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Up from the Ashes #4 - What can you know?

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In the span of a few days, Job lost everything. His prosperity was stolen from him and destroyed. His children lay buried in the dust. His own health was so destroyed that his friends could barely recognize him when they came to console him. But they were little help. Zophar was one of the worst. He came to Job in his grief and said to him, “You deserved this. In fact, it could have been worse. God has even forgotten some of your sin” (11:6). Some friends!

Yet, Zophar wasn’t all wrong. He asked a fundamental question of Job. “What can you know?” The wisdom, the mysteries, and the limits of God are all beyond our knowing. It is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

Yet, there Zophar sat, daring to uncover the hidden mysteries of heaven to Job. Isn’t that what we try to do when we try to explain how God is working all things together for good (cf. Romans 8:28)? We say that and then we try to explain it. We sit with those who are suffering and try to explain to them how its good. We sit with our thoughts and try to reason out the things beyond our understanding.

We are better off if we stick with what we know. And what was it that Job knew, even in the dust and ashes? He knew that his Redeemer lived. He knew that he would live with him, too. Ah, how sweet this sentence is: I know that my Redeemer lives! Indeed, this is what we know.  Job 11:7-9; Job 19:23-27

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Up from the Ashes #3 - Doxology

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Satan comes for Job. This isn’t about some competition or bet between God and Satan, in which Job is the unfortunate pawn. Just like Satan has always been doing, he is coming for Job. That’s why he roams worldwide, prowling to and fro in it. He comes for Job. He thinks that if he takes the things of God away from God, Job will curse God. He believes that if he takes God's gifts away, Job will turn from him. But Job won’t. All he does is sing. All he does is hold on to God. In fact, instead of cursing God, he holds on to his God more tightly and even sings a song of praise.

Peter, too, sings a doxology. He even helps his readers to sing the same doxology because of what God is up to in their lives.

Everyone wants an explanation for suffering. We want to understand it. We want to make sense of it. We draw conclusions about God and about our lives based on our suffering. But this all comes from the assumption that suffering is bad. It comes from the belief that suffering is evil.

But notice how Job fights against this, even when the devil tempts him through his wife. In his agony, as he scrapes his wounds, he points her to the goodness of God.

But Job knows that it’s not because he has God. He knows that even if you take away the things of God, you have not and cannot take away God himself. Can you hear Psalm 73? “Whom have in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” This is why Job sings. This is why we sing, too. Doxology is the way we send the devil packing – we don’t hear from him anymore in the book. This is why we sing! We have God himself, who has died and been raised again. Job 1:12-2:10

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Up from the Ashes #2 - Heavenly Conversations

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Wouldn’t it be nice to know what is going on in heaven? Wouldn’t it be nice to have God’s explanation for our lives? Wouldn’t it be nice to know what God thinks about us?

In the book of Job, we get to know things that not even Job knows. As his story unfolds, God pulls back the veil, allowing us to listen in and see what is happening there. We see God call Satan in to interrogate him. And what is he up to? He is roaming to and fro, prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. But then, look what God says; consider what God says about Job. He brags about him! He boasts of him. He is one proud Father. Hearing this conversation leads me to ask this question: What does God say about me? If we could pull back the veil and listen in to these heavenly conversations, what would God say about you? About me?

There’s no need to wonder. While we may not know the exact words that our Father speaks about us as he converses with his angels, we do know this. The Devil doesn’t get an audience there anymore. He has fallen from heaven like lightning (cf. Luke 10:18). Not only is the Devil under Jesus’ feet, but he is under our feet, too. And, wonder of wonders, beyond all of that, our names are written in heaven (cf. Luke 10:20).

Four times in the opening two chapters, God gives his verdict of Job. How many times has spoken his verdict over you? Yes, our resurrected Lord stands up before the Devil, who questions our faith in Jesus and says to him, “The Lord rebuke you! This is one whose sin I have removed. I have rescued them from the fire. They are mine!” Job 1:6-11

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Up from the Ashes #1 - Before

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Our lives are full of “before and after” moments—what we were like before this and before that, what the world was like before this and after that. We can point to significant before/after moments in our own lives. We can see them clearly on the pages of Scripture. The wise man, Job, had a major before/after moment. In Job's account, we can see what Job was like before, during, and after his trial.  Before his trial, he was the ideal man, fearing God, shunning evil, and anxious concerning the eternity of his children. He was ready for what was coming.

There is another before/after moment that prepares us for whatever comes. Knowing that this day was coming filled even Job with eternal hope (cf. Job 19:23-27). He counted on the ideal Man, Jesus, the Son of God. He counted on his coming. The Messiah would be (and he was!) truly blameless and upright; he feared God alone and shunned evil. Yet, he suffered unspeakable injustice and then became the sacrifice for all humanity. This is the One we see raised from the dead this day! His blood has paid the price. His resurrection assures us that the check cleared.

 The Devil has no claim on him NOR US. This is our most important “after.” We live after the resurrection of Jesus and look forward to our own. And so, we’ll rise early each day, fearing the Lord, shunning evil, and being anxious for the eternity of the people in our lives.

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Wandering Songs #12 - Praying for our true King

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There are many things that we see happening on Palm Sunday. Amidst the fray, we clearly see a battle. It is a battle between those who set themselves up against the Holy One. But will he just take it? And for how long? Take refuge him before he laughs in heaven and terrifies you in his wrath.  On this Palm Sunday, we call pray a prayer for the One true King. We seek to serve him and lay down our palms of praise before him.  A sermon on Psalm 2.

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Wandering Songs #10 - Praying our Doubt

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“I’ve got some questions, God! I’ve been looking at those people over there. I’ve been living my life over here. And I’ve got some questions.” That’s the posture of the psalmist in Psalm 73. He’s got questions and doubts. You too? Trying to make sense of God’s ways in the world when they seem to make no sense at all? Asaph too. Yet, it was the very process of praying his doubts and raising them up to the Lord, that brought Asaph to a place of certainty. “Ah yes, now I see what you’re doing.” Yes, when we learn to pray our doubts, God teaches us to trust him in him even when we can’t make sense of his ways. A sermon on Psalm 73.

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Wandering Songs #8 - Praying our Anger

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Everyone suffers injustice. It comes in all kinds of forms and varying intensities. But everyone suffers from injustice; wrongs are committed against us. But what do we do when it happens? What about the anger the begins to burn inside? What do we with our anger, even our just anger? Bring it to the Lord. If there is anything the psalms teach us to do with our anger it is that. Bring it to the Lord and entrust the case and the cause to Him. A sermon on Psalm 43.

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Wandering Songs #6 - Praying our Weariness

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The problem with wandering in the wilderness is immediately present: There isn’t as much food and water! This leaves us dray, wearing, worn, thirsty, and longing to God. Yet, even then there is sermon we must preach, a sermon our soul needs to hear, a sermon we need to preach to our own souls. “Hope in God!” Yes, no matter,  will yet praise him, my Savior and my God! A sermon on Psalm 42.

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Wandering Songs #4 - Praying our Tears

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Grief and loss surround us on many days. We can easily make a list of the loss that each of us have experienced. We can just as easily make a list of the collective losses. Grief wells up in our hearts. Complaints rise up before the Lord. And God wants to hear it all! He wants to hear our prayers and cries. Even though we faint from our tears, we he is right to be our refuge in the night of our sorrow. A sermon on Psalm 142.

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Wandering Songs #2 - Praying with Confidence

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As we move into the wilderness and cry out to the Lord there, two realities face us. On the one hand, we can be sure that armies will encamp against us and wars will rise against us (v3). Yet, when we put a “my” in middle of our theology, we are confident. On the other hand, the LORD is my light and my salvation. This is the second truth that helps us prevail. We cry out as we wait for the LORD, confident in him. A sermon on Psalm 27.

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Wandering Songs #1 - Prayers of Confession

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David cries out and cries out for deliverance. But what is that weighs most heavily upon him? It isn’t the trouble that surrounds him. It isn’t the death that stalks him. It is the weight of his own sin and his terror before the Lord’s anger. On Ash Wednesday, we cry out as guilty sinners confident of his mercy and sure that the LORD has heard our prayers. A sermon on Psalm 6.

Come With #5 - Be With

In this sermon, we are reminded that Jesus never walked alone. From the very beginning of his ministry, he invited others—his disciples—to journey with him, teaching and forming them every step of the way. Even in his most intimate moments, such as when he climbed the mountain to pray, he took three disciples with him so they could witness and learn from him. Jesus was always with his disciples, and they were always with him.

As we stand on the threshold of Lent, preparing to follow Jesus into Jerusalem, we too are invited to walk with him. But we don’t walk alone. We are connected by a shared faith, a common mission, and a desire that no one is lost. Together, we walk with Jesus, listening to his words, letting them shape us, and allowing them to transform our hearts and lives.

Even when we face the valleys and challenges of life, we are assured that Jesus walks with us. We are never alone. As we journey through Lent and beyond, let us remember that we are always in the presence of Christ, surrounded by each other, and guided by his transforming word. Let us take that word to heart, trusting that it will change us and draw us closer to the one who is with us always. A sermon on Luke 19:28-37.

Come With #4 - New Life

This week, we’ll reflect on Levi, the tax collector, who was seen as one of the worst sinners of his time. Yet when Jesus called him to “come with,” Levi left everything to follow him. This demonstrates the transformative power of Jesus’s call. As followers, we are invited into a daily rhythm of repentance and renewal. Levi’s joy overflowed into a banquet for sinners, showing that new life in Christ always bears fruit. We’ll be looking at Luke 5:27-32.