Delta Church - SPI

Job 3:1-26

We last left Job worshiping God on the ash heap. But now after seven days and nights of silence, our innocent sufferer opens his mouth, and what comes out is no whimpering sigh. It is a gut-wrenching howl of raw, unfiltered emotion as Job finally expresses his feelings in words. Job is a pain-struck man knocked down by grief. But for all of his howling Job is also a picture of faithfulness to God in his suffering. We must remember that Job-like lament spoken to God is an exercise of our faith in God. Dark lament isn’t faithlessness, it is faithfulness on display. That’s what Job is going to show us.

Titus 2:1-10

Titus 1:1-16

Job 1:1-2:10

Godliness is a good thing. The pursuit of godliness is a good thing. But have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I pursuing godliness?” Or to take it a step further, “Why am I pursuing God himself?” I do ABC, God does XYZ, and it’s all good. This might seem to have nothing to do with the book of Job but nothing is further from the truth. In these first two chapters Satan’s accusation against Job is that this is how he is relating to God. Thus the question of whether his relationship with God is genuine (or if anyone’s can be for that matter). It brings us to ask—Do I love God for His sake? I am in it for myself to get stuff from God? Or is the all surpassing worth of knowing the LORD enough? This is the issue at the heart of these first two chapters. So how can we know if we are in a transactional relationship with God? That leads us to the Main Idea—God sometimes allows suffering to prove we truly love God for His own sake.

Various Scriptures

We don’t have to go looking for it. It will come and find us. Sooner or later, suffering at a catastrophic level arrives and wrecks our lives. And while there are many times we understand why we are suffering, there are also times when our suffering is intense and makes no sense. This is why we need the Word of God, especially the book of Job. Suffering wisely and well does not come naturally to us. Therefore, we run to our God who is with us in the valley of affliction. It is here in the valley that we often learn more about our God than in the green pastures of life. To start off our series we begin with a short theology of suffering. In this sermon we touch on four categories of suffering we can experience so that we might better understand our suffering hero and learn to walk alongside him growing deeper in the God we love.

Psalm 24

Psalm 26

Psalm 25

Psalm 23

Ephesians 2:1-10

The past two weeks have given us opportunity to feast on the good news of God’s kingdom and the good news of the cross. Like a well cooked steak perfectly pairs together with a cup of fine wine, we’ve witnessed how Kingdom and Cross perfectly pair together. But what’s a good meal without the final course to make it complete—dessert. In our text God is inviting us to linger a little longer at His banqueting table so that we might devour the gospel dessert of grace. Our text is Ephesians 2:1-10—verses dripping with the good news that “by grace you have been saved.” Life with God under the rule of God is available now (Kingdom). And it’s available now because through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we can be reconciled to God (Cross). And all of this is possible because of God’s grace—the good news that God accepts us, not because we have earned it or deserved it, but because God does so freely at Christ’s expense.