Latest / Abide In Me / August 27 - Ordinary Time 2026 with Dillon Bramlett

Transcript

August 27 - Ordinary Time 2026 with Dillon Bramlett · Abide In Me

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you abide in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Abide in Me podcast.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: This summer we will be hearing from different voices, each bringing you reflections, songs, and liturgy to help us stay connected to the vine.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: This week we are joined by our student ministries director, Dylan Bramley.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Job.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: He was a character that experienced immense suffering.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: In the opening narrative, Satan approaches God and challenges him about Job.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: He says that the only reason Job fears God is because God has protected him and blessed him with many things.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: His claim was that if Job were to experience suffering, he would curse God.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: What happens next is something I still wrestle with, but God gave Satan the permission to do whatever he wanted to inflict pain and suffering on Job, knowing that Job would not curse him.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then Job lost everything.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Throughout the rest of the book, Job enters into a dialogue with his friends about why this all took place.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: To sum it all up, their hypothesis was that Job must have done something wrong to deserve what happened to him.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yet the reader knows that this is not true.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: In the opening narrative, God himself says that Job is blameless and upright.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: All of this context is crucial for an incredible section of the book in chapter twenty six.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: After a lot of back and forth, Job has had enough of what his friends are saying to him, and he rebukes them, and then he tells them of God's power in verse seven.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: God spreads out the northern skies over empty space.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: He suspends the earth over nothing.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: By his power he churned up the sea, by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces, by his breath the skies became fair, his hand pierced the gliding serpent, and these are but the outer fringe of his works, how faint the whisper we hear of him, who then can understand the thunder of his power?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: How often have you meditated on the power of God?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Not in an unhealthy or anxiety inducing way, but in a posture of worship.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Job speaks about aspects of God that the human mind can comprehend.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: We are finite, we are limited.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: God is infinite.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: He has always been and always will be God.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: When we meditate on the power of God, there is a limit to what we can understand with our human faculties.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think Job is saying that all we could possibly know and understand about the power of God is merely a whisper of his omnipotence.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: The human imagination can only go so far.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And as we see in the New Testament, God uses his power in a way that no one could have imagined.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: This passage in Job reminds me of the Christ hymn in Philippians two.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used to his own advantage.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Rather he made himself nothing, by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore God has exalted him to the highest place, and given him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: The Trinity has eternally been in perfect harmony and unity, three persons in one essence.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Paul makes the claim that Jesus was equal in nature to God, and yet he did not use the power that Job described in a way humanity could have anticipated.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: When it comes to meditating on the power of God, these two passages lead us to worship, resting in the truth that we cannot comprehend how vast and endless God is, and yet in that power he took on the form of a servant and gave his life for us.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: The spirit of worship we are called to is exemplified in the doxology that we sing every Sunday.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Praise him all creatures here below.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Praise him above the heavenly host, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions, comments, or would like prayer, we would love to hear from you.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: Reach out to us at abide at pillarchurch.com.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: And for now, if you're willing, receive this blessing.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: The peace of God, which passes all understanding.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit remain with you always.