Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 October 24, 2021 Opening Song Welcome – Pumpkin Spice Day Call to Worship God, we’ve come together to bless you with our songs, offerings, prayers and because of being nourished from scripture and at Christ’s table. Encourage us to celebrate the ways you redeem us. Teach us to take refuge in you, both in good and in difficult times. Let us exalt your name today as we focus our minds and hearts on you. AMEN Stewardship Moment Offering Prayer (Psalm 34, Job 42) You invite us, God, to taste and see that you are good. Well, we have tasted and you are truly good. As a token of our gratitude and a reflection of our devotion, we give back to you from our abundance. Multiply the gifts of our hands, that they may double what we could do alone. To the glory and service of Jesus, Amen. Prayer of Thanksgiving We give you thanks this day for the mighty and subtle ways you work in the lives of your people. You are a God who restores. You restored Job from his misery. You restored David from his afflictions. You restored the true meaning of priesthood. You restored Bartimaeus’s sight. You restore families that are broken. You restore ministries in peril. You restore our souls with your Holy Spirit. You restore the shattered hearts that have forgotten how much you love them. Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for what you have done, are doing, and will do. Amen. Passing the Peace of Christ (Job 42) That we may come through life’s ups and downs, live to a good and full age, and see God’s mercy to our children and children’s children, let us bless one another with these words of peace: “May you live to see God’s mercy to four generations. Scripture Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Sermon Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice One day on Facebook I ran across this post which asked – When you get to heaven what burning question will you have for Jesus. I was just about to type an answer – until it occurred to me, wait, I am a pastor – I don’t have to wait until I go to heaven in order to talk to God. And I typed – that was a good one, your almost had me. If you are a Christian and you know how to pray – God will always answer your questions. There are several stories in the bible that clearly tell us that we don’t have to go to heaven in order to get answers to our questions. Most of God’s answers have always been told to us in the bible. But secondly, God intentionally comes to us on earth. The answers have been handed to us – in the bible, in our Christian tradition, in the life of Jesus . the bible is full of stories of personal stories of people who have had a personal encounter with God. I am here speaking to you today because in my life I have never had a problem communicating with God. Any question that I have asked God- I have gotten an answer. It is not always the answer that I am looking for, it does not always come when I am expecting it – but it does come. The founder of Methodism – John Wesley says that when we ask a question of God – we have 4 tools to receive the answer – we have tradition, experience, our ability to reason. The primary tool is always scripture. – that is called the Wesley quadrilateral. Our scripture today is the last chapter of Job. The book of Job reads like a fairy tale – it starts with once upon a time and ends with Job living happily ever after. Job started out with a wonderful life, lost it all and gained it and more back again. It is a really nice story – we all want to live happily ever after – but if we get to that point that all of the valuable lessons that we learned through the struggle become moot. In reality, for most of us happily ever after doesn’t come till we get to heaven. And yet, the valuable lessons that we learned from life not only stick with us, they are what carry us through. So I want to step back a little from the very end of the Job story – and go back for a minute to the struggling phase. Remember, his bad luck through him into a deep depression and his wife and friends tried to talk him out of it. Job refused to believe that this was all a result of sin. Job rejected his friends advice and decided that he needed to talk directly to God. Sure enough, when you call on God, God always appears. Job wanted God to explain the meaning of his suffering. Why was this happening to him. God never answers Job. As a matter of fact, God makes it clear that I am God and you are not. God’s ways are not for him to understand. “What?” God exclaims, “You don’t know the answers to these simple questions?” In contrast to the omniscience of God, we are abominably ignorant. The fact is that the human mind cannot conceive or comprehend God and his ways. It is like trying to contain the ocean in a thimble! H. G. Wells once told of a bishop who asked an angel for the wisdom of God. The angel laughed and, laying his hand on the bishop’s head, said, “Can you hold it? Not with this little box of brains!” Once Job talks to God personally, he does not need an answer – he just needed to hear God’s voice. He comes out of the conversation changed. Life is not always fair. That's why the Apostle Paul says in effect, "I've learned to accept the fact that life isn't fair, and that's okay. I'm serving God, not my circumstances. I've learned how to play the cards that life has dealt me." When we suffer, invariably, if we open ourselves up to God, we discover God in a fresh and wonderful way. Job says that he heard about God all of his life, but this was the first time that he was able to see God clearly for himself. It is only in our suffering that we come up with burning questions for God, and it is only in our burning questions that help us to see God. God is always there, but we seem to look for God in our suffering. When we experience God for ourselves – our faith is changed. Paul Hovey recounted a discussion about the Bible. A woman in the group said, "I let the preacher read the Bible for me. He understands it so much better than I do." Another person in the group commented, "That’s like buying second-hand clothes or being content with leftover food at a restaurant. Anyone who relies on the preacher to do his Bible reading for him will never have anything but a second-hand religion." Your religious faith will be transformed from a second-hand inheritance to a first-hand experience as you wrestle with religious questions, welcome religious insights, and wonder at the religious dimension of daily life. We all have a chance to see God firsthand. Afflictions and Faith One of the greatest evidences of God's love to those that love him is to send them afflictions, with the grace to bear them. Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God that, in receiving them from his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of pain, from being afflicted by him who loves us, and whom we love. John Wesley, Christian Behavior I think that it was that experience of seeing God clearly and changing his relationship was what opened to door for Job to move on and to seek a new life. In life, joy is not the absence of trouble, it is the presence of God. The story is told of a Sunday class that had been asked the question, ¡§in your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture.¡¨ A young man said, ¡§the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want Psalm 23:1.¡¨ A middle age woman said, ¡§God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1. Another woman said, ¡§In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world. John 16:33-35. Then old Mr. John who was 80 years old, with head of white hair and dark black skin, stood up and said with as much strength as he could muster, ¡§and it came to pass¡¨ 85 times in the bible. The class started to laugh a little thinking that old Mr. John¡¦s lack of memory was getting the best of him. When the snickering stopped, he said. At 30 I lost my job with six hungry mouths and a wife to feed. I didn¡¦t know how I would make it. At 40 my eldest son was killed overseas in the war. It knocked me down. At 50 my house burned to the ground. Nothing was saved out of the house. At 60 my wife of 40 years got cancer. It slowly ate away at her. We cried together many a night on our knees in prayer. At 65 she died. I still miss her today. The agony I went through in each of these situations was unbelievable. I wondered where was God. But each time I looked in the bible I saw one of those 85 verses that said, ¡§and it came to pass.¡¨ I felt that God was telling me, my pain and my circumstances were also going to pass and that God would get me through it. Suffering is one part of life, seeing God’s presence is everything. There is a famous story of a preacher who once had a parishioner come into his office, a man whom he had counseled through many difficult circumstances. The had made some progress, but always seems to go back to his old ways. But this day the preacher could tell that something was different. He announced – Pastor I have just resigned as general manager of the universe – and I was amazed at how fast my resignation was accepted. That was the same joy that Job felt. He realized that he cant explain God, he cant explain life. the question is not why is this happening to me. A better question is what can I learn about myself, about God, about faith from this situation. How can I get closer to God. We have experience, tradition, reason and most importantly scripture. We have all that we need to get in touch with God and to have a deeper relationship with God. Let us prayer together….. Prayer Why is it that we are afraid to cry aloud out need to God? We sit in our darkness and cry and complain about the dire circumstances that have overtaken us. Yet, when given the opportunity to approach the Savior who offers us light and healing, we cower in the darkness, not daring to believe that healing and light are possible for us. The darkness of our souls is invades all of our lives; it colors our attitudes and determines our actions. Lord Jesus, come and shine your light not only on us, but in us and eventually through us. Break the barriers we have erected against peace, freedom, and hope. Bathe us in the light of love, and we shall become bearers of that incredible light for others who dwell in darkness. As we receive the light from you, give us courage and confidence to reach out in compassion and service in your name. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. Song Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee UMH 89 Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Go! Your faith has made you well. We go, knowing that our faith has been made stronger. Go! Follow him on the way. We go, knowing Jesus is the way. Community Time Benediction Darkness has been banished. Sight has been restored. Your lives are reformed in Christ’s love. Go now in peace to serve with great joy. Bring the love of God with you so that the light which has brightened your life may shine for others. Go no, beloved, to serve. AMEN. Children’s Sermon Job's Blessing There are 66 books in the Bible, and one of them - it's almost in the middle - is called the book of Job. Guess who it’s about. It’s about Job! It tells us a lot about Job. It tells us he had 10 children. It tells us he was very rich. (You have to be if you have 10 children!) And it tells us he loved the Lord and obeyed Him. Then something terrible happened. Satan took away just about everything Job had: his house, his children and everything he owned. The only thing he had left was his wife – and she used to nag him! Satan even caused Job to have awful sores all over his body. Job couldn't understand why God allowed all this to happen to him. It seemed so unfair. Job’s friends gave their opinions, but they didn't know what they were talking about. Finally, God stepped in and made things right again. But He didn't do it until Job did something very important. It tells us in chapter 42, verse 10: “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosper again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” (NIV) So God blessed Job after he prayed for his friends. You see, God blesses us when we pray for other people. When we pray for other people it shows that we’re fulfilling the commandment to love our neighbor. Maybe we should see if that works in our lives. Maybe, when we say our prayers this week, we should pray for others before we pray for ourselves. Let’s pray right now: Father in heaven, there are lots of things we need and lots of things we want, but help us to remember to pray for the needs of other people before we pray for ourselves. Help us to be a blessing to others and to fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. God blesses us when we pray for others "After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosper again.'" Job 42:10 (NIV) From ChildrensSermonsOnli Additional Illustrations Releasing the Pain, Spreading the Message A young seminarian who lost both her parents at an early age shared a way of praying that helped her through the worst of times. She shared that in those most painful of days, she used to sit with her grandmother. Together, they would read the Bible, focusing on two particular passages. First was the one that follows directly after the Bartimaeus story we heard this morning -- the story of Jesus approaching Jerusalem, when he asks two of his disciples to go ahead and find a colt for him, on which they place their cloaks. The second is Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The woman used these two images together to prayerfully imagine Jesus inviting her to take his yoke of love, in exchange for the heavy load of grief, loss, and doubt that she carried. She pictured releasing the pain she carried, which was placed by Jesus on the back of the young colt in exchange for the yoke of spreading the message of Christ’s love in word and action. Suzanne Watson Triumph in the Rubble Carlton Fletcher tells about his Uncle Walter who lived in Waldorf, Germany, during the Second World War. Uncle Walter was the descendant of Huguenots that had run away from France during the persecution of the Protestants in the 1600's. During the war he wanted to build himself a house, but all the necessary materials were reserved for the army. You couldn't build a house for yourself. To a member of Germany's middleclass, a house is most important. Building a house and getting out of an apartment is a priority. And nothing -even a world war - would deter Uncle Walter, even if it meant building a house and hiding it under a junk pile. Here is how he did it. He bought a lot and loaned it out for people to throw junk on it. And then he would go there at night and build, layer by layer of brick, and cover it up with junk. When the end of the war came, there was a big pile of junk, but there was a house under it practically completed. All it needed was a roof. In 1946, when the war was over, he raised the roof like a madman. And he was jubilant. He said, "I beat the Nazis, I beat them. I got my house." Don't you admire the spirit of a man like that - to be able to build a house amid the rubble of life? I suspect Bartimaeus was such a man. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Sheila Walsh is a lovely and talented woman, the former co-host of the 700 Club. On air, Walsh always appeared to be competent and confident. Few people guessed that she was lonely and struggling with faith issues. Although she counseled numerous people, Walsh did not share her troubles with others. Finally, after years of inner turmoil, Walsh checked herself in to a psychiatric hospital and got help. In an interview, Walsh remarks about that time in her life, ". . . the greatest thing I discovered . . . is [that] sometimes some of God's most precious gifts come in packets that make your hands bleed when you open them, but inside that's what you've been longing for all your life--to be fully known and fully loved." (2) "Some of God's most precious gifts come in packets that make your hands bleed . . ." Have your hands bled lately? Has your heart? Has a friend betrayed you? Has a loved one left? Are you facing an uncertain future? All you can see is that the perfect plan for your life has crumbled like a house of cards. But is there some joy hiding there in the pain? Can God's grace reach you even in your darkest hour? Master violinist Itzhak Perlman was performing at the Lincoln Center when one of his violin strings broke. He continued to play, improvising new arrangements of the music to avoid the one broken string. The concert was a huge success. Afterwards, Perlman commented, "Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left." (3) So your perfect plan didn't work out. Are you going to reject God? Are you going to turn inward in self-pity? Or are you going to improvise a new arrangement for your life? Are you going to re-submit your life to God's control and find out how much music you can still make with what you have left? A few years ago, a tragic car accident claimed the lives of Gerald Sittser's wife and one child. Sittser was left to raise his other three children alone. He claims that his grief has driven him closer to God. He cherishes every day, and sees beauty in the most common things. He writes, "I still want (my family) back, and I always will, no matter what happens as a result of their deaths. Yet the grief I feel is sweet as well as bitter . . . Never have I felt so broken; yet never have I been so whole . . . My soul has been stretched. Above all, I have become aware of the power of God's grace and my need for it." (4) One of my father's favorite stories was about a Bible study class that shared their favorite Bible verses with their pastor. When an elderly, uneducated man in the class got his turn to share he said, "Well, I've got a lot of favorite passages that I like a lot, but there's one that has helped me the most. In fact," he said, "it is five little words that are found all over the Bible." When asked what they were, he said: "And it came to pass." The preacher asked the old man to explain why that was his favorite verse. The old man said, "Don't you see? When the Bible says, 'It came to pass,' that means that it did not come to stay." He said, "During my life many troubles have come, but thank God, they did not come to stay. Instead, they came to pass." I believe that Job could say "amen" to this old man's favorite Bible passage. In the first chapter of the Book of Job we are given a graphic description of the troubles that came into Job's life. In quick succession on the very same day, a series of messengers came to inform him of the trouble that had come. One told him that all of his oxen and donkeys had been stolen and his servants slain. Another messenger arrived to tell him that his sheep and the servants who cared for them had been destroyed by fire. A third then appeared and informed him that all his camels had been stolen and the servants who cared for them slain. This seems to be a chronic problem within the church. There are those people who are always coming up with methods and gimmicks, acting as if the power of the gospel depended on them. Perhaps the reason that this book has been so valuable for so many people for such a long period of time is the very fact that "it is in the Bible," giving us permission to challenge and question God when our suffering compels us to do so. This very questioning, the honest expression of our doubts and uncertainties, is what builds trust My wife and I spend our summers in the mountains of North Carolina. There are days when the clouds are low and fog settles in. On those days, we cannot see the mountain across the valley, a half mile away. Someone could tell us there is a mountain over there. We could take their word for it, but only when the clouds and fog disappear and the mountain can be seen are we positive without a shadow of a doubt that there is a mountain over there. In the same way, a report that God exists is good as far as it goes, but the personal vision of God is the best and only way to know God. Job said, “My eye sees thee.” Can we today really see God? Indeed, we can in various ways. We can see God in nature. Nature is not God as the New Age claims, but we can see God in the beauty and power of nature. A famous French entomologist, Jean Henri Fabre, at the age of eighty-seven, wrote a ten-volume work on insects. Someone asked him if he as a scientist and scholar could still believe in God. He positively replied, “I don’t believe in God I see him!” He did not win his argument, but he did win a new relationship with God. And so it is with us. We do not always get our questions answered, but we can have God. We do not always understand God’s way with us, but we can always take his hand in ours and walk with him on the path that leads to eternal life. Life is not always fair. That's why the Apostle Paul says in effect, "I've learned to accept the fact that life isn't fair, and that's okay. I'm serving God, not my circumstances. I've learned how to play the cards that life has dealt me." Our earliest understanding of suffering may come at a young age, when we lose a grandparent or a precious pet. We may have wondered, "Why me?" The tragedy that invades our lives can be hard to accept, much less understand. This is where our faith comes in, where we know that God is with us just as God was with Jesus on the cross. God is present with you and speaks to you in the midst of your suffering. God's greatest passion is not your happiness, but your wholeness. Your most difficult times can become an opportunity for growth. Suffering does not have the final word. God and a victorious life await you. In the aftermath of the horror, Steve Goodier offered these beatitudes: * Blessed are those who mourn for the tsunami's victims; may they find comfort in their pain and hope in their helplessness. * Blessed are those who found a way to survive; may they now find sufficient strength and healing as they reassemble the scattered pieces of shattered lives. * Blessed are those who tirelessly strive to give relief; may they be amply encouraged in their valiant efforts. * Blessed are those who generously give money and supplies ... may they know the deep satisfaction of having made a difference. * Blessed are those in every nation who unite now in compassionate service and love; may they show us what it means to be family.[2] Why do these things happen? It is not a new question. It is as old as human existence. The book of Job is really one long compendium of the questions people raise when confronted with catastrophe: Why? Why me? Why him? Why them? Can’t see Jesus in the picture Pastor Steven E. Albertin told the following story. He said, in my church secretary's office there hangs a modernistic picture composed of a maze of colors and shapes. I realized these sophisticated, modern, and abstract pictures were supposed to contain some profound artistic or philosophical message, but I never was able to figure it out. It just looked like a jumbled mass of confusion. If there was a message there, I was blind to it. One day while I was standing in the office, waiting for the copier to warm up, one of the congregation's kindergarten-age boys, Adam, stood beside me and said, "Do you see what I see?" "Do you see something in that picture? I sure don't." Adam looked at me with glee in his eye, "Pastor, can't you see him? It's Jesus hanging on the cross." I stared as hard as I could, until my eyes actually hurt from staring. I wanted to believe Adam and that there actually was the image of Jesus hanging on the cross hidden somewhere in that mass of color and shapes, but I couldn't see Jesus anywhere. "Adam, I'm sorry but I must be blind. You will have to help me see." Directing his finger to a mass of color in the center of the picture, Adam said, "There, Pastor. Do you see what I see? There is Jesus, his face, his arms outstretched on the cross." And then, like an epiphany, the image began to appear. Yes, there hidden somehow "behind" the colors and the shapes was the barely visible image of Jesus, hanging with arms outstretched on the cross. "It's amazing, Adam. You have helped one blind pastor to see Jesus. Yes, I can see what you see, Adam." Steven E. Albertin, Against the Grain, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. D.L. Moody, the famed evangelist, told this story at one of his meetings: One evening just before Christmas, a man was walking through the streets of an Eastern city. The store windows were all beautifully decorated, and he observed three little girls intensely interested in one of them. He discovered that the girl in the center was blind, and the others were trying to describe the beautiful things in the window. “Why,” they said, “can’t you see that Teddy bear and that doll? Just look at that pretty pink bow!” But the poor little girl stood with a blank expression on her face and could not appreciate the beautiful things before her. “Now,” said Moody, “this is an illustration of the effort we Christians are making to arouse the unconverted to an interest and delight in spiritual things. The reason we can’t do so is because the sinner is spiritually blind.” Moody had scarcely concluded when a reporter was on the platform asking him where he had heard that story. “Oh,” said Moody, “I read it in one of those daily papers. I have forgotten which one.” Then the reporter said, “I’m the one who wrote the story because I was there and saw the whole thing. I see now that I’m just like that little girl, spiritually blind.” That man was converted then and there. Illustration: In fact, most Christians today perceive God like one person noted: God is a lot like our pastor. I don’t see him through the week and I don’t understand him on Sunday.