenched and wrapped up and to
the affairs of this life that you know it's gonna impede you from serving God
as you're supposed to be go back to job if you would hold your place there in
the New Testament because we're gonna keep going coming back to that so we see
here that he detached himself and we as Christians need to make sure that on a
day-to-day basis we remind ourselves in some form or manner that this world is
not our home we're just passing through you know we're pilgrims we're strangers
and we ought to thank God for what we have a man and by the way having this
type of mentality actually makes you more grateful for the things you have
see people who just assume they're always gonna have these things they're
not grateful for those things they're not grateful for their families they're
not grateful for the church they're not grateful for the Bible they're not
grateful for the possessions that they have but when you realize that you can
lose them at any time it creates more gratitude in your heart for them knowing
full well that you're not always gonna have them hey teenagers you know thank
God for your parents thank God for your parents hey parents thank God for your
children hey wives thank God for your husband husbands thank God for your wife
church members thank God for me I'm just kidding for church amen you better
be thankful for me what's the point that I'm trying to make the point is is that
job was able to just respond like that to just worship and recognize well why
am I not surprised why am I not surprised naked I came into this world
naked shall I leave God still wonderful he's still on the throne he's still
blessed forever this doesn't change anything about God okay what happened to
him changes nothing about God this is just the way of life this is the manner
of life my friends what's another thing do we see here how he responded number
two is that he didn't blame God look at verse 22 and all this job sin not nor
charge God foolishly what does it mean to charge God oh this is your fault you
and by the way even if God is the one who allowed it job didn't say you allow
this in my life this is your fault you could have you could have stopped this
you could have stopped the whirlwind from coming you could have stopped the
fire of God from coming down from heaven you could have stopped the Sabians you
could have stopped the Chaldeans he didn't charge God charging him saying
this is your fault this is your responsibility why because I would have
stupid thing to do and this requires a lot of faith my friends and you know
it's one of the things that takes people out of the will of God the fastest is
bitterness towards God even for safe people talk about safe people here
become bitter towards God because they blame God for whatever trial they went
through in their life and you know what yeah maybe God did allow it so what
maybe God did allow that in your life but you know what it's still not God's
fault in your it shouldn't be God's fault in your eyes as if God like hates
you or he's angry towards you or he wants ill upon you don't charge God
foolishly especially listen to this especially if you're just suffering the
consequences of your actions because a lot of times people blame God for the
consequences of their own actions oh lord you allowed me to go bankrupt or
whatever I think that was you oh god you allowed me to you know for this to
happen this is your fault don't blame God for your bad decision-making and and
and the bad things that you did and the sins that you've committed don't charge
God foolishly you know and put the blame on him just because you know you it's
time to make you made your bed now it's time to sleep in it it's a foolish thing
to do but you know people do it though go to Hebrews chapter 12 and obviously
this is a great temptation for any Christian to do right when they go
through a trial they're just like God was in on this God allowed this and they
become bitter towards the Lord they may not hate the Lord but they become bitter
towards him in the sense of like you know because they ask this why didn't
you stop it if you love me if you know it says all these things in your word
about you know that you want do you have thoughts towards me of peace and not of
evil to give me an expected end why would you allow this then to ask dumb
questions like that I've done it before many Christians in times past have done
it before there might be someone in here today that's doing that and they're just
kind of shifting the blame and blaming God for whatever trial they've gone
through it's a foolish thing to do my friends look at Hebrews 12 verse 5 and
he had forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children my
son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou are rebuked
of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth so what's the first thing we should think about when we're being
chasing of the Lord oh this shows that God loves me this actually shows that
the Lord loves me it hurts a bit I've lost all my resources I've lost X Y & Z
but this is obviously proof that God loves me and by the way this is one of
the reasons why I would question if someone was saved or not if they're not
being chastened of the Lord when they're in deep involved in deep sin or
rebellion against God you know and they're living it up in the world and
nothing bad is happening to them I would think I wonder if that person's even
saved because whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth that's a guaranteed way to show you that you're saved if you if
you've been chastened of the Lord and if you've been a Christian for any length
of time you know exactly what I'm talking about because when God chastens
you you know that that's God's hand against you I can point to various times
in my life where I was in rebellion or I was disobedient towards the things of
God and I suffered the consequences because of it and it's like I knew in
the back of my mind the hand of the Lord is against me it's against me because
I'm disobedient to the Lord you know I did something to to to upset him or I'm
just living in disobedience to his word and I knew the little handle Lord was
against me he says in verse 7 if ye endure chastening God dealeth with you
as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not but if you be
without chastisement were of all our partakers then are you bastards and not
sons that's why I said I would question someone's salvation if they're not being
chasing if someone's out there claiming the name of Christ and they're just
involved in fornication they're just a drunkard they're just doing things that
are dishonest and nothing bad is happening to them I would say that
person's a spiritual bastard that's why you know these false prophets who are
out there these wicked false prophets like Joel stain and Rick Warren I mean
these people are robbing churches they're damning souls to hell but
they're not being chased into the Lord what you know why cuz they're not sons
of God they're spiritual bastards God's not chasing them in this lifetime but
you know what it's okay cuz they're gonna split hell wide open sorry if I
rained on your little parade if you like Joel's name the guy's a fraud he's not
even a wolf in sheep's clothing he's just a wolf in wolf's clothing he says
in verse 9 furthermore we have our fathers of our flesh who corrected us
and we gave them reverence how shall we not much rather being subjection unto
the father of spirits and live he's saying look you know you took it when
your dad spanked you you're willing to take it why not take it from God for
they barely for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our
profit that we might be partakers of his holiness now no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous but grievous now don't give me this like
yeah I'm going to a trial right now it's good I like it it's not true no one is
chasing of the Lord and likes being chasing of the Lord you know why cuz God
always hit you where it hurts this is not joyous but it's grievous
nevertheless afterward it yield that the peaceable fruits of righteousness and to
them which are exercised thereby what is he saying you know after you're done
being chasing the fruit that it produces is righteousness you become in other
words let me put the cookie on the bottom shelf you become a better
Christian because of it and wasn't job just that much better after his trial I
mean God bless them even more after his trial so it's like if in order for you
to get to the next level in the Christian life you have to be chasing
of the Lord you need to be pruned and cut and God has to allow you to go
through trials and tribulations to kind of remove all of the impurities you know
when refiners when they put the gold in a refiners fire it's to remove all the
impurities all the dross and if we were to compare that to Christians God puts
us through the fire to get rid of all those bad habits do you have those bad
ways of thinking those bad you know character flaws do you have he wants to
remove them from your life so you can come forth as gold oh wait yeah that's
in the book of Job now isn't it he says in verse 12 wherefore lift up the hands
which hang down and the feeble knees make straight paths for your feet lest
it lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed
so I always picture this like someone's just like you know they're going through
a trial or something like that or a child is just you know rebuked of his
parents they're just kind of hanging there he's like no lift up your hands
high he says in verse 14 fall in peace with all men and holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord looking diligently listen to this lest any man
fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you
and thereby many be defiled so if you don't respond correctly to this trial
what is the byproduct bitterness and let me say this moms if you're bitter
you're gonna produce bitter children you're gonna make a bitter husband out
of your spouse he says because he says root of bitterness springing up trouble
you and thereby many be defiled you see a bitter person not only destroys their
own life but they destroy the lives around them as well a bitter husband
will just destroy his wife destroy his children destroy anybody around them
because bitterness is contagious my friends you'll make a bitter wife if you
yourself are bitter you'll make a bitter husband if you yourself are bitter
you'll be you'll make your children bitter towards the things of God as well
they're gonna inherit that bitterness from you and it will become bitter
towards God when they grow up as well that's what happens if you don't respond
to this correctly so don't charge God foolishly and in fact don't charge
anybody else foolishly either just take personal responsibility respond
correctly because the life of your child the spiritual life of your child hangs
in the balance you say well you know I'm just I'm bitter but I'm not gonna talk
about it to my kids folks if you're bitter you're gonna talk about it I'll
give you an example a prime example of this we had a lady in our church years
ago and we let me just tell you her aunt she was thrown out and she was
extremely bitter she was bitter at her husband she was just bitter at life and
it was impossible to have a conversation with her without her criticizing her
husband you know you want to come to church and just talk to the brethren and
just talk about you know worship the Lord together and talk about the Bible
together but as soon as you would talk to this lady I mean immediately my
husband's a reprobate and you know just how her husband is just the most evil
thing next to Satan and just like and it would literally drain the church members
everyone knows what I'm talking about anyone who's there during that time
knows exactly what I'm talking about everyone's having like PTSD right now
they're just like they remember this and it would drain us we would all kind
of just like avoid her as much as possible and it was it would be like the
worst thing of a new person came because she would go immediately to the new
person one time a new person came and she was trapped by this lady and that
lady never came back to our church or just didn't come for like a long time I
don't remember if she came back or not because she was just like that lady just
like drove me nuts bitterness and I remember she would say oh yeah you know
my husband's just so he's so wicked and he's such a reprobate but you know what
if you met him you would think he's really nice though and even if you try
to give him the gospel you probably like act like he would like the gospel and
stuff and if you know when she first started mentioning that I thought to
myself oh man that's pretty bad but then I thought to myself oh she's projecting
or she's just trying to make her husband out to be this wicked person
when actually he's the normal one he's a normal one out of the relationship he's
probably a good guy you know it's her who's the problem she's the problem and
if bitterness had a face I'm just telling you I'm not you see that's rude
yeah I know if bitterness had a face that would be it right there and you
know what she was defiling a lot of people in our church by her attitude and
and just she was a grief just to have in the church and it got to a point that
you know she started criticizing people and we ended up throwing out of the
church because she just would not repent and she was railing on individuals but
you know she was at the end of the day she was the wicked person she was the
person who was just just entrenched with bitterness and couldn't stop talking
about bad about her husband and look folks I understand that sometimes
marriages don't work and they should you know the party should try their best to
just reconcile the situation but if that's not the case and you can't
reconcile don't go spreading around bad news about your husband or your wife
this is not a place for you to just throw up all your opinions about your
spouse this is where we come to worship the Lord and you know what if you have a
bad marriage you have one or two choices you can either make it better to shut up
while you're here and grow from God's Word and learn what the Bible says well
I just I want to I have a prayer request though I have a prayer request you know
but your prayer request has like all these criticisms attached to it though
now does it isn't that interesting the way that works say pray for my wife you
know she's so wicked and she does this and pray for my husband he just never
lets me go soul winning and all this stuff why don't you just say pray for my
husband well cuz I didn't even know the details well God knows the details what
you're trying to do is you're trying to gossip about your spouse okay don't
become a bitter person don't charge God foolishly next one go back to job if you
wouldn't we're on number three and we have like eight of these so I have to
like hasten okay it's all right I have like an hour left so those are some
nervous laughs right there preach on preacher number three is that he remained
faithful throughout the trial look at verse 1 again if look at Joe chapter 2
excuse me look at verse number 1 again there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came also among them
to present himself before the Lord and the Lord sent to Satan from whence
comest thou and Satan answered the Lord and said from going to and fro in the
earth and from walking up and down in it now before we move on I want you to just
notice that Satan has moved on so Satan just destroys jobs life and then he just
moved along to the next right because he's going to and fro throughout the
earth seeking whom he may devour according to what the Bible says in the
New Testament but all the while job is still suffering over here which shows us
that you know Satan attacks in seasons okay look at verse 3 and the Lord said
unto Satan as thou consider my servant job that there is none like him in the
earth perfect and upright man one that feareth God and sheweth evil and listen
to this and still he holdeth fast his integrity although thou moveth me
against him to destroy him without cause so what do we see that in spite of the
fact that they've moved on already Satan has moved on job situation has not
gotten better he's still holding fast his integrity what does that mean he's
still perfect he's still upright and he still is chewing evil even though the
situation has not gotten better can I ask you something are you going through
a trial and if you are are you still the same person you were before the
trial came or have you become more bitter have you read more Bible or you
just put the Bible away from you have you been in church more or are you in
church less are you still holding faster your integrity you know because a lot of
us as Christians think well you know when we go through a trial we're just
gonna go to the very end till death and all these but do you still have that
same attitude though when you're actually going through the trial well I
gotta take a break though you know I gotta I gotta reassess my situation
though well according to job he just held fast his integrity he was still
perfect he was still upright he was still a man who was chewed evil he was a
man who was faithful even in the midst of a trial it says one thing to be
faithful when everything's going well it's another thing to be faithful when
things are just going horribly be faithful no matter what the Bible says
go to Job chapter 13 Job chapter 13 Proverbs 19 1 says better is the poor
that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a
fool the Bible says integrity is important it's the ability to do right
even when everything is still going wrong it's the ability to be a good
Christian even though things aren't going good it's the ability to be
faithful even when it feels like not that it is even when it feels like God
is not being faithful to you we obviously know God is always faithful
but there's times in trials where you feel like God's not being faithful to
me he's forsaken me well it takes integrity to still be faithful even when
you feel that way look at Job 13 verse 15 it says though he slay me oh man
that's like this guy's boss though he slay me yet will I trust him but I will
maintain my own ways before him the Bible says what is Job saying how do we
put this in modern terms even if he killed me I'm still gonna serve God he
was essentially resolved to think well if this kills me then so be it I'm still
gonna maintain my Christian walk before him I'm still gonna serve him I'm not
gonna charge him foolishly I'm gonna remain faithful even though it's a
possibility I might die doing this I will maintain my own ways before him go
back to Job chapter 2 Job chapter number 2 number 4 is that he didn't have
unrealistic expectations from God look at verse number 10 or verse 8 sorry but
he took him a potsherd and scrape to scrape himself with all and he sat down
among the ashes then said his wife unto him does thou still retain thine
integrity man that's rough are you still being faithful to God are you still
trying to be a perfect and upright man one who is choose evil curse God and die
good night those are some rough words right there but he said unto her I like
this I'll speak as as one of the foolish women speaketh so as rough as
she was he was even more rough he's talking like a stupid woman this is a
lot about job cuz he's like he's like boiled up and area he's like he's like
you're talking like an idiot which amen he she was by the way ladies don't
discourage your husband when they're going through a trial if you and your
family going through a trial even if your husband is suffering the
consequences of his actions don't do what she did and by the way I understand
you know she lost her children too she's going through a tough time but you know
what we have this example so that you don't do that I don't think anybody in
here would tell their husband curse God and die you know they might just be like
die bless God and die he's like now speakers as one of the foolish women
speaketh what shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive
evil yeah and all this did not job sin with his lips what does this mean it
means he didn't have unrealistic expectations from God what's an
unrealistic expectation from God that everything's gonna go good all the time
hundred percent of the time that God's always gonna do good to us that we shall
never receive evil at his hand that once we become Christians it's just a bed of
roses everything's gonna go good nothing nothing's ever gonna go bad that's an
unrealistic expectation that's like part of the prosperity gospel out there you
know you tie then you go sewing you go to church everything should just be fine
and dandy no trial whatsoever that is not true my friends we shall receive
evil from the hand of the Lord one day it's gonna happen it doesn't change who
God is it doesn't change the fact that he's still faithful to us it doesn't
change the fact that he still loves us it's just that's just how life is shall
we not receive evil and look folks when evil comes upon us to certain extent
it's a good thing for us it builds character it increases our faith it
helps us it gives us an opportunity to actually exercise our faith okay don't
have unrealistic expectations and think well because I'm in it I'm in a new
independent fundamental Baptist Church I read the King James Bible I won five
souls this week you know I'm I'm doing everything that I can to be a good
Christian okay amen but evil still coming there's always evil go to job 23
job chapter 23 I'm gonna breeze through this point he allowed himself to lament
what does it mean to lament you know don't have this attitude that when
someone goes through a trial that they're not allowed to just cry a little
bit why are you crying for you're a Christian aren't you you're going to
heaven right you're saved aren't you got the King James Bible don't you yes but
just let him cry though I mean the Bible says you don't have to turn the job
chapter 3 verse 1 it says after this open job his mouth and cursed his day
he didn't curse God but he cursed his day Joe's spake and said let the day
perish when I was born and the night in which it was said there is a man child
conceived what does he do he's lamenting he sat in he's kind of depressed he's
just kind of you know he's he's in distress this is a normal reaction folks
okay and we need to recognize that life is filled with the ebb and flows of joys
but also of sadness okay now I don't think we should always be on the
sadness part just always crying and just always lamenting you know that there is
a lot of joy in the Christian life my friends okay but there are seasons when
you know you might cry yourself to sleep or something there are seasons when you
do you feel like overwhelmed and you go through a difficult time but that
shouldn't always be the case but there is a time to weep the Bible says okay
and this is job time to weep number six is that he understood his trial wouldn't
last forever look at job 23 and verse 8 now verse 8 and 9 is essentially where
every Christian every Christian has felt this to a certain extent when they
go through a trial he says in verse 8 behold I go forward but he is not there
and backward but I cannot perceive him on the left where he doth work but I
cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him
what is he saying I feel like God's not even here anymore like I'm going through
this difficulty I pray I don't get my answers to the prayers everything just
seems to be getting worse I go forward he's not there go backward he's not
there it just doesn't seem like he's working in my life look at verse 10 but
he know it the way that I take when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold
what is he saying I know this has an end and when the end comes I'm gonna be a
shiny shiny coin of gold because you know he's going through a lot so he
understood that there was an end to his trial there's an end to his tribulation
and that end would be that he would come forth as gold go to job 42 another thing
that we see of job the way he responded to the hedge being removed is that he
esteemed God's Word and let me just say this don't undermine this particular
point right here okay because we see in job 23 that he esteemed the words of his
mouth more than his necessary foods and this is one element that you cannot live
without my friends you can ignore all everything else I just showed you but if
you don't make this a prime important part of overcoming your trial you're not
gonna make it and that is you need to be reading the Bible well I get the Bible
in church no you need to be reading the Bible yourself let's not become this
like biblically illiterate church or this church where we we claim to believe
the King James Bible we claim to believe in reading the Bible but we don't read
the Bible you need to be reading God's Word yourself well my husband reads it
you need to be reading it yourself wife husband you're supposed to be reading
God's Word you're supposed to be spending time with God and God's Word
because that's the only thing that's gonna get you through it and in fact
your husband yes he's your authority but you know a greater authority than your
husband is actually God's Word and you know there's gonna be times when your
husband's not pushing you spiritually he's not helping he's not encouraging
you so you're gonna need to encourage yourself in the Lord through the Bible
the only thing that will get you through a trial more than anything else is being
in God's Word is steaming the words of his mouth more than your necessary foods
and don't undermine that because I feel like a lot of Christians sometimes
undermine the importance of that well I get what you're saying but you know I
just read my little devotionals my little Charles Spurgeon devotionals my
daily bread from you know Charles Spurgeon or Anley Stanley or some
whatever these guys are called you know from these these I got this little book
from my old church or whatever and it has a little paragraph of you know
giving me a concise explanation of a verse or something I read that every
once in a while that's how I get the God's Word in no you need to read the
Bible well on my phone it pops up a little explanation of a of the proverb
of the day and that's what I read I feel like you know I kind of read the Bible
and by the way how would you feel if I told you that a lot of those people who
are writing those devotionals not even saved so you try and tell me they're
gonna learn the Bible from some unsaved person well I mean what about Charles
he's not saying Charles Spurgeon is not saved the guys in hell today sorry to
break it to you why I thought he said something about Sony the guy priests a
hardcore repent of your sins false gospel and anybody who does is burning
in hell if they died but he was so popular there you go there you go read
the Bible yourself open up the Bible it's so intimidating though yeah cuz it's
God's Word of course is intimidating open it anyways and read it where should
I start well if you've never read the Bible ever from cover to cover start in
the book of John start in the gospel start in the New Testament but start
somewhere and keep reading every single day folks I can't get you through a
trial there's no church member in here that it will get you through a trial
you're the only one along with God in his word that can get yourself to that
trial and I'm not gonna babysit Christians and police Christians making
sure they're reading the Bible every single day that's your job man shall not
live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God I
feel I just get enough Bible when I come to church folks nobody eats one meal out
of the week I mean the one meal you're gay you know I hope you enjoy this meal
this little steak that I'm serving you but you know what the steak ain't here
tomorrow I'm not serving steak tomorrow or Tuesday or Wednesday I'm gonna give
you some chicken on Thursday Friday I'm off Saturday we're not seven-day
Adventist so you better feed yourself because you're gonna need it when you go
through a trial and one of the worst possible feelings that a Christian can
feel is that when they start going through a trial and they realize I've
not haven't read the Bible this whole time but the confidence comes when you
have read the Bible and you go through a trial you like well I'm still walking
with God lastly this is my last point is that he loved those who wrongfully
accused him now listen to this look at job 42 we're talking about how he
responded when the hedge was removed look at job 42 verse 7 now job had some
of the dumbest friends idiots yeah it's like who needs enemies when you have
friends like these right don't be like job's friends that's another sermon
don't be like job's friends don't be a friend like job's friends these are the
worst friends you could ever have okay and you say why because he's going to
this trial they're just like so do you have sin in your life maybe you've
forsaken the Lord and you you're maybe you are the unrighteous person and
they're just accusing him when he's going through the worst possible trial
ever he's going through the worst time ever and they're just like it's probably
you you know you're you brought this on yourself look at verse 7 it was so that
after the Lord had spoken these words unto job the Lord said to a life as the
Temanite my wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends for you
have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant job hath that's the
last thing you want to hear you just spent all these chapters bad-mouthing
job and then God comes to you and says you're wrong and I'm mad at you his
wrath is kindled against them therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and
seven rams and go to my servant job and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering
and my servant job shall pray for you for for him will I accept lest I deal
with you after your folly and that you have not spoken of me the thing which is
right like my servant job he's saying look get this right or I'm gonna deal
with you you go to my servant job he's my man you go offer these things he'll
pray for you because you're annoying me right now is what he's saying so he life
as the Temanite and build out of the shoe I so far that name and the name of
site went and did according as the Lord commanded them the Lord also accepted
job now listen to verse number 10 the Lord and the Lord turned the captivity
of job when he prayed for his friends also the Lord gave job twice as much as
he had before so he didn't turn the captivity before that he turned it after
he prayed for his friends what does it mean to turn the captivity means he
changed the situation after though he prayed for his friends he said what's
the significance of that well you know the last thing that job really needed to
respond is loving his enemies even though they wronged him you said we're
supposed to love our enemies yes we're not Pharisees here we don't believe in
the Talmud we ain't Jews here adhering to the Babylonian Talmud that's what the
Talmud the Talmud teaches to hate your enemies right the Bible teaches to love
your enemies and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you
now you know Joe's friends are not reprobates because if there are
reprobates this conversation will not even have taken place right they were
believers they're just stupid they're foolish they're stupid and that's why
God even told them to offer up those animals and for job to pray for them
because they could be forgiven of those transgressions and trespasses now think
about this you know how would you feel after listening to days and days of this
nonsense of your friends just like putting you down and accusing you and
saying it's your fault for God to tell you okay now pray for them you would
want to throw some imprecatory prayers in there I would but the imprecatory
prayers is not what he's referring to right what job is praying for God to be
merciful unto his friends even though his friends wronged him it's basically
what Jesus did on the cross when he said father forgive them for they know not
what they do and this my friends is one of the most important things to do when
you go through a trial this kind of goes along with the bitterness is that you
need to make sure you forgive others their trespasses against you because if
not God's not gonna forgive you doesn't mean you're not gonna get saved because
if you're saved you're always saved but we obviously understand that in the
Christian life we require daily forgiveness for daily sins so that we
can be right with God so we don't cure the wrath of God upon our own lives we
need to make sure that we confess our sins that we come into agreement with
God of our sins to get those things right but you know we also have to make
sure that we pray for those who despitefully use this as well and this is
not an easy task my friends you know put yourself in job shoes he's probably like
I just want to throw one in precatory prayer because these guys wrong me they
they they railed on me they wronged me they they just just put me down
throughout this whole time I'm still mourning the loss of my children my
health is just deteriorating I have no resources I'm not a rich man anymore my
respect as has you know people don't respect me anymore and these guys are
kind of just helping along with that I mean that's a hard thing to do my
friends but you know what job was a perfect and upright man and one who has
chewed evil and that's why he was able to pray for his friends and you know
what happened after that his captivity was turned so you know sometimes the
last straw in our trial is that we need to make sure we're able to forgive those
who wronged us you need to be able to forgive your parents if you're bitter
towards them you need to be able to forgive your spouse if your spouse has
wronged you you need to be able to forgive your brother in Christ in this
church if they've wronged you in any way if you want your captivity to turn and I
know it's a simple sermon this morning but the hedge will be removed from your
life one day it could be today it could be tomorrow all of the hedges that God
places around us are from time to time removed just to kind of expose who we
really are and to help us to get to the next level and we need to take this into
account because we want to respond correctly when that happens we want to
respond like job amen let's pray father we thank you so much for your word thank
you for the example of job and what an awesome man and Lord help us to strive
for that type of Christian character in our lives Lord I pray that you place a
hedge of protection about us Lord and may you prepare us when that hedge is
removed when Satan comes and attacks our lives help us Lord to continue to read
God's Word to continue to pray to continue to hold fast our integrity no
matter what happens and to help us to have that same attitude we love you we
thank you pray these things in Jesus