How Would You Encourage the Patriarch Job?

Well, happy Sabbath, everyone! Good to see you all, and great to see Mr. Salcedo still leading up here. You know, he was at the ocean side. We were able to see them over there and spent some time with him. As Mr. Sigle mentioned, it's been seven years, I think, ago that we came here and did the Women's and Richman weekend at that time, and spent some time with you here. We always enjoy coming over and spending time with Mario and Kati, and it's been, of course, a long time. He's starting to look old, you know, after all these years. I think all of us are starting to get old. And, of course, the years sort of melt away, don't they? They go by pretty fast. Well, you know, as many of you know, I went through some pretty serious trials for a while. It wasn't an easy walk by any stretch of the imagination. I had, of course, problems that happened with my heart and some other things that occurred as a result of a stroke that occurred that caused me to have what they call hemobilismus, which is an involuntary movement of my left side. And, you know, they sent me down to San Francisco General Hospital. And when I was there, of course, I got some other bad news, as if that wasn't enough, you know, bad news. I got the scare of actually being told I might have cancer, colon cancer. And the good news is that everything turned out all right. God was, you know, very merciful to me, and he raised me up, and I've been able to do basically normal stuff since that time. But I'll tell you, you learn an awful lot when you go through those types of trials. Now, have any of you ever had trials? Or am I in the wrong place here? You know, I think all of us, I mean, if I'm among human beings, we all have trials of one sort or another. How many of you remember the television program Hee Haw? Remember old Hee Haw? That was on Saturday night back in those years? They had one song that is actually written by Buck Owens and Roy Clark. The title of it was, Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me. How many remember that song? Okay, it was the lyrics are not very many, actually, and I'll read them to you. It says, Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me, Deep, Dark, Depression, Excessive Misery. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me.

And usually after this was sung, there was somebody that sounded like they were in a terrible agony or pain. It was meant in a humorous way, sort of a poke at people that have trials, but sometimes people do have trials that you feel like that. Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me. It can really seem that way. And when you find people that are in that situation where they maybe had a problem that has happened and then other problems that came, you know, they went out to fight a bear and then they were met by a lion kind of a situation, it leaves you speechless as to what to say to them. You know, all of us again know people have done that. Maybe you've done that. Job was that kind of a person. Wouldn't you agree? He had waves of problems that happened to him. One right after another that were very, very costly in his physical life. You know, we need, as God's people, to know how to help people that are going through trials that are just one wave after another. You know, and my wife, in talking about the weekend over here for the women, for the Women's Weekend Enrichment weekend, she said, you know, why don't you talk about how would you encourage Job? And it was something I had never considered before. You know, how do you encourage Job? Somebody like Job who's had one thing after another happen in his life. So how would you, brethren, encourage Job? You know, how would you try to lift him up? You know, as Mr. Seguele mentioned, in fact, over at the Women's Enrichment Program this morning, he said the word encouragement means to give courage. How would you give courage to somebody who's had wave after wave of problems that have come through their lives? You know, like a hurricane. You know, and I mean that in a metaphorical way. Job was an unusual man. Very unusual. Let's go over to the book of Job, if you would turn with me, you know, in the book of Job. And Job, chapter 1, over here, it says, There was a man in the land of us whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Interesting. You know, in our family, we had six boys and three girls. But we didn't, of course, have the things that Job had. Also, his possessions were 7,000 sheep. I mean, that's a lot of livestock. 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys. And so that he was the greatest of all the people in the East. Now, again, think about the fact here. He was an upright man on top of it. He hated evil, and he was well-respected. Wouldn't you expect a man like this to be vain? You know, full of himself? And yet, Job was not that way. In fact, God considered him upright. God considered him righteous. I mean, where does that happen? Where there's a man that is wealthy, you know, and has a great reputation throughout the land, well, God considers him righteous. You know, what happens, of course, with the life of Abraham? Didn't have the children, but he had the wealth, you know.

Job was such a man. Let's go on down here to verse 6. You remember the story. I don't need to go through, you know, scripture by scripture about the story of Job. But in verse 6 of 1st chapter of Job, it says, And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Here the angels of God, and apparently God allowed even the devil to come before him. And Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, From where do you come? And, of course, Satan gives a smart, epic answer. Well, basically, I've been everywhere on the earth. And we know he was everywhere on the earth trying to cause problems for anybody he could.

And now he had an opportunity with Job. And it says, And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, That there is none like him on the earth, A blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. And what does Satan come back? He kind of, in a flippant way, comes back. So Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear you for nothing?

You know, does he fear you for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, And around all that he has on every side, And you have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions, Have increased in the land? You know, here Satan is saying, Look, you've got all these protections against him. And not only that, you're blessing him mightily. No wonder he loves you so much. But you take that all away from him, and he's going to curse you to your face. And as you know the story, God allowed Satan to do just that, To take everything that God had given to him, his family, his wealth, And everything away from him.

The only thing is he could not touch Job on this particular occasion. Going on down, though, let's notice down here in verse 12, And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on his person. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. So God let him have the freedom here to deal with Job. Now God had a reason for it, obviously, Far beyond what humans can understand. But here he had a big family, he had a lot of wealth, And God considered to be righteous.

And here Satan, the accuser, comes along. And of course then things begin happening upon earth When God allowed Satan to have the freedom. You don't realize this, brethren, That you, everyone here, has a hedge around you. Your life is blessed. And let's not forget that sometimes these conversations happen in heaven That impact your life. But there's a reason or a purpose for it, or God would not allow it to occur.

Going on down through here, let's go to verse 20. You know this story, and the account of what happens is, You know, all of the children of Job are wiped out. You know, all of his cattle are destroyed. Everything he has is taken away from him. But notice in verse 20 what Job does. Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head, And he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. And then the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed is the name of the Lord.

And it says, And all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Again, a remarkable, remarkable man. What would you and I do if we were put in that situation? If we lost one of our children. You know, we would probably have gone the other way. We would have done something exactly the opposite of this. Now let's go over to chapter 2, chapter 2 and down to verse 3. And of course after Job had displaced such a splendid attitude in himself, In verse 3, then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?

Don't you wish that God would stop, you know, saying this to Satan? Because things are about to happen in Job's life. But going on, and he said that, There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, One who fears God and shuns evil. And still he holds fast to his integrity, Although you incited me against him to destroy him without cause.

And it says, So Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life, But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, And he will surely curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life. And it was miserable for Job. You know, can you imagine sitting in a pile of ashes, You've got sores all over you, and you've got a piece of pottery, You're scraping the sores for relief.

Now, I don't know if any of you have ever had pain all over your body, Intense itching, or something like that. The only thing that you can do is maybe go and take a warm bath. No, you can't stay in the bathtub all your life.

But there are circumstances where people have those kinds of ailments. This is the kind of thing that the Job had, that it was apparently these sores That he would scrape out, and the ashes apparently were something that somehow Alleviated a little bit of the pain connected. He's miserable. He was the epitome of that song that I mentioned at the very beginning. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.

It was a horrible existence that Job had. Now, let's go on down here and notice this. We see that in verse 9, Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold faster to your integrity? Curse God and die. Now, obviously, she was just as hit by this as Job was. There were her children. And, of course, her security. In fact, that was one thing that Mrs. Lucre mentioned about Job here. Job, on the other hand, was this strong individual that he just wouldn't cave.

And maybe she witnessed all this that was going on there. It was just overwhelming to her. But she was no help, was she, when it came to counseling and encouraging. There was no encouragement of Job at this particular point. I don't know that she was really even thinking about that, was she? Perhaps she was thinking about something else. Maybe someday there will be a book by the name of Job's wife. Because we have the story of here what God did to change the mind of Job. Someday there might be a book that we will read, a story that will read that tell us how God changed the mind of Job's wife and how God worked with her. The fact is that God worked with everybody that are His children. And the book of Job is about how God worked with Job. But notice on down through here, in Job, on down to verse 11. And now, when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place. There was Eliphaz and Bildad and Shofar, for they had made an appointment together, come and mourn with him, and to comfort him, to encourage him. And when they raised their eyes from afar and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept, and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust upon his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him. For they saw that his grief was very great. You know, they could perceive this. They could see, look, this man is in total agony. And, you know, they sat for, can you imagine, seven days, and they didn't say a word. Actually, as we go through here, you're going to see that that was the wisest thing they ever did. By sitting and saying nothing. If you have nothing to say, don't say it. Don't, you know, talk to somebody that's going through horrendous problems, and just be speaking if you don't have something to say. That's true. You want to make sure it's true, because they don't need to hear something that's not true, because all that did was it incited Job's anger when they began to talk about things that were not true. But his wife was not encouraging, and his friends were not good counselors either. But we know Job's wife was wrong. We know his three friends were wrong. And what was he wrong about, though? They were wrong about their impression of what God was doing. And they had the wrong ideas. You know, the one thing that they understood correctly is that sin causes problems. Sin causes problems. And we look at the world out here, and the world in the society out here has problems because of sin. And someday that's going to change. There'll be more people that obey God that don't obey God. You know, Mr. Trump, by the way, is now in office, and it's hard to almost surreal that he's the president now. Who would have ever thought that it would happen? Some people, I think, hope too much in leaders, as some have hoped in Mr. Obama. You know, some have hope in Mr. Trump. I like some of the things that Mr. Trump says, but you know, one thing that never changes is human nature.

And until you can really change human nature, you know, no leader's going to make that much of a difference, ultimately. So, you know, certainly pray for Mr. Trump, and I think we should all do that as Christians, but realize the human nature is still there. I'm talking about in the billions of people on this planet, and the millions in this country, he's going to have a big uphill battle in the next four years, or eight years, however many years he is in office. But, you know, his three friends, Job's three friends, you know, understood about sin and the damage that sin does.

They understood a number of things, as a matter of fact. But, but, but, Bildad thought that Job was just whining because he wanted his wealth back. Iliphaz, by the way, believed that God was punishing Job for what? For not doing enough. And so, therefore, God was, you know, punishing Job and putting him through some things, because maybe he had not used his wealth to be more outgoing to people, or whatever his judgment would have been on this.

But really, the biggest problem that we see in the course of the book of Job, that Job had, was he was condemning God as being unjust. That was the biggest mistake he made. Now, I want to ask the question, though, in what other ways do you think Job's three friends were wrong? Let me ask you this question, brethren. Is suffering a sign of God's disappointment with someone? Is suffering a sign of God's disappointment with someone? Do you remember the man that Jesus Christ was healed, ultimately? He was blind from birth? What did his disciples say to him?

Did Christ's disciples say, they said, Lord, who sinned that this man is blind? Was it his parents? Was it him? Who was it? And what was Christ's answer? Christ said, basically, no one. No one. But the very purpose of what he was going through was to the glory of God. That Christ was going to heal him. That that was the purpose. So because suffering doesn't mean that God's displeased, because the person of suffering doesn't mean they've sinned.

Sometimes when you're suffering, your suffering is not for you at all. It may be for somebody else. It may be for your mate. It might be for your children. Maybe your children need to face reality about life and death. Maybe your mate needs to take more spiritual responsibility. Maybe it's for you as well to be more determined, as one of God's people and his chosen, his elect, to do those things that you ought to be doing.

So suffering is not necessarily a sign of God's displeasure with a person. In all the conversation—and I'm not going to go through the minutiae, by the way, of Job, verse 5 verse, because it is too long. And frankly, I don't know about you, but when I start reading about what Eliphaz says and what Bildad says and what all these people say, my mind begins to go tilt. I'm trying to figure out what these men are saying that is so wrong. Because some of the things that they say sound pretty sensible to me. Is it the way it is for you when you read it?

Some things they say are very sensible. What was wrong with the friends of Job and what they were saying? Well, we're going to give that answer to you as we go along here. It's not until Job 38, by the way, that God even enters the picture. It shows another aspect of God.

That God is very patient with us. You know, God doesn't make a decision just like that. God's very patient. He's very merciful and very kind to us. So he let these men keep chattering on, telling Job all the things that they do, as people tend to do.

And it was not until chapter 38 that God even entered the picture in terms of saying what the truth was. Let's go over to Job 38. Job 38, and begin reading over here about this. Job, by the way, is one of the oldest books in the Bible. It is the oldest book in the Bible. Not one of the oldest, but it is the oldest. But in Job 38, in verse 1, let's notice this.

In other words, who is this that's speaking? And rather than people understanding more clearly, it gets darker. If you're wanting to try to understand me, God is saying, you're going in the wrong direction. You're giving dark counsel, dark advice. And it says, by words without knowledge.

Now get that one line there, words without knowledge, not understanding, not even grasping. You know, we're not in the realm of God. We don't see things the way God sees things. You know, God knows us, and He's known us since the day we were born. He knows all about us. He knows how many hairs you got on your head. You know, and maybe, again, for some, it's less of a chore than others, you know, to count the hairs.

But nonetheless, He knows, doesn't He? He can name every star in the universe, every body. God is able to do that. He's capable of that. And anyone who has a perception somehow that, let me sit down with God and I'm going to reason with God. I'm going to have a one-on-one with God. Not going to happen. You know, the resurrection occurred, for instance, one of the greatest miracles of all times when Christ was resurrected.

But how those things happen, I don't know. I don't know how does God, you know, resurrect us? I know that as a result of God's Spirit and building character and all that, but I don't know. And anybody that thinks they know, well, they may be, you know, just giving you a line.

They don't know. They really don't know. And so Job did not have the understanding here. Going on, it says, now prepare yourself like a man. In other words, let's come at this like adults. Job, be an adult. Don't be a kid, a kid in your mind. I will question you and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Now you begin to understand where God's coming from here. Okay, Job, if you're so smart, you think you can contend with me? You can judge me? Where were you when the universe was created? Well, you weren't even a gleam in your dad's eye, your mother's eye, whatever. There. Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. And who stretched the line upon it? To what was its foundations of fasten? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Where were you, Job, when all that happened?

You know, obviously, that is really a very deep question. Where was Job? Where were you? Where were each of us as well? Were we a thought? What were we before we became these human flesh and blood bodies with a spirit in us? What were we? What does it mean when we have the spirit of man? Again, we don't have even a full understanding of those kinds of things, even remotely.

And then he goes on and he talks about the miracles of creation here. You know, the miracles of gestation, the miracles of the earth, the circuits of the earth, and all the ecosystem that God has created, the animal world, the plant kingdom, that God alone understands. And that's just here upon this planet, let alone, again, the mysteries that lie throughout the entire universe that God knows, that God understands.

But, you know, here God is not necessarily condemning Job in this particular case, but, you know, he's calling to question his wisdom of understanding. You don't know enough, Job, to contend with me. You just don't know enough. It'd be like, you know, an ant coming up to you and saying, move over, move out of my way.

You know, it wouldn't make sense, would it? Well, you know, you just step on the ant. It's gone. Of course, God is not that way, is he? He's not that way at all. Job was called into question for contending with God. Why is that that he may he darkened his counsel? Because Job's answer to God made God sound dark, made him sound unloving, as though he didn't care. But God had put a hedge around Job, and he cared very much for Job. He loved him very much.

And brethren realized, no matter what trials you go through, that God loves you. And he's put a hedge around you, and he cares for you very, very deeply. More, in fact, that we have shown love and care for him. That is how much our God loves us. But Job was giving the impression that God was unloving, unjust, for what he had done to him. The fact of the matter is, you can't contend with God. Like, somehow you're going to set yourself equal with God and reason with him. You can't do that.

We need to understand that God knows what is best for us. You know, good or bad, whatever it is, that we face in our lives. And what Job went through was good for Job on certain levels. What happened to me in my life was good for me. I don't really fully understand why God took me through the things I went through. I really don't. I learned a lot from it. I realized, of course, the brevity of life and how quick things can go, and what was important and what is not important in this life.

But, you know, God knows. You know what? It puts it in perspective for me. One thing that kept coming to my mind when I was going through my hard, difficult days is don't think it's strange when a fiery trial comes. That kept going through my mind at that time. And I thought, this is my fiery trial. Now, I don't want to go through that again.

It, of course, may have to, but I don't want to go through that kind of thing again. But maybe you're going through that right now. It's your fiery trial in life. But realize that God knows more about you and what He's trying to do. That God is the potter and we're the clay. And you know what? Only the potter knows what He's trying to make with His clay. God knows where we fit into His plan. God knows where we're going to be used in the future.

And the clay doesn't know what's going to be formed into. The only thing we know, you know, it's like John said in 1 John 3, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but He said it, we're going to be like Christ because we will see Him as He is. The only thing we understand is we're going to be molded and shaped in the image of Christ. But there are aspects of our character, there are aspects, you know, that God is putting in us that are special to where He's going to use us in the future, in the Kingdom.

We'll all be like Christ, but we'll have different abilities and traits and characteristics that will be more usable to God in the future. Now let's go on here over to chapter 40 now. So God knows what's best for you. In chapter 40, down in verse 6, And the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would you indeed annul my judgment? You're going to annul my judgment? Would you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?

Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor. You know, can you sit on the circle of the earth, Job, and look down and behold men like grasshoppers? Can you do that? We could have, of course, added here in this particular discourse. And it says, Disperse the rage of your wrath. Look on everyone who is proud and humble him. How'd you like to have the job, brethren, of looking down from heaven and seeing now how many billions of people have lived since man was created? Forty, fifty billion people?

And to deal with forty or fifty billion people? You know, obviously Job does not have that ability. No human does. No angel does. And Lucifer had the height of vanity to think he could do God's job. But look what's happening here. Job thinks somehow he knows as well as God. But the point is, God is saying to Job, You don't know better than I do.

You don't know what's good for you. You know, I'm the potter. You are the clay. You know, I look down, I see the proud, and I, yes, I humble them. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low. Tread down the wicked and hit their place. Verse 12, Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness.

And basically saying, look, Job, if you can do all these things, down in verse 14, then I will also confess to you that your own right hand could save you. In other words, you don't need God. You don't need the resurrection. Right? You don't need the resurrection if you could do all these things. But of course, Job couldn't do that, could he? Job just could not do all the things that God was saying.

And God was saying to him, look, I'll confess to you, you can save yourself by your own right hand if you could. By the way, the right hands assemble or metaphor for power. You have the power. Basically, he would have had the power to, if he died, he could resurrect himself. But he couldn't do that. And of course, the resurrection, in the first message, was talking about one of the greatest mysteries and the greatest blessing that we've ever been given among human beings, that God has given human beings that opportunity.

Chapter 41 over here. Chapter 41 in verse 1. It says, can you draw Leviathan with a hook, or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? Now, Leviathan apparently was some large beast, you know, water dwelling type beast. We don't know exactly, again, what the Leviathan was. We don't know exactly what the Behemoth was as well. The Behemoth, you know, I know it's been speculated what it was.

I've heard everything from a rhinoceros to, you know, to an elephant or whatever. As far as the Leviathan, some have said whale or others have said other things as well. But you know what the symbol of the Leviathan is? When you read chapter 41, and he's talking about people upon the earth, Leviathan is a symbol of Satan, the devil, and the things that Satan has done upon the earth.

You know, the wickedness that is upon the earth and the trouble that has occurred and happened upon the earth. But going on here, you know, God challenges Job and says, look, can you do that? Can you somehow control this Leviathan? You know, you're going to put a little bait on a fish hook and think you're going to draw him out?

Are you going to tame him somehow? You know, you're going to be like a lion taper? You're going to tame this animal? And make him obey your commands? And the answer is no, you can't. In the same way, you know, man, in looking at the world's problems today, you know, man cannot straighten out his own problems. We've been proving that the last 6,000 years. Man does not know how to rule himself. And Job just doesn't understand enough to realize the gargantuan job that God has.

You know, how, if you, another question, we talk about how would you encourage Job, how would you save the world? How would you save the world if your job was to do that? I hope we understand that just preaching the gospel right now, ultimately we're going to need a little more to save the world. Even when Christ comes back, we're going to need a little more. A little more, a little more, all through the millennium that it will take to save the world. The world will have had to have been under Christ's rule for a thousand years before the Second Resurrection takes place. But even when we get to the end of the millennium, we haven't really, as it were, saved the world. There are going to be multiple billions that will come up in the Second Resurrection. But in the final analysis, I know Mr. Armstrong has said this many, many times. He felt that the majority of people that have ever lived or existed are going to be saved. Because God does things in the right time. God does things in a perfect timing. And He's going to do it. But, you know, we're measly human beings. We can't do it. Job couldn't do it. And to somehow contend with God, sort of making Himself almost up to God's level. Not quite, because He did worship God. But at least He thought He could reason with God. He thought He could judge God and contend with Him about what judgments that God Himself had made. And again, this Leviathan is just an analogy, a metaphor for Satan's world. That needs to be straightened out. And God's the only one that can do it. Jesus Christ is coming to do that. And we're going to be there to watch Him and to help Him. I think we'll mostly be doing watching, though, in terms of how the Master works.

And we'll go to school. Everything He does, we'll do. What Jesus does, He will show us the way. But going on here, notice in chapter 42 here, Then Job answered the eternal and said, I know that you can do everything. See, it was starting to get through to Job. It took a long time for God to get through to Job. Look, Job, you're just a man. You're just a man. He was a righteous man, but He was just a man. Job came to realize that God could do everything, and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You ask, who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. I didn't get it, God, Job is saying. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak. You said I will question you and you shall answer me. And then Job really comes to himself. I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. I see you, God. You're much bigger than I realized.

Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. And so it was, after the Lord has spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eli, Eliphaz, the Timonite, My wrath is aroused against you, and you're two friends. For you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.

Now think about this. What happened to Job and his three friends? It turns out that not only did it help Job, but it helped his three friends.

Because apparently there's a change of heart, even in the three friends that we see here.

And God commands them. Basically, you know, look, you better go to Job and talk to Job. And surely Job prayed for them, and God forgave them. But God restored to Job everything that he had lost, you know, and all that had been taken away. And obviously there were things, I'm sure, that were taken away that could not be replaced.

In Job's life. But God wanted him to know, and conveyed that by his blessings that he had always been with him, as he had been with him from the very beginning.

But Job's three friends were presumptuous, and they were unknowledgeable about the greatness of God. Job was too, but he came to himself.

He came to understand how great God was. He had heard of him, but now his eye sees them. He had that aha moment, right? When he finally realized how great God was, and how wonderful that God was.

You know, but the best thing that his three friends did, brethren, in the whole counseling session, was the seven days they sat silent.

Now, I want to ask you again, brethren, how would you encourage Job? How would you encourage Job?

Why is this an important topic to talk about?

The reason is, is because God, you know, if you look around here, we don't have the women with us here today, you know, that are over at the enrichment weekend.

But you look around in the congregation, you're not the only one being called.

We're all called here.

I pastor over in the Phoenix area, and take care of the brethren in Phoenix and northern Arizona, and, you know, try to help them. You have brethren over there. You have brethren that are over in Africa and India and, you know, Australia, all over the world. You've got brethren. You're not the only one that God is called. God is not just called individuals. He's called us into a body.

And, you know, the body that God has called us into is more important than all of us individually.

You know, we're important to God, but what the body is is more important than what we are individually. So keep that in your mind, brethren, of an important thing. The sum of the parts, or the body, is more important than each of us individually.

Now, every part of the body is important. Don't want to, again, imply that you're not important. But what God is trying to build and create in the body of Christ is the goal. It's the ultimate purpose.

And, evidently, brethren, because we're not the only ones that are called, God is called others within the church.

Evidently, helping each other is a part of our calling.

The way I read the book is that I can't make it without you.

I can't make it without you. And you can't make it without me. And neither of us can make it without God or Jesus Christ. None of us are going to be in the kingdom just by ourselves. We just won't be there. In Ephesians 4, it talks about that when Christ ascended to heaven, He gave responsibility to the ministry. And it was to bring us to the measure and the stature of Christ. And, again, evidently, God expects us to work with each other to encourage each other. Because the body, the building that God is making is fitly framed together. And we are to edify one another.

We are to encourage one another. And that encouraging part of it, edifying part of it, is a part of our training to be in the kingdom. Without doing that, we won't be there. We're not going to be in the kingdom unless we're contributing to the body. And, you know, the Bible actually tells us that we ought to be, in fact, encouraging one another so much more as we see the day approaching. It says, don't forsake the assembly of yourselves together. In Hebrews 10 and verse 25, so much more, He says, when you see the day approaching.

But He says that we should encourage one another and help one another. And, you know, the interesting thing I found out about the context of that particular verse, Hebrews 10 verse 25, right before it, you know, Paul talks about our assurance that we have salvation. So we ought to encourage others, in other words, of their assurance of being in the King of God. And again, show the way, show God's way and directions of how to do that.

We ought to encourage people to have a relationship with God and to assure them of God's love for them and that God will see them through to the very end. That what He begins in us, He will finish. That He will accomplish. If we hold our belief steadfast to the end. You know, the early church, especially from Jerusalem, was connected. It was tuned in to the concept of helping each other, one another.

Unfortunately, in the 21st century that we live in, people are not joined together. They're disjointed oftentimes because of work, distance, and other issues that occur. You know, sometimes people, again, get fixated on their jobs or schooling. And of course, just this rush of the modern age that we live in. There were three things the early church was devoted to. And every generation of Christian sense have tried to mimic it. Number one, they were devoted to the apostles' teaching. Number two, they were devoted to fellowship.

And number three, they were devoted to breaking bread. Now, it is very reassuring to know in the 21st century that breaking bread is one of the still important things in the church. You know, we like to eat, don't we? But we can communicate with each other. We can fellowship with one another. When we do that as God's people. But we need to do those three things. We need to, again, adhere to the apostles' teachings. We need to fellowship, and we need to break bread with each other.

Spend time with each other. Encourage each other. Comfort one another. Be there for one another. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5, if you will. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 11 over here. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 11. It says, therefore comfort each other. That word comfort, you know, has to do with encouraging each other. 2 And edify one another. Be teaching one another. Just as you also are doing. So Paul wanted to go ahead and encourage the Thessal Anakans to encourage each other as they were doing.

And, brother, we need to do that. I know the Garden Grove is a friendly church. Our outgoing church. You're known for that. And you are a special people. The women's rich weekend is just wonderful over there. The ladies love to come out for that. And you're just a very warm and friendly people. But that's what we should be, right? But Paul is saying he encouraged the Thessal Anakans to continue to do that and even do it more. To be more connected with one another. Now, I said to you, how would you encourage Job? Let's talk about some things about that.

The first thing that one has to be aware of, if you're going to encourage somebody who is like in the case of Job, who's had wave after wave after wave of things that have happened to him in his life, is number one, season your language with grace. You know, what is grace, by the way? What does grace mean?

Anybody know? Unmerited part, right?

We as God's people need to be willing to, in fact, say things about people that we hope that they are doing. Show grace in your language. Be careful about what you say to people. And, you know, brethren, in talking with people that are really going through serious problems, it takes a lot to buoy them up when they're going through problems. We have to remind them of even the little things, the good things that they do. To remind them of their worth. To remind them of those things. But seize in your language with grace. Look for the good in people. To encourage people. You know, the unfortunate thing about the three friends of Job is they were looking for the things that Job did bad. You must have done something bad, Job. And, of course, that wasn't the case. In Colossians 4 and verse 6, I'm going to read it from the NIV, it says, Let your conversation be always full of grace. Season with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone. So put some salt, you know, with your comments. Or put some grace with your comments. Be very respectful. Even be orally respectful. If there's such a thing. Of people. To be, you know, of people that are very careful about what we say. And what we say, we try to encourage people. Young people really need to have that. They need to see that they're doing something that you're pleased with. I remember when I was just probably about 12 years of age, I had an Uncle Charlie.

And my dad and I were, and Uncle Charlie was there. We were working on an old lawnmower. And I, you know how the top of those old lawnmowers would pick up grass and oil and things like that? Well, I went in and I grabbed a rag and I wiped off the top of it. Just cleaned the oil off and my Uncle Charlie saw it. Uncle Charlie was about 80 years old. He didn't have to say this. And by the way, Uncle Charlie was not in the church. But Uncle Charlie said to me, he said, Jimmy, he said, you know, not many kids would do that. And he commended me for doing that for my father. You have no idea the impression that made on me. Well, I'm talking about it now. This happened 50 years ago.

Long time ago, maybe more than 50 years ago. You know, now. But amazing. Just little things that people do remember it. Make a good comment about it. Season your language with grace. Be respectful. And the next thing, number two, if you want to number these, of how to encourage Job, is be there for Job. This is where his three friends did a good thing. They were there for him. They watched after him. They were good friends in a lot of ways. You don't find people that are like the three that he had, really, very often. The overall point, by the way, if you're going to encourage somebody who's gone through devastating trials, is realize the power of presence. The power of presence. Just being there. Just being there is encouraging. You know what it says to someone if you're there? You matter. You matter to us. We care about you. I care about you. And you're important to me. You know, the church in Colossae needed some encouragement. And, you know, he sent Tychicus up to Colossae to encourage them, as it says in Colossians over here in verse 8 of chapter 4, it says that he may encourage your hearts. I mentioned over the women's weekend that I saw, you know, one teenager that was there from the church I pastored up in Boise, Idaho, back in the 80s. And I saw a number of people over there I hadn't seen for a while. I heard a line from an old movie that I saw. It was a period piece. And one of the things that was said in the movie, you know, this man saw somebody he had not seen in a long time. And he said to them, he says, it does my heart good to see you. And I thought to myself when I heard that, yeah, no, that's true, isn't it? Then when you see somebody and you haven't seen them a long time, it does our heart good, doesn't it? It makes us feel good. So be there for somebody. It makes them feel good in their heart. It lifts them up. You don't have to say anything. A lot of times you may not have anything that could be said, but it does their heart good to see you. Also, brethren, realize that being here on the Sabbath, it does your other brethren, their hearts good to see you. Just to be here, for you to be here. It encourages them. I mean, they pray for you. They're praying for you every week. I know we pray about brethren, and when you see them, you kind of spark up, don't you? You spark up and you get energized by it. So realize the power of presence.

Again, it says, let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as we see the day approaching. Be there. Just be there. To encourage.

You know, it's very interesting. I saw a movie many, many years ago. I can't say that I would recommend it, but you may have seen it. I always liked Peter Sellers, the actor. How many of you have ever seen the old Pink Panther movies? You know, Peter Sellers was so funny in those. I'll tell you, we would rent a Peter Sellers movie and play Pink Panther. If I wanted to see my boys laugh, they loved, you know, the Pink Panther movies. But there was a movie that Peter Sellers did, and the title of it was Being There. And basically, Peter Sellers plays the role of an old gardener who's kind of slow in his head. And the only thing he likes to do is watch TV. And anyway, his other quality is he says things a certain way, and people misread what he's saying, and they think it's wise. Anyway, if you've ever seen the movie, and again, I'm not recommending the movie because I think there's some bad parts in it, but he's very slow. He ends up being a counselor for a president, for the president, by the way. And the reason is that he didn't say a lot. But when he says it, it sounds profound. And what's so funny is I thought of the Scripture that says even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent. If you want to be considered wise, don't say much. But anyway, it was very hilarious to see that one, I remember. In the end of the movie, by the way, it's like he walks on the water at the end of the movie. It, I think, is a sort of... There must be a metaphor there with somebody who is maybe a little bit slow in the head, and he had been elevated to such high position. They wanted to offer him a movie deal so he could disperse his wisdom and everything like that, and they were going to give him like six figures for it. But anyway, very interesting. But sometimes we don't have to say anything, and we can be considered to be wise. Number three, by the way, if we want to encourage Job, is realize that all of us are mentors for each other. You know, I don't know if you... I've never considered myself a mentor. But in reality, all of us are mentors. Because if we're supposed to edify one another, aren't we mentoring each other? We're all mentors. And we're all mentees, I guess, as well, if that's a word. So we're all mentees, and we're all mentors.

And, you know, Barnabas, the apostle, you know, of encouragement, he was known as the encourager. But in reality, all Christians shouldn't be known for encouragement. All of us should be. You know, I encourage you to learn, to show appreciation, in ways that are different than other people. You know, sometimes I'll walk into a restaurant or place of business, and a proud owner will have a letter from one of their customers that says, you know, thank you so much for how you treated me here, you were very honest, if you worked in my car, or you did this, or maybe, you know, somebody writes a letter to an establishment who's contributed, you know, to the organization, thank them for what they've done. You know, be a kind of a person that's encouraging other people. Be that kind of person. Not just encouraging people in the church, but outside the church. And you know, you make an impression. You make an impression upon people. You know, we need to, again, take the time to just say thank you to people, to appreciate them. You know, maybe one of the things that the three friends of Job could have done would have been just that. And say, Job, you were always such a wonderful person, and thank you for being that. Of course, we wouldn't have the book of Job then, would we? You know, we wouldn't be able to get up and talk about the good things that the, well, I guess we could talk about that, but God chose to, again, have it written the way He did. Number four thing, if you want to encourage Job, or somebody that is in Job's situation, is offer physical help. Offer some help for someone. You know, be willing to do that as well, to carry through. It's not just something from the, you know, the teeth out. But it's something for your heart. You're willing to do it. You know, sacrifice is just that, isn't it? Willing to go above and beyond the call of duty. James 2 and verse 15, by the way, tell us this, that we must be willing, you know, put action on what we're doing. If you see your brother has a need, and you send him out and say, you know, be warmed, and you don't do anything for him, and you could do something for him, what is that? That's a sin. A sin if we do that. So we need to be, again, be willing as God's people to do something for them. And this could have happened with the three friends of Job. They could have done this for Job. I don't know what they could have done for him, or what he would have allowed them to do. Keep this in mind, brethren, if you do one physical act, it says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, it says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, removable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Everything you do, even Jesus said, you give a cup of water to one of these little ones. You're not going to lose your reward for doing that. That God will reward you for what you do. And number five, number five, if you want to encourage Job, is learn the value of timing. You know, sometimes if you talk to people, it's just not the time to talk about serious things. It's not the time to get into the nitty-gritty of somebody's attitude. If somebody's attitude is wrong, that is not the time usually to talk to them about their attitude. You know what you're going to get if you talk to somebody about their attitude when they're in a bad attitude? You're going to get some attitude. That's what's going to happen. And you just incite more anger in them. So learn the value of timing.

You know, Willie Nelson came up with this little quote. You've heard that the early bird gets the worm, but it is a second mouse that gets the cheese. You think about that a little bit. And what I mean by that is timing. You want somebody to be angry with you, or you want to be successful. If you want to be the second mouse and get the cheese, you wait. You wait until it's appropriate. You wait until someone's mind of a mind to listen.

You know, the big mistakes that Job's three friends made, brethren, is they didn't consider that Job was righteous. Now, God considered Job righteous. But also, they didn't consider what God was doing with Job. They didn't see it any more than Job saw it.

In fact, during the book of Job, Job says that, you know, I think like you do. You know, I could answer the way you do. Job was saying in one of the passages in the book of Job, but he, of course, still contended with God. But the three friends had to know that God knows when the proper time is for people. So hence, God doesn't speak up until the 38th chapter of Job. Then was the time. Then was the time.

You know, always gently remind someone when they're adjusted, when they're thinking clearly, help them to understand, you know, the purpose of life, to remind them about that, that we are the clay and God is the potter, to remind them that God views this life differently than we do, that life is a vapor, and that death is not an end. The suffering that we go through here. You know, we're talking about that it's just for a brief period of time. You know, I will go through some suffering for eternity. And I'm sure you will, too. You're willing to do that. But again, look at the reality that God sees the big picture. He sits on the circle of the earth. He looks down. He beholds us. He knows all about us. He knows what we need. He also knows what we don't need as well. You know what? God was taking Job to his discomfort zone. He wasn't trying to make Job more comfortable. He was taking him to his discomfort zone. He was trying to make Job and not break him. He was trying to make him into what he wanted him to be and what he became. And you know, that is the most important thing, what God wants us to be. You know, it's been said that a comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there. You know, we don't grow when we're in the comfort zone. We've got to grow only when we're in the discomfort zone. And so God is going to allow us to go through those areas of our life, through the valley of the shadow of death, if need be, to get us to know what it's like to see it. Helen Keller, of course, had insurmountable odds to fight against being blind and deaf and dumb. She wrote this. She said this about all of us as we strive here to build character on this planet, this earth. She said character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Interesting. She was deaf. She could not hear. She said that character could not be developed in ease and quiet. Of course, she meant just in a comfortable, laid-back condition. She goes on to say, only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. It takes that for us to grow. I went through my experience. It was my fiery trial. We all go through fiery trials. When God takes us through those difficult things, He's tempering us. Like, you know, steel is tempered. He's preparing us for a great future that is going to be awesome and wonderful. We have a lot of goals, don't we, in this life?

But what are those goals about? You know, we are born. We get an education. We get, you know, maybe degrees. We get jobs. We marry. We have children. We build a life. You know, we have grandchildren and maybe great-grandchildren. And then you come to the end of your life. You achieve the goals. Henry David Thoreau said this, and I think it's certainly true. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. So what we become, what we become through our trials, sometimes our sore trials, that we go through our fiery trials, that's what is important, ultimately, for all of us. But remember this, through whatever trials that some may be going through here or will go through in the future. And I've come to believe that everybody goes through the fiery trial. You can't escape it. Remember, God is always concerned for you. He's concerned for the outcome more, the process of the trial. He wants to know how it's going to come out. It would have been a horrible thing if Job had not come to repentance about his attitude. But he did. And that was what was the most important thing. It wasn't the surmounting of the trial. It was his attitude that was changed. Remember, God sees all from above, and he knows all that is best for us in the very end. One day, if we can endure to the end, and I trust that we're going to do that, God is going to set us in his family, and the very purpose, the very reason he's called us in this time, the very reason he's been training us in this life is for the eternity in that family, when God's government is set up upon this earth. And it's going to be really worth it for you and me as we go through this life, facing those trials, learning those lessons, and let's learn how to encourage one another. Let's be able to learn to encourage somebody like Job. Let's really work at that, because in the process, if we work at becoming a people who can encourage Job, we can encourage anyone. And if we do, we'll be there in God's family. We'll really appreciate the opportunity to come and talk with you here, and spend time with you, hopefully get to talk to some of you afterwards. But I appreciate Mr. Segue asking Joan and me to come over here and to spend time with you, and hopefully we'll be able to come over here sometime when all of the ladies and the men are together in church services. But I appreciate the opportunity to be here.