When Things Aren't Good, God Still Is

The Revival Hour, all the children 3 years old up through the 4th grade can be dismissed at this time. Good group of them tonight. Praise the Lord for all of the little children that'll be going tonight.

While they're finding their place, you find yours if you would please, in the book of Job chapter number 1. The Old Testament Bible just before the book of Psalms, the book of Job chapter number 1. So good to see you tonight. Thank you so much for being here on this Tuesday night of our Revival Meeting or Evangelistic Crusade. Thank you so much for being here this week, and I hope that you'll do your dead-level best to not only come for the rest of the week through Friday night, as Pastor said, but also that you'll do your best to try to bring somebody with you, co-worker, family, friend, or neighbor.

There will be a couple of nights this week, and more than likely on Friday night I'll be preaching a gospel-oriented message, not just for God's people, but also for all people. So I hope that you'll do your best to get someone under the sound of the gospel or the preaching of the Word of God, that the Spirit of God could arrest their attention and convict their hearts of their utter desperate need of Jesus Christ. The book of Job chapter 1. Let's all stand, please, out of respect for God's Word.

I'm going to be honest with you. I've struggled greatly today with that which the Lord wanted me to preach. I've been just praying and seeking the Lord, and I had some new messages that I thought maybe that I'd preach a little bit more, as I did last night through the week.

But it seems like the Lord has just directed me back to the book of Job. And just a little while ago, Brother Robertson was talking to me about the Psalms and asking me if I knew. And I said, well, I know I'm going to be preaching to God's people tonight.

And I had a different sermon in mind then, from Matthew chapter verse 6. But then when I got up and sang a moment ago, I felt like the Lord just directed my heart and has moved me to preach in the book of Job chapter 1. Would you look at verse number 1, please? We're only going to use one verse for our text, because we're going to have a lot of Scripture in the book of Job tonight. Job chapter 1, verse number 1. The Bible says, There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.

Tonight, I want to bring you a simple message entitled, When Things Aren't Good, God Still Is. Thank you very much. You may be seated.

Let's bow our heads and hearts and ask the Lord to bless our time together, shall we? Father, I pray that you would help me tonight as I preach. And Lord, I pray that you would help these dear people in this congregation before me as they listen. And Lord, I just feel that you would have me to be an encouragement tonight.

And Lord, no doubt, perhaps there's people here that are burdened down with troubles and concerns, hardships, and the cares of this life and this world. Father, I pray tonight that the Spirit of God would comfort in areas that need comforting and convict in areas that need conviction. And Lord, use the testimony and the example of a man by the name of Job in our hearts and lives tonight, that we may realize that no matter what we go through, no matter what type of fiery trials that we have in the Christian life, or certainly we'll have them, I pray that we'll realize that when we come out on the other side, that you were always with us, that you never left us, you never forsook us.

And Father, you were always good to us and you did everything for our benefit and for our best and for thy glory. Now, I pray tonight that you would help me now as I preach this message, you would help these people as they listen. Also be with my wife and those that help her in the children's meetings, in Jesus' name, amen.

If you know anything about your Bible, especially your Old Testament, you're going to find out that there was a man that was pre-flood and pre-law, the oldest book in your Bible, although not the first book in your Bible, obviously the oldest one ever written, was the book of Job. And here in the book of Job, we have a man who did not just have merely problems. He did not just merely have some unexpected circumstances in his life.

He had the bottom fall out of both ends of his boat. I was listening to an old black fellow preach on the radio not long ago, and he was kind of one of those sing-song guys, and they can say it so beautifully. And I mean, they can just get up and have a text, and I mean, they can just preach circles around myself.

And I was just enamored with what this guy was preaching about. And he was talking about Matthew chapter number 7 and Matthew chapter number 10, and he was preaching about the judgment seat of Christ. And he said, ladies and gentlemen, one day when we stand before God and we hear those wonderful words, well done, thou good and faithful servant, he said, you can know one thing for sure, you will be well done.

And I thought to myself, friends, you know, we're going to have trials, we're going to have hardships, and we're going to have troubles and heartaches and persecutions. And the Bible says that we are supposed to suffer not as a lost person, but to suffer as a Christian. Even Peter said himself that those times will come, those trying times, and those times that God is working in our heart and working in our family and working in our life.

And we think that it's terrible, and we think that there's no light at the end of the tunnel, but God said there are just seasons that are coming and that are going to pass away. And here in the book of Job, here was a man that had some struggles, but he remained before the struggles, during the struggles, and after the struggles. He remained true and faithful and devoted to Almighty God.

There are three things about the life of Job I want you to see tonight. Number one, I want you to see what I call Job's approval. Job's approval.

It's given for us three different times. Look at Job chapter 1 and verse number 1, would you please? Job's approval. The Bible says there was a man in the land of Uz.

Now, how'd you like to live in a town like Uz, all right? Uz was what I consider a poking plum town. You poke your head around the corner, you're plumb out of town, all right? So it's a little bitty place, all right? There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil. Chapter 1, verse number 8, please.

The Bible says, Chapter number 2 and verse number 3, please. Job chapter 2 and verse 3. So I'm not going to approve and applaud Mr. Job tonight. I'm going to let God do that.

He said several things about Job in his approval. Would you look again at verse number 1 and see what he says? He says, Now, the word perfect here has the idea of spiritually mature, not the fact that he was sinlessly perfect. Now, until you and I die and go to heaven and kick up glory dust on the streets of God, we're going to struggle with our flesh.

We are going to struggle with our minds. We are going to struggle with the world. We are going to struggle with the temptations, if you will, of the devil.

And so it is not referring to the fact that he was perfect and that he did not sin or he never did wrong. He struggled with his flesh just as much as any believer in this room tonight. But it has the idea that he was mature.

He was complete in his faith. He did not fall all to pieces when bad things came. He did not fall all to pieces when he had financial instability.

He did not fall all to pieces when it seemed like that God was removing everything away from him. And God said one thing I appreciate about Job is that he is perfect, he is spiritually mature in his faith. But he goes on and says something else.

Not only was that man perfect, it also uses the word and upright. The word upright is an interesting Old Testament word. I don't know a whole lot about being a doctor or nurse or anything like that, but my mother is a chiropractor.

And if there is anything I do not like going to, it is the chiropractor. That Dr. Minstrom fellow, he lays me down. My mom's boss, he lays me down.

He says, now Greg, this is not going to hurt. All right, that is a lie because it hurts every time. And he lays me down.

He grabs my neck and he says, I want you to be very, very limp. It is hard to be very, very limp when you got this big, huge doctor's hands on your head. And you know he is getting ready to crack your neck to the left and crack your neck to the right.

And so here I am laying the best that I can. But every time I come out of that place, man, it hurts while I am there. But man, when I come out, I feel better and I feel what they call adjusted, whatever that means.

All right, so here is the same picture. Here is a picture of somebody that has some back trouble. Somebody that has some backache and then they get it fixed and they stand erect or they stand upright.

For lack of a better terminology, basically God is saying this. Job kept his nose clean. He was not only a good Christian in the house of God, he was a good Christian on the job as well.

He was a good Christian at the post office. He was a good Christian at the Harvey grocery store. He was a good Christian everywhere that he went.

He paid his bills on time. He showed up at work on time. He was faithful to the house of God.

He was faithful to his wife. He spent time with his children. And he was a man that was upright.

He lived above reproach. He was a peculiar man, not imperfect in the fact that he was sinless, but he was mature and he was upright. He did things right for the glory of God and God commended him for it.

Now, I think that would be a wonderful approval. I would love for God to be able to say, Gregor DeWayne Locke, you are mature in your faith. You are complete in your faith.

You don't fall all to pieces about things. And young man, you are upright and you do things right and you do things not slipshod and half-hearted, but you live for God with your whole heart. I'd love to hear God say that.

You know what, I'm sure Job was excited that God was saying these things about him, but it even got better than that. Look what the Bible says. There was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God.

Boy, there's a lost art in the day and age in which we live in America. The Bible says in Proverbs 1, verse number 7, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And might I just say, and it won't take you very long to figure out, there's a lot of foolish people in America and a lot of foolish people in our churches that don't fear Almighty God.

Now, I'm going to tell you a definition that God gave me one morning in my devotions. It's nothing spectacular. It's nothing grandiose.

And you'll probably hear it and say, whoopee-dee, but it means something to me, alright? I'm going to give it to you two times so you make sure you get it. Sometimes we have the idea that the fear of God is towering down in a corner. Now, I didn't read my Bible and God's going to blow my brains out with some type of heavenly, sovereign, lightning bolt.

That is not the fear of God. That is Christian stupidity. The fear of God is nothing more than this.

A proper respect for the holiness of God that makes me love doing right and hate doing wrong. A proper respect for the holiness of God that makes me love doing right and hate doing wrong. Now, how do we know that it worked that way in the life of Job? Look at the end of the verse, would you? It says, "...one that feared God and eschewed." The word eschewed has the idea to reject, to despise, to rebel against, or to put away evil.

Because he feared God, he hated wickedness. Because he loved God, he hated his sin. And that which bothered God, that which hurt God, and that which grieved the heart of God, bothered, hurt, and grieved the heart of Job as well.

So he feared God, and that is Job's approval. But that is not going to be the crux of my message tonight. I want you to look, if you would, please, at Job chapter number 1 and verse number 13, where I begin to show you tonight what also I call Job's affliction.

Old Job had an approval. Old God commended him and said, Job, you're doing some wonderful things. And he even told the devil two times, listen, there is no servant under God's heaven like unto Job.

He said he's devoted. He said he's different. He said he is a dynamic servant of God.

But even Job had some hard times. Look at verse number 13 of Job chapter number 1, through what the Bible says. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.

And there came a message unto Job and said the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them. And the Saviour fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain thy servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said the fire of God is falling from heaven. And it burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee, verse 17.

While he was yet speaking, third time that phrase is used, there came also another and said the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And we'll pick up in verse number 18 in just a moment.

So number one, Job's approval. Number two, Job's affliction. The first thing that Job was afflicted in, first and foremost, was his finances.

Here was a man that if you study your Bible, you will find out he was the most well-prospered man in all of the city at this time. For that matter, he was probably the most well-prospered man on the face of God's earth. And here was a man that had crops.

I mean, he was one of these fellas, if you give him a rock, a stick, and ten-ten fertilizer, he could grow anything, anytime, anywhere. This was a man that had a green thumb. And he had corn.

I mean, he had riches. And I mean, he had what we call maters and taters. And I mean, he had the green beans.

And he had the peas. And I mean, he had it all. And you talk about a watermelon patch.

Here was a man that had all types of fruits and vegetables. I mean, here was a man that made money on livestock and on everything you can imagine. I mean, here was a frugal man.

Here was a man that had a lot of money, more money than any person in the whole region. And in five minutes' time, three messengers knock on his door. And it's hard to tell you, big boy, every bit of it's gone.

The bank account's dry. Your checking account's dry. Your saving accounts are dry.

Everything that you had in the stocks and bonds is gone and crashed. The cows are dead. The donkeys are dead.

The dogs, the cats, everything that you have. The fire of God's fallen from heaven. And every single crop that you had that was making you some money and allowing you to live and to eat and to breathe, it's all gone.

Every single bit of it. And in five minutes, three messengers told Job, You've lost all your money. But you know what I respect about Job? He didn't get all mad and bitter and start bellyaching and say, God, I'm going to tell you something right now.

I can't believe that you allowed the fire of God to fall out of heaven. I can't believe that you would do this to me and put me in such financial straits. And here I am.

I've been able to take care of my wife and take care of my sons and my daughters. And now we're all going to starve to death. It's going to take me a whole other year to get those crops to grow again.

And Lord, what do you expect me to do? I don't have any money to buy back the horses and the cows and all the things that you brought up. He never did that. He had something in his mind and in his heart that was bigger and better than his problem.

He knew, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You see, he had the idea that I believe a lot of Baptists need.

That we don't own anything anyhow. And everything that we have is owned long from Almighty God. He owns everything and I own nothing whatsoever.

And my Bible tells me that He even owns a cattle and a thousand hills and the wealth in every mine. And here was a man that knew that. And he did not get mad and bitter and bellyache and complain.

He just simply realized, God is going to have to meet my every need. Now, you are not going to be saved very long before you realize that yes, even God's people have financial troubles. I don't care what Benny Hinn and Peter Popoff and Dan Stewart and the rest of those crooks on TV get up and they say, Oh, I'll tell you what, you send me a hundred dollars and God will send you ten thousand.

And you send me this and God will send you that. And God never wants you to be sick. And oh, by the way, if you're sick, you're not right with God.

And if you don't have all your bills paid, you're not right with God. And if you don't have hundreds of dollars in the bank and hundreds of dollars in your pocket, you are not right with God. And they must have overstepped or just completely tore the book of Job out of their Bible.

Because here was a man that was right with God. He was honoring God. He was faithful to his wife.

He loved his children. He was doing everything possibly he could to serve God or else God would not have said he was. But he still had financial instability.

And God took all of his money away just to show the devil and to show you and I what kind of character Job really had. His character was not in his pocketbook. His character was not in his wallet.

His character was in his heart between him and Almighty God. You know, it's interesting to me, you know, God meets everybody's needs. But it's interesting to me, as my wife and I travel around the country, it is unique to see how God meets individual needs.

Now, I could preach all night. I'm not going to, but I could preach all night how God met our needs when it's Bible college. I mean, when you're married, you're in Bible college, you don't have nothing.

I mean, I could have sat sometimes on a dime and dangled both legs. I mean, low to the ground, friend, nothing whatsoever. And so you don't have a whole lot.

And I could tell you a bunch of stories how God took care of us. I'm going to tell you one story about how God took care of us one month before we purchased our truck and travel trailer, just a little over a year, year and a half ago, how long it's been now. But just before we purchased that, we had a green minivan, an Astro van that we drove around in for a year and a half, two years.

And we were getting started in evangelism. And we drove that thing everywhere. I about drove the wheels off of it.

I mean, 100,000 miles on that thing, 175, whatever it was when I finally got rid of it. But we drove and drove and drove. And I remember we got to the place, Pastor, when we knew we were going to have to get another vehicle.

And I knew if I kept driving mine, it's not going to be worth a whole lot on a trade-in or anything like that. I mean, the thing's already just completely depreciated. I got so many miles on it, who's going to want the thing now? And so I sold it to my stepfather.

Now, to make a long story short, I mean, it's a long story and I'm not going to deal with it. They gave us a little beige-looking, call it wine-colored type of a Ford, a Sable, whatever that thing is. It's a little long station wagon, looked like a spaceship, you know, but it was a cool-looking thing.

Had leather interior, had heat and air, AM, FM, cassette and CD. I mean, this thing was loaded up and it was the same year as my minivan. But I didn't care about a newer year.

I just wanted something that had a lot less miles on it. And I think it had like 15 or 20,000 miles less than mine. So I said, hey, I think I'll take it.

He said, listen, it won't cost you a dime. No money will be exchanged. And we went to this dealer and he knew my stepfather real well.

So he said, Joe, listen, he said, I'm going to give Greg this thing as an even... You don't expect that kind of stuff sometimes, all right? So here we are. As a matter of fact, Brother Ben Eckbrad's here tonight. He's the only one that could come from Fairmont, who was here last night.

But I was on my way to their church to start a nine-day revival meeting. We were going to go Sunday through Sunday, and then the following Monday, which was a Memorial Day or something like that, was going to have a big patriotic rally. And we did.

Had a wonderful meeting. But I called up Brother Eckbrad and I said, I want to tell you something. I said, I'm in Sellersburg, Indiana.

He said, where's that? I said, exactly. I said, it's a tiny little place that I've never heard of and I've never been in my life. It's outside Louisville, Kentucky.

And if you blink two times, you're out of the city. I'm sorry. It was a tiny place.

I mean, there was nobody to help me. I've never preached in Sellersburg, Indiana. I've never preached in Louisville, Kentucky.

And I've still never preached in either one since this took place. And so here we were. We break down on the side of the road.

And my wife, when the smoke starts coming up, you know, and when the thing won't start and start making all these noise and start slipping back and forth, my wife just said two simple little words, uh-oh. And I thought to myself, uh-oh, Greg. And so I pull off the side of the road.

I flip up the hood and I just pretend like I'm a mechanic trying to try to impress my wife. You know, hey, honey, try to turn that thing over. You know, I'm up rolling up my sleeves.

Here I am. I'm messing with wires. I don't know what a spark plug for my gas can is.

And so I'm in here looking around, you know, hey, try to turn that thing over. And she thinks, you don't know what you're doing. I said, you're right.

All right. Swallow my pride. Burst my head open.

Okay, let's go take this thing to somebody that does. And so we got it started. I don't know how we got it started, but we got it started enough to get up an exit ramp and to pull off at this little store.

And I went in there and I said, listen, I need somebody to tell me. I said, it's Saturday night. And I said, it's Friday night.

I said, I don't matter to me if it's Friday night or not. He said, it's going to be hard to get somebody to tell you. And if you do, it's going to cost you a lot of money.

I said, well, my father will take care of that. He said, your father around? I said, no, he's real close by. He'll take care of it.

And so I went in there and I said, listen, I called this guy and I said, listen, I have got to. I have got to have you told me. He said, if you want me to tell you, he said, not only is it going to cost the regular fee.

He said, it's Friday night and I'm off. And here it was like 637 o'clock at night. He said, I've been off for a couple of hours.

He said, it's going to cost you mega bucks. He said, you do not want me to come. I said, you're probably right.

I don't. So I hung up the phone and I got down and I said, Lord, what in the world am I going to do? Me and my wife and I started praying. I called my mom and I said, mom, you're not going to believe this.

I said, but that car y'all just traded with me. The transmission just fell out of the bar. Oh boy, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I said, that's why I called and asked you, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I said, I got to be 15 hours away from here to start a revival meeting on Sunday morning.

And I said, I've got to be there somehow. And so we found this little hotel place. We had a little bit of cash left, $65, something like that.

And I said, honey, we're just going to stay the night. And so we took the last cash that we had. We pulled this little Hampton Inn or whatever it was, this little Daisy Inn.

There was nothing in this town. Now, there was this little Daisy Inn. There was a little store that we pulled in, tried to get told, didn't do any good.

I didn't see any churches. I didn't see anything around. And there was a Kentucky fried chicken and a pizza hut.

And the town was so small, they were in the same building, okay? This is the gospel truth. And so here I am, thinking to myself, what are we going to do? And so we pull in there. I take the last $65, whatever it is.

I got to get the room, you know? And so I give them the money. And I say, listen, I need to use a phone call. Is there anywhere I can get a phone card, you know? They gave me this real cheap phone card and they were real nice to me, you know? So all my cash is gone.

Have no cash in my pocket. I've got a long ways to drive the next day. And I don't know what in the world I'm going to do.

Well, I call up my mother. She gets ahold of the guy that made the Eve and Stephen trade. And they said, exactly, where are you? I said, I'm in the middle of nowhere.

I don't know if I can explain to you how to get here. They looked it up on a map and they said, we'll bring you your van back. We'll rip up the agreement.

And you can have your van back. We'll tow the car back. No questions asked, even Stephen.

So I said, man, praise the Lord for that. Well, as they were coming, it took them till probably 3.30 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon to get there. And so here we were.

We're waiting. We're twirling our thumbs. We're starving to death.

I mean, we don't have anything to eat. We have no cash. And I'm thinking to myself, there is no way in the world that I'm going to walk all the way four or five miles down to that crazy bridge and walk all the way into Louisville, Kentucky to get myself something to eat.

I said, I'll starve to death or be a cannibal before I do that. I said, that's a long way, honey. And so she said, well, why don't you go on over to their Pizza Hut or their Kentucky Fried Chicken and see if they take the little debit card, you know, the little Visa deal.

And so I said, well, that's a novel idea. They probably want fast food. Man, we walked in there.

Sure enough, they took it. So I thought, man, this is wonderful. And so we sit down.

Here we are. Can I remind you? In the middle of nowhere. Never preached there in my life.

Don't know anybody from Adam's house. Can't we sit down? We start praying. We're eating this little Kentucky Fried Chicken buffet and I'm having something to drink.

And I say, honey, what would you get me something else to drink? She stands up and she walks over to get something to drink. And I look out across this little auditorium, whatever you call it, this little lobby that I'm sitting in. I had myself something to eat.

And there's this little elderly lady and she's sitting down in a chair and she's staring holes through my wife. I mean, just staring. And I'm thinking to myself, man, this woman's got a complex.

She's going to kill my wife. She's going to rob my wife. She's going to get no money, but she's going to rob my wife.

She's going to do something. I mean, she's looking at, I mean, she's just staring holes in my wife. And all of a sudden, I see her stand up.

And man, my heart started beating so hard, I thought people would see it coming out of my chest, you know. All of a sudden, my shirt start moving. This woman starts saying, she starts walking towards my wife.

And I'm thinking, what's going on? So I've stood up by this time. I start walking over there. That woman taps my wife on her shoulder.

She turns around there, eyeball to eyeball. And that elderly lady looks at her and says, are you Miss Locke? And she said, what? And she said, are you Miss Locke? And she said, well, yes, I am. And I walked over there.

And at that time, I didn't know who in the wide world they were. We've been in their church since this took place. And I found out their name was a Morrison.

But anyhow, I'm looking at this old lady. And then this elderly man comes up and he shakes my hand. Hey, brother Locke, good to see you.

And I hate it when people know me and I don't know them. All right. I knew their face, but I didn't know their name.

And so I said, hey, brother, how are you doing? Good to see you. And so we're trying to fill out the situation. Hey, how far do you live? I'm trying to figure out when I was in their church and where it was.

And it was a good few hours away from there. It was in Bean Blossom, Indiana, at the Bean Blossom Baptist Church. Pastor James Brown.

That's got two strikes against him. All right. And so here I was.

I was trying to figure out when I'd preach to these people, where these people were at. And so they said, hey, what are you doing here? And I said, well, it's interesting you ask. I said we wouldn't be here.

I said we'd be in Fairmont, Minnesota if we wouldn't broke down and blah, blah, blah. And he said, well, God bless you. And he left.

We sat down. We kept on eating. I don't know, probably five, six, ten minutes passed.

All of a sudden, this fella came running back in. He said, brother, I'm going to give you something. Handed me something in my hand, and he walked out.

While he was there, I stuck it in my pocket. You know, I'm spiritual. I didn't look at it right in front of me or anything like that.

You know, so I stuck it in my front pocket. He goes walking out, and I reach in my pocket. You know, and I'm thinking, man, what is this? You know, five dollar bill, something.

And I was excited for anything at that time, you know. And so I pulled it out, and I began to flip through it. Sixty-five dollars in cash.

Can I remind you, I was in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know anybody. I'd never preached within two and a half to three hours of anybody in any church around that area.

Whatsoever. And here I am, broken down. What's the chances that I'm going to meet some dear elderly couple that I met at the Bean Blossom Baptist Church? And they're going to have sixty-five dollars to give me.

Guess what? They brought our vehicle, got there at four o'clock. We drove all night long. I got to Fairmont, Minnesota at 635 in the morning, and we had Sunday school at 915.

I had time to put on a suit, catch a quick little nap, and jump up and preach. And man, I was dog tired for the next two or three days. But you know what? Thirty miles.

Did you hear me? Thirty miles from Fairmont, Minnesota. I put the last five dollars of gasoline that that elderly gentleman gave me in the gas tank to get me where I was going. It cost me exactly sixty-five dollars to get to the Fairmont Baptist Church of Fairmont, Minnesota and have our revival.

Hey, friend, that's not happenstance. That's not coincidence. That's providence.

That's Almighty God. And the next time you have some financial straits, the next time you get to the place where you think you're unable to pay your bills. Hey, they're God's bills.

Let him pay them anyhow. He said he'd take care of you if you ever need. He said that the Bible has said in Philippians chapter four, verse number 19, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

And so I get the bills, man. I get the truck bill. I get the trailer bill.

I get all the insurance bills and all these kind of bills. I just spread them out before the Lord. I said, Lord, I told you there's coming.

Here they are. You have to take care of them. And God meets our needs.

And he's never one time let us down. Here was a man that had nothing, but he still praised God. Now, it seems like maybe the story would have stopped there and God would have gave him everything back.

But God doesn't give him everything back to the very end of the book. I want you to look if you would now, please, at verse number 18. Something else happens in his life or it gets worse.

It doesn't get better for a long time. It gets worse. Bible says in verse number 18, while he was yet speaking, that's the fourth time that phrase is used.

If I dove, I'd quit answering the door because, you know, it's going to be bad news. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, my sons and my daughters were eating and drinking wine. And their eldest brother's house.

And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smoked the four corners of the house. And it fell upon the young man and they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Then Job arose and ran his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return. This is the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Verse 22. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Number one, he was afflicted in his finances, but now secondly, he's been afflicted in his family.

The very dawning apple of his eyes, his boys and his girls are eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And the Bible says that an east wind comes. It blows the house over.

It blows the walls over and the bricks and the mortar and the draw wall fall upon his little children, fall upon his boys and his girls. And a servant comes just after telling him that he's lost everything financially, that he has no stability. The bottoms fell out.

Then somebody else knocked on the door and gives him some more good news, if you will. Guess what, Job? Your sons and your daughters were eating, drinking, having themselves a jolly time. And now they're four o'clock in the morning.

I will say Job sat down, sat clothed in ashes, shaved his head like a Marine and said, naked, I came into this world and naked shall I return there. And the Bible says in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. You know, we're not promised all the time that it's going to be a bed of roses in the Christian life.

More than likely, you have or you will be standing before the cabinet of somebody that you love very dearly. Perhaps it's a husband. Perhaps it's a wife.

Perhaps it's a child. Perhaps it's a little baby. Perhaps it's a grown up child.

Perhaps it's a grandparent. I don't know. Perhaps it was a dear friend.

But no doubt death is the inevitable. And it doesn't care how old somebody is. It doesn't care if somebody's lost.

It doesn't care if somebody's saved. It doesn't care if they were in church or out of church. When death comes knocking for him, he grabs a hold of a person and he takes them down and they die.

And no doubt one day you'll stand before somebody in a casket that you dearly love and you'll look into their face and you'll think to yourself that you are excited that you are a friend of them. You help them or you love them or you will regret that you were such a vagabond, such a mean person, such a mean spirited, bitter person to that type of a person that's laying there dead. But no doubt you will meet people that you love very dearly that die.

There will be times in your Christian life when your heart gets broken too. There will be times in your Christian life when it feels like that you just can't go any further and you think to yourself, God, why? Why in the world are you putting me through this? I remember for two years I was the staff evangelist for the Somerville Baptist Church in Somerville, Alabama. I remember when I first went there, you know, I was just recently out of Bible college and we was booking some Sunday meetings and we had a couple of week meetings our first year.

You know, man, we was all excited. And they let me come down the church as an assistant when I didn't have meetings. I'd be home kind of assistant pastor and fill the pulpit.

My pastor, Brother Royce Teague, he's about 35 years old, but he can't see out of one eye. I completely can't see out of one eye. And the other one he can barely see out of it.

He's a wonderful golfer. How he does it, I can't figure it out, but he can barely see and he can't drive. He's not driven since he was a wee little guy when he was about 17 years old.

He had a wreck and that was it. He ain't driven since. And so his assistant has to drive him everywhere that he goes.

And so I'd always take him on his visits. I'd always take him here. They would do a hospital visit.

I'd take him to all the funerals. He'd preach at funerals. I'd take him all over the place.

And as an evangelist, I appreciate that couple of years because, man, it really showed me a lot of things about the ministry that a lot of evangelists don't get to see on the inside of a local church. And so I was there and I remember one morning, about 5 30 in the morning, the telephone rang. And I dragged out and I picked up the phone.

I said, hello. And he said, Greg, this is Brother Royce. He said, I know it's early.

He said, you got to come pick me up. He said, get some coffee, whatever. He said, I'm going to shower real quick.

He said, get your suit on. He said, we've got a little baby in the hospital and we don't think he's going to make it. There was a family there by the name of the Goreys and they had a little baby or they were going to have a baby.

And we knew there were going to be some great, great complications. They didn't know if the baby would be born, stillborn, or if it would be retarded. They didn't know.

They didn't have any idea. But they said, there's going to be some great complications. And here he is calling in 5 30 in the morning.

And he said, these complications have been proven. You're going to have to get here quick. I pick him up, man.

We rush down there. We're praying all the way, dear God, please save this little baby. Please help this little baby's life.

Please help these parents. Man, these were some godly people. I mean, these were some people that loved God.

He was a song leader in a fundamental Baptist church. Man, she could play the piano, the organ. He could play the violin.

They could sing and he could preach. I mean, just a wonderful godly couple that loved God. And I remember we pulled in there and Pastor Michaels, I remember we walked in and you've had many a visit like this, I'm sure.

And I remember we walked in here with some of the family. They were in one of these like waiting rooms, but it was a little bit different of a waiting room because when the mother was out of the surgery, they had to take the baby by a cesarean section. When the mother was out of surgery, they would wheel her in there and have all the hookups right there in the waiting room.

So it was a larger type of a room. And we were all standing around. We was all sitting around and all of a sudden they wheeled her in and she was still under the anesthesia.

And she didn't have any idea what was going on. She was still sleeping. So we're sitting around and the father walks in.

He comes over and he sits down and he's holding this little baby in his arms. And he's got this little baby. He's got a little towel wrapped around her head, you know.

He's just rocking her back and forth like this and everybody's just kind of looking. And I'm thinking to myself, well, glory to God. I mean, praise be to the Lamb.

This little baby lived. We've been praying this baby would make it. And now the baby's okay and the baby's alive and there's no problem whatsoever.

There wasn't really that many complications, although it was a C-section. And here he is over there. He's just holding that little baby.

And I remember Brother Royce walked over there and put his hands on top of that fellow's shoulders. And I'll never forget that guy looked at Brother Royce and he said, you want to hold her? And immediately, obviously, when somebody says, hey, do you want to hold her? What's going to be your response? No, I don't want to hold your baby. Of course, he said, yes.

Here's people that are more faithful than most of the people that I preach to in a lot of churches. Here's people that are tithers. They are givers.

They are goers. They are prayers. Here's a man that can preach.

Here's a man that can sing. Here's a girl that can sing and play the piano and play the organ and play all these things. Lord, why in the world would you let something so despicable happen to these people? And all day long, I'll be honest with you, I had the pooch mouth disease.

You know, I'm walking around with my lips hanging out. You know, if I just stepped too much, I'd walk all over my teeth. You know, here I am looking around.

I'm all mad at God for what he's done. Why in the world do you do this to these people? I remember I went to the funeral a couple of days later and I've never in my life seen a casket as small as the one that they placed that little... I mean, just a little bitty tiny white casket. Didn't even have a big funeral.

Just had a little graveside. And I remember Brother Royce got down there and he started crying and he started preaching. He started preaching about that day of resurrection when the bodies would come out of the grave.

And man, everybody got to crying and people were amening. But when that happened, it was on a Wednesday morning. That Wednesday night, I was closing a revival meeting at my home church, Somerville, Alabama.

They had just tore down the old auditorium that they had for years and they put up a new auditorium. And I was preaching the opening dedication revival from Sunday school, Sunday morning through Wednesday night for their new building. And that Wednesday night, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to preach.

The only pastor I got in the study and I began to pray and I began to go over some things. And I thought I was going to preach that week, maybe that night on revival or something like that. Some sinful issues that I thought needed to be dealt with.

And it just seemed like the Lord just kept driving me to the book of Job. Driving me to the book of Job. And that night I got up and I preached the message that I'm preaching to you right now.

Just kind of off the cuff. Just kind of built it as I was preaching. And then I went home and kind of wrote the outline down a little bit later.

But I'll never forget, I was in my study that day and I was praying over the message. And man, I was still a little bit grieved and bitter in my heart. And I kept thinking to myself, God, why in the world did you do something to these people like this? And I just couldn't understand why that would take place.

And all of a sudden, it came just an overwhelming experience. You've had them, I'm sure, if you've been saved any amount of time. Oh, I'm not talking about God came down and sat down right beside me.

We talked face to face over coffee. I'm not talking about God just audibly spoke to me out of heaven. That didn't happen.

God speaks through one place and that's through his word. And that's the only place that he speaks. But it was one of those times when you almost thought he did.

And I'll never forget inside my heart, Pastor Joe, I just knew for sure that the Holy Spirit of God convicted me and said, Son, you don't have any business asking me why. I'm sovereign. I know the end from the beginning, the beginning from the end.

I've never made a mistake. I made man 6,000 years ago and I haven't had to make a recall yet. And you have no right to ask the sovereign God of heaven, why? Because I'm in complete control.

And I changed my attitude that day. And I'm no longer in trial. Say, God, why? But I believe the scriptural thing that we should say as God's people is, God, what are you trying to show me? What are you trying to remove from me? What are you trying to do? What is it that you want me to do? What are you showing me? Not God.

Why are you doing this to me? Because God's in control and we, as little peon, finite people, have no right to shake our little fist in the face of a holy God and say, God, what are you doing? He knows exactly what he's doing, whether you do or whether I do or not. God is in control. I want you to look back in your Bibles, if you would, please, because all of a sudden from heaven, did you hear me? From heaven, another blow comes to the life of Job.

Job chapter number 2, if you would please, and verse number 4. Job chapter number 2 and verse number 4. The Bible says, and Satan answered the Lord. Here's Satan standing before God. He's saying, listen, there's nobody that loves you.

There's nobody that's going to live for you. And Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, all that a man hath only give for his life. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face.

And the Lord said unto him, said unto Satan, behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. Verse number 7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot into his crown. And he took him a puncher to scrape himself of all.

And he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife, his own wife. Then said his wife unto him, dost thou still retain that integrity? Curse God and die.

But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women. He said, listen, you speak like a lost woman. What shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Number one, he was afflicting his finances. Number two, he was afflicting his family. But now number three, he's been afflicting his flesh.

The devil comes to God and he says, OK, God, you got me on the first two. He still serves you when he lost his finances, his money. He still serves you when he lost his family.

But you let me touch his body. Hey, every man loves his body. Every man loves himself.

You let me come down there and touch his skin and touch his bone. And I guarantee you, God, he'll spit in your face. He'll curse thee to your face, the devil said.

I'm glad God knew Job well enough and knew Job's character well enough to let the devil go ahead and have his heyday in the life and the body of Job. The Bible says he came down and he smoked Job with sore boils from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. And excuse me, ladies, for being gruesome, but here was a man that sat down and he broke some dishes.

He broke some clay. He broke your best china ware, if you will. And he took that china and he scraped those oozing, pussing, scabbing, nasty sores all over his body from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.

I mean, no pain. He lays down, he's in pain. He stands up, he's in pain.

He doesn't eat, he's in pain. He does eat, he's in pain. Everything Job did, he was in continual pain day and night, day and night from all these boils that were on his body.

But the Bible says for the second time that he still did not sin and charge God in the matter foolishly. Hey, let me tell you how bad he looked. Let me tell you how bad the situation was.

His own wife came to him and said, Job, I believe you've had just about enough, son. Why don't you just give up? Why don't you just give in? And why don't you, big boy, just curse God and die? Modern day terminology, she basically said, why don't you look at yourself, honey? Look at yourself in the mirror. Look what a man you have become.

Look at all these problems we've got. No kids, no money. You're about to die from this terrible disease that you've got all over your body.

She said, why don't you just curse God and die and give the whole thing up? And you know what he said? He said, you speak like a foolish woman. He said, you speak like a lost woman. He said, you mean to tell me that God's going to be so good to us and when a few trials and heartaches come, you mean to tell me that you're going to get mad and bellyache and bicker against God and blame God? He said, this is not God's fault and he did not charge God foolishly.

This portion of Scripture, at least this part of this portion of Scripture about his flesh, was revealed to me, and if you'll pardon me again, it happened also at the Fairmont Baptist Church the first year I was there. We've been there for two revival meetings already. The first year I was there, we started the meeting on a Monday night and we went through a Sunday night.

I was at the Temple Baptist Church of Manchester, Tennessee on Sunday, did everything I could to get away, but I just couldn't do it, so I did that Sunday there. On Monday, my wife and I went to the airport. We flew in, they took us to the Mall of America.

I couldn't stand it. My wife thought it was the wonderful thing in all the world. And so they took us there.

We stayed for a couple of hours. They bought us some Chinese food, made me happy. I had some noodles, you know.

And so then we got in the vehicle and they took us back. We started the meeting and I mean, we were having a wonderful time. I mean, teenagers were coming, people were getting saved, people were getting right.

The crowds seemed to be doing well. The church there in Grenada, Calvary Baptist, was coming out and bringing their young people and bringing their families, you know. I mean, we were just having just a go-at-it meeting, like seven takes, man.

People were getting right, people were getting saved. The crowds were going, people were singing. Man, it was wonderful.

We was having a time. On Friday night, I'll never forget, I preached on Luke 16, 23. And in hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment.

And said, Abraham, I fall off. And Lazarus in his bosom. And I preached on the torments of hell for about 35, 40 minutes.

I knew that there was a young lady who was going to be coming to that service, a little five-year-old black girl in a wheelchair. Her body was all emaciated up. She's had a surgery since then, made it somewhat better.

But her name was Anastasia. The reason I knew of, I did not know her yet. But the reason I knew of her is because Ms. Eglant is a nurse, worked with her several times.

And another dear lady in the church was also one of her home health care nurses. And we had a dinner with him at Perkins. And they said, please pray.

Our mother's a Lutheran, doesn't want her to come to a Baptist church. But please pray that this little girl will be able to come to the service on Friday night. So we prayed fervently that that little girl would get to come.

And so I preached. The people that were here last night from Sheldon, Iowa, they weren't there at the meeting. But their pastor, Pastor Marcus Moffitt from Calvary Baptist, came that night.

And we went downstairs for a time of fellowship. Now, that don't mean you talk when you're Baptist. That means when you go have fellowship, you go downstairs, you have some food.

Amen? So we went downstairs and we were eating food. We were drinking coffee and we were doing some talking. And Brother Moffitt said, hey, you got your calendar? I pulled out my calendar and we were scheduled a meeting for when I was going to be there this past January.

And I was oblivious to everything that was going on. I wasn't paying any attention to anybody. I was talking to him and I was talking to Pastor Rex Black.

You know, sometimes out of just kind of the side of your eye, kind of your peripheral vision or whatever you call that stuff, you can kind of just see somebody coming, but you just don't pay any mind. I knew who it was because I'd previously talked about her and seen a picture of her, but I'd never met her. She had came in later in the service, Anastasia, that is, the little girl.

She had came in later in the service and went ahead. Her mother came in and sat in the back, but she went ahead and slipped downstairs. They took her downstairs into my wife's Children's Revival Hour where her and Miss Amy are right now.

And so here I was up for preaching, had myself just a good time. Man, people getting right, people getting saved. I'm sitting down there talking to some preachers.

I'm drinking some coffee. All of a sudden, out of the side of my eye, I see this little girl went up in the wheelchair. And she gets closer and closer and closer.

So finally, I turn around and she comes. I mean, she has never met me in her life. And she comes right up to me and she takes it in the wheelchair.

Wham! Just kind of knocks my legs out. And I turn around. Oh, and oh, I made a big deal out of it.

Oh, honey, thank you for coming. And I knew her name, but I pretend like I didn't. You know, I asked her what her name was and she just kind of nodded her head.

You know, she kind of told me. I didn't realize that she couldn't talk real well at that time. Now, that's what they hadn't told me.

I wasn't expecting that. And so here she was. She had these little green leaves pressed on fingernail things.

You know, these girls like, you know, this kind of hanging off. Boy, I made a big to do about. Oh, honey, those are the prettiest fingernails I've ever seen.

My wife loves fingernails like that, you know. Oh, that's pretty green. That matches your pretty eyes.

I'm just trying to be as sweet as I could. I want her to know that we loved her. We were so excited that she was there.

What she did not have in a body, buddy, she had in the brain. I mean, I'm talking about an intellectual, smart little five-year-old. And I'll never forget what she did.

I was making a big to do, thanking her so much for coming. And she took her little hand. Her body was all contorted up.

Her hands all emaciated. You know, and I'm not making fun of her. It's exactly what she said.

I'll never forget it. She took her little hand and she put on that little thing. You know, boy, she could drive that thing everywhere.

I'm just do circles and all kind of stuff. She pushed that little button. She kind of scooted back three or four feet so she could see me real good.

She was up real close to me at this time. And she kind of scooted back so she could see me real good. And just looked right up at me.

And I'll never forget what she did. She had one of them little shoestring things tied around her neck. And it was tied to one of them little white voice box.

I didn't see it at first. And she kind of pulled her collar down a little bit. And she took her little finger, little five-year-old crooked emaciated finger.

And she put it over that little thing right there over her throat. And it's exactly what she said. I'll never forget it.

She said, Brother Greg, God really spoke to me. And I said, Brother Greg, I appreciate you coming to my heart tonight. I appreciate you letting me come to the church service.

And I'm going to tell you something, friend. By the time that little black girl got through talking, God had been speaking to somebody else in that service as well. And it wasn't her.

It was me. And I thought to myself, here I am. I get all mad and blowed out and frustrated when things don't go my way.

Oh, I get all mad and upset when I get a bit of a fever. Oh, and I come down with a little bit of a cold so I can't get up in the pulpit and preach the way I want to so people can see me. Oh, and I get mad when things go wrong.

And I get mad when all these sicknesses come. Or maybe when our bills aren't being paid the way that they should be. Or when you have a $2,800 bill when your clutch goes out and you're caught in a ticking truck and you don't expect that.

Oh, and I get mad about all these things. But can I remind you, friend, you might as well quit your bellyaching because there's always somebody that's got it worse than you. And there's always somebody that's got it worse than me.

And here was a young lady that was all contorted up. And all crooked and all just... Her body was emaciated, but she was excited to be in the house. And here was a man that had some terrible flesh problems, but it didn't keep him from his service and his devotion to Almighty God.

If that wasn't enough... Hey, to be honest with you, I think it should have been enough. But if that wasn't enough... Would you look back at chapter number 2 and verse 11? Chapter number 2 and verse number 11 of the book of Job. And look what the Bible says.

Now, when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place. Eliphaz the Timonite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.

So their intentions were good. Verse 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept.

And they rent everyone his mantle or his clothes and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights and none spake a word unto him. Why? For they saw that his grief was great.

Actually, I want you to see tonight, friends, at Grace Fabulous Church, that he was afflicted in his friends. Men that possibly, very possibly, that he knew for a long time. I'm talking about good friends.

His three friends, the Bible says, and another one comes in a couple of chapters. We can't deal with him. But his three friends came.

Perhaps they went to high school together. I mean, maybe they signed one another's annuals. I don't know.

Maybe they were in vacation Bible school together. You know what I'm getting at. But they knew this man for some time.

And it surprised them when they saw him. They saw his poverty. They saw the death around him.

They saw his body. They saw all the things that he was going through. And the Bible says when they lifted up their eyes, then they lifted up their voices and they wept and they rent their mantles and they sat down.

Now, can I remind you, if you have a family reunion or, man, if you have a high school reunion or a college reunion, and, man, you get with some people that you used to love and you used to admire and you used to love being around and you get with them, man, you're going to talk and you're going to fellowship and you're going to eat and you're going to enjoy the company of that friend. But the Bible says for seven days and seven nights everybody sat in a semicircle and nobody opened their mouth. That's how bad, that's how desperate, that's how terrible this situation was.

And that's how bad the body of Job looked. They wept and nobody opened their mouth for seven days. But, oh, after seven days, those three big boys thought they got real spiritual.

And they said, Job, you know, we've been praying about this and we've been assessing the situation. And they said, Job, we think the reason you got all these problems and troubles and persecutions and hardships is because you got sin in your life. And for the next several chapters in the Word of God you see these people jumping on Job, biting Job and chewing on Job, telling him he's got all these sins, all these wickedness, all this immorality, telling him he's unfaithful to God.

And they tell him all of these things and his own friends, his buddies, turn around and stab him right in the back. You know, I've had to learn something the hard way in the ministry. I've had to learn something the hard way.

And I'm going to be honest with you. There is a different calling between a pastor and an evangelist. There's a complete different calling.

There's a complete different mindset. Let me tell you what I mean. A lot of times it can be summed up in this.

Somebody said it best, I guess, where they said that an evangelist comes to town, he blows in, he blows up, and he blows out. All right, that's not always true. But you know what? I'm going to be honest with you about something.

These are men on the pastoral staff that God has given a unique ability to sit down across from you, look you in the eyes, open a Bible, and counsel with you about your problems. To pray with you about your problems. Oh, I do some praying, I do some counseling.

But you know what? These are men that God has put it within their heart and designed them to be more people-oriented than an evangelist. A pastor sits down, let's see what the problem is. It's A, it's B, let's go to some bursary.

Hey, you come back next week, we'll do the same thing. And you do it over and you do it over and you do it over. An evangelist sits down, he opens the Bible, says, listen, this is what the Bible says, get right with God and get over it.

That's what an evangelist does. There's a difference between an evangelist and a pastor. A big, huge difference.

But I have learned this. That people, to be honest with you, people can be very, very harmful to you. I don't see how pastors can go for years and years and years and years with all the stabbing in the back and all the heartaches and all the Band-Aids and all the bullets and all the blood and all the things that... I admire men like your pastor, as a man of God that's been here for 28 years, I guess, that he's been here so long and has went through all these heartaches and all these struggles and all of these trials.

But you know what? I've learned that the people I've loved the most in the ministry, people I've done my best to help, friends that I've given money to, friends that I've done things for, friends that I would pick up at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning when they were in trouble. I mean people I would do anything and everything for. You know, it seems like when things go bad, they're the first ones to stick you in the back.

And I'm gonna be honest with you, if you don't think that hurts, you're not a human, friend. And here was a man that had 3 pals, 3 buddies, 3 guys that were his friends, because the Bible says they were, and they turned their backs against Job. But I'm so glad to tell you that if the whole world turns their back, if you turn your back, if all my family members turn their back, if everybody I've ever met on the face of God's green earth turns their back on me, I'm glad, dear friend, I've got a friend that's sick of closer than a brother.

I've got one that said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. He said, I'll be with you in the lion's den when you've got those hungry ravenous roaring lions. He said, I'll be with you in Daniel chapter 3 when the furnace has been heated 7 times hotter than it's ever been heated before.

I'll be with you like Peter when I pick you up and Peter said, Lord, save me! And I pick you up and put you back in the bowl. I'll be with you like the apostle Paul in Acts chapter 27 and 28 when he was a knight in the day in the deep floating around on a piece of driftwood, a piece of oak wood from some old torn-up piece of bunk from some great big hurricane that came through, floating around like a toothpick in a bathtub. He said, I'll be with you when your back's bloody and raw as Acts chapter 16, Paul in silence sang and prayed at midnight and the prisoners heard him and Almighty God heard him as well and shook that place.

And God said, listen, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be with you in the high times and the low times. I'm going to be with you when you've got money, when you don't have money.

I'm going to be with you when you feel good, when you feel bad. And God said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And I'm glad I've got a friend tonight that's sicker closer than a brother.

Now, I'm going to be honest with you. If I were Job and more than likely if some of you were Job, I would have thrown the towel in about right then. I said, that's it.

I'm sick of it. I'm tired of it. And I'm going to be honest with you.

I would like to think in my mind that I would have responded the way that Job did, but knowing myself, to be honest with you, I don't think I would have. I think I would have got upset and mad and bellyaching, but can I give you lastly what I call this? And it's one verse and we're through. It's what I call Job's announcement.

Job had something to say about all this, and I think very well he should have. Chapter 13, verse number 15. Would you look there, please? Job chapter number 13, verse number 15.

We're through and we go to the house. Job's approval, perfect, upright. Feared God, issued, hated, rejected, or despised evil.

Job's affliction, afflicted in his finances, in his family, in his flesh, and now in his friends. But I want to give you what I call Job's announcement. Let's see what Job had to say about this.

Job chapter 13, verse number 15. The Bible says, Though he, speaking of God, slay me, speaking of Job. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.

You can't always trust God, but you can always trust God. Look what he says. But I will maintain mine own ways before him.

You know what Job said? Job said, if God kills me in this whole ordeal, if I lose everything that I got and I'm rock bottom and I'm on my back and the only place I have is to look up, he said, if God kills me in this whole ordeal, he said, I'm going to tell you one thing and one thing only. He said, I will maintain my ways before him. You know what that means? Job said, no matter what takes place in life, I'm just going to keep on doing right.

I was doing right before these troubles and trials came. I was doing right when they were here and when they're long gone, if they ever leave, Job said, I'm still going to maintain my ways before it. I'm just going to keep on living right.

I'm going to keep my eyes on the prize. I'm going to keep loving my wife. I'm going to keep reading my Bible.

I'm going to keep praying. I'm going to keep going to the house of God. I'm going to keep on doing what I was always doing before.

And because Job had that attitude, at the end of his life, we're not going to preach on it. At the end of his life, God gave him double everything that he ever lost in chapters one and two. I read a story not long ago, and this brings our entire message to a conclusion.

I read a story not long ago, and I guess it probably happened 15, 20 years ago. I don't know. A true story could probably be repeated many, many times, perhaps even in this room.

A little boy was standing by the graveside of his mother, and his father was standing there, big tears in his eyes, and he didn't know how in the world he was going to explain to the little boy that here's this mother that's gone. She's dead and she's with Jesus now. That's about the only way he could explain it.

He said, but son, don't let that bother you. I know you love mommy, but daddy's going to be the best daddy he can be, and we're going to go home and tonight we'll order pizza and we'll start over. He said, we'll stay up late and we'll have ourselves a slumber party, just me and you.

And he was doing his best to be the daddy that he knew his son was going to have to have now. They went home that night, and he didn't know much about cooking because his wife had always done it. He didn't know much about cleaning because his wife had always done it.

He didn't know much about taking care of all the ins and odds and outs of having a little boy around the house because his wife had always done it. He realized for the first time how much that his wife had really done around the house. He lay there that night, and they talked for a little while, and they tossed and turned a wee bit, and they talked there, and finally the man turned out the little lamp that was beside him, and he sung his boy a lullaby, and they started to go to sleep.

And in the darkness, after about five or ten minutes, just complete dark in there, the little boy said, Daddy, it sure is dark in here. Are you looking at me? Are you looking this way? You know how little boys are, just want to make sure his daddy was looking at him in the dark. That was better than any night light he could ever have.

And his daddy said, you can go to bed, son. I'm looking at you, Junior. Just go to sleep.

All night long that man tossed and turned, couldn't sleep. First night he'd been away from his wife for years and years, and now he's not going to be reunited until he goes to heaven. And now she's dead and gone.

He wakes up in the middle of the night, and he stands up, and he takes his big feather pillow, and he sticks his face in it, and he weeps and cries like a baby. He doesn't want to wake up his little boy, and startle him, and ask him all over again, why are you crying, and where's mommy? He don't want to start all that again, so he'd just cry and cry and cry. As the sun began to rise on the eastern horizon, he got up and he stuck his little flip-floppers on, his little shoes on and on, and he got up, and he walked over to the edge of the window there, and he put his fingers in the Venetian blinds, and he looked out across the sunrise, and he said, God, he said, no doubt this is one of the darkest days of my life.

He said, are you looking this way? And friend, I've got good news for you. When it seems like there's no way out, and it seems like you sit in a service like this and hear a message like this, and it seems like that it's just you're coming down to your last rope, and you don't know what you're going to do, and it seems like that you don't know how you're going to pay your bills, and you don't know what you're going to do with this sickness, and you don't know what you're going to do with this child, you don't know where God's leading you and why God's doing this, and you're thinking to yourself, what am I going to do next? Can I please give you some wonderful, wonderful encouragement tonight that God is looking your way, and when things aren't good, God still is. Your heads are bowed, your eyes are closed, please.

There's no one looking, there's no one talking. Your heads are bowed, your eyes are closed. No one's looking, no one's talking.

Thank you for listening tonight. Not exactly sure who's in the room tonight that's having some heartaches, some persecutions and trials, but I know God wanted me to preach this message. And so I hope tonight that this message would have been just a little bit of a help.

I'll tell you what our problem is many times. Many times we tell God that He can have our burdens, but to be honest with you, we don't normally, and we don't really give our burdens to Him. But I promise you something, friend, God can do with your burdens what you and what I cannot.

Maybe perhaps here tonight there's a teenager, there's a man, a woman, perhaps a family, needs to come and lay some things on the altar tonight and say, God, you can have it. I'm not going to pick it up and take it back to my seat. I'm going to roll it off.

God, I'm going through some trials. Maybe there's some people here, you don't know how you're going to get out of the fix that you're in, and I mean you're going through some fiery trials right now. Friend, I'm here to tell you, when things aren't good in life, there'll never be a time when God ever ceases to be good to you.

He does everything for your good and for His glory. I want everyone standing, please. There's no one looking, there's no one talking.

As Miss Robertson begins to play in just a moment, Brother Doyle will begin to sing, but before he does, let me just say this, dear neighbor, if God, if God has touched your heart tonight in this message, there's some things that you need to pray about. Oh, we didn't preach on sin tonight. We preached on trials tonight.

And if you're a child of God, you're either going to go in one, you are in one, or you better hold on real tight to this message because you're going to be going in one real soon. Oh, dear friend, if God speaks to your heart tonight, if He's spoken to your heart, as our brother begins to sing tonight, why don't you lay those burdens down on the altar? Would you do that tonight? Would you come? Lay those burdens on the altar and let God do with them what you cannot do yourself. Have I no way, Lord? Have I no way? God bless you, you are the runners that need to come tonight.

Thou art our Father. What about it for him? Let's just be honest with God tonight. I am the clay.

Mold me and make me. After thy will. While I am waiting.

Yield head and ear. Perhaps tonight you're not going to a trial. To be honest with you, I know everybody's going to a trial.

Have I no way, Lord? Have I no way? Search me and find me. Faster today. Whiter than snow, Lord.

Wash me just now. As in thy presence I stand.