What does it mean to ‘fear the Lord’?
Job 28:28 is the first time Job hears the words of God in this long and heavy book. Job has suffered greatly, more than what most could imagine, and finally God speaks. And he says ‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom’. Thanks!
Sunday’s sermon ‘Where Is Wisdom?’ (Job 28-31) by Ken Noakes is now available: http://bit.ly/1EgJenJ
‘In suffering, set your gaze away from the answer you may want and towards God whom you should seek.’ – Ken Noakes
Sunday’s sermon ‘Squabbling Friends’ (Job 3-27) by Ken D Noakes is now available: http://bit.ly/1HWO0kX
It seems counter cultural to work really hard to call people to Christ, build them in faith, grow a body of believers – only to then send them away!
Over the last few weeks we have done both.
In Job Chapters 1-2 we get to peak in on a conversation between God and Satan.
God: Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.
Satan (my paraphrase): Of course he is going to be blameless and upright – you protect him and his household and you bless him – if you weren’t so protective he would curse you to your face!
What a cynic. It is so easy to think the worse of someone instead of the best! (notably – a pattern we always see in Satan!)
But does he have a point?!
Vaughan Roberts
Sunday’s sermon ‘True Friendship’ by Vaughan Roberts is now available: http://bit.ly/1DIM44G
Satan appearing in the heavenly realms to address God (as we saw on Sunday in Job 1 and 2) raises more than just eyebrows! What do we know about Satan? What was his plan? Does he have any power over God (such that he can just appear before him)? And how can we know that Satan won’t cause bad things to happen to us?
What do we know about Satan?
The Bible doesn’t say as much as you would expect – I guess God is not that willing to give Satan air time in his word to us. For the record, I can count just 80 passages that refer to either Satan, the devil or the evil one.
That said, it may be worth also pointing out that the Bible might not tell us everything there is to know about Satan (it doesn’t tell us everything there is to know about circumcision, the end times, predestination or Ehud for that matter!). We can be confident that the Bible tells us everything we need to know concerning Satan.
What we can say may be helpful.
Sunday’s sermon ‘Heavenly Tussle’ (Job 1-2) by Ken D Noakes is now available: http://bit.ly/1DoMdKq
So we have looked at six reasons why the doctrine of heaven is neglected and then four reasons why Heaven should really matter to us. In this third essay, I want to look at ‘Why heaven exists?’!
Baby you’re all that I want
When you’re lyin’ here in my arms
I’m findin’ it hard to believe
We’re in heaven
And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn’t too hard to see
We’re in heaven
So sings Bryan Adams (Yes I know it was right back in 1984, but tell me you don’t know the song!).
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