The most remarkable aspect of Job's life was his unwavering trust in God. Despite all the challenges that Satan threw his way, Job remained steadfast in his faith and trust in God. It might seem like a straightforward task, right? But once you begin to encounter those challenges in your life, you'll truly understand just how tough it was for Job. How often do you rely on God when facing trials in your life? Today, Pastor Bill is here to remind you to trust in God, no matter what life throws your way!

 When we step into the church building, it’s easy to spout off a bunch of pontification…we seem to magically believe in God for a lot more at church than we do at home. :-) Today Pastor Bill reminds us that we need to be able to have the same heart that Job and Paul did…WHATEVER the state of my life, I am blessed because this life IS NOT the whole of it. My experience here on earth is only a glimpse of what true reality is. The TRUTH is that there will come a day where I will BE in the presence of the Creator of the Universe!!!

Is there anything that is not under God's control? What about satan, the enemy of our souls? Yes, even satan is under God’s power. This is something that Job’s friends didn’t seem to understand. They thought that Job had somehow committed a sin that empowered satan to do the things that happened in Job’s life. And while that is partially true, it’s not the WHOLE truth. The WHOLE truth is that Job didn’t do anything to deserve what happened to him, but the enemy was definitely the source of all his pain and heartache.

We’ve all been in that situation…maybe at work…maybe at school…we’ve been wrongfully accused of something that we didn’t do. It doesn’t feel very good. We make enough mistakes as it is…it’s awful when you’re accused of something you didn’t do. Pastor Bill reminds us that this is exactly what was happening to Job. Imagine having so-called “friends” who join in on the false accusation!?!?!? That’s exactly what happened to Job. And guess what…just like we heard from Pastor Bill a moment ago…there’s another person who experienced this…Jesus.

Have you ever heard that phrase “let it roll off like water on a duck’s back”? People use this phrase in situations where there’s something said or done that COULD have a powerful effect, but really shouldn’t. You have to just “let it go”… “don’t take it personally”. And that’s one of the lessons Pastor Bill will teach us today as we continue to wade through the waters of the false accusations against Job. Like Job, there will be times were we are falsely accused…we need to let it “roll off like water on a duck’s back.”

If you’ve been in the church for any length of time, the words Pastor Bill just spoke a moment ago definitely resonate. We’ve all been on the receiving end of a person wielding the sword of the Word of God to condemn. It doesn’t feel very good. And while God’s Word is certainly made to bring about conviction of sin, we know it IS NOT meant to bring about condemnation. You’ll learn today how important it is to pause when you think you have something to say on behalf of God and ask the question, “Will this draw my brother or sister closer to God or push them away from God?”

Good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people. That’s how it works, right? What comes around goes around. Karma will always catch you. Ultimately, this was the mistake the Job’s friends made. They assumed that because Job was facing the most horrific of circumstances. And we can do this, too, at times. We think we can speak authoritatively for God and declare that we KNOW the reasons WHY things are happening. Today, Pastor Bill will remind us that God is the ONLY one who can truly know why things are happening, and we need to trust Him for that.

We join Pastor Bill in the midst of a story about his son, who they eventually discovered was autistic. Pastor Bill shares how challenging this was for him as a father and how challenging it was for the Buffington family. That said, you will hear some amazing things that God did in and through this circumstance. You see, God will always use the things in our lives to draw us closer to Him…even the things that seem like there’s nothing redeemable…nothing good. Like Job, we can turn to God while in the midst of anything we face in this life, good or bad.

“When praises go up, blessings come down.” While we can certainly experience the blessing of God when we praise God, that CANNOT be the reason WHY we praise Him. That’s a backwards understanding of the goodness of God. We can’t expect blessings because of our works. Pastor Bill will remind us that the number one thing that we need to thank God for is the giving of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. If God never does another thing in your life, He has given you His Son.

Isn’t that the truth? There are some things that we face that are more challenging than even the worst of sicknesses. A broken heart is a hard thing to heal. And sometimes we want to compare those different forms of suffering. Have you thought about why Job never asked God to heal his physical body? Pastor Bill will share that Job very likely never asked for healing because it didn’t matter to him. So what…I’m healed…but my whole family is still gone. Job’s heart was broken so much that he didn’t seem to care about his physical body.