Latest / Time with God with John North / Making Choices Under Pressure Pt. 3

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Making Choices Under Pressure Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: How's your week going? I hope that you are experiencing
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the presence of God in your week. Do you know
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: that this is what life is about? It's not just
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: about surviving until you die. What kind of meaning is
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: there in that? No meaning at all. If your life
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: is just this series of days you're trying to make
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: it through, you need to get above the level of
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: your circumstances.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: God made you.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: To live in relationship with Him, and He has designed
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: you uniquely because he wants to use you in a
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: unique way in life. And the most important factor in
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: you coming to that place in your life is you
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: developing your relationship with God.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: If you don't know God, you need to recognise that
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: there's a problem between you and God, and that is
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the moral guilt of your life.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: But that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: you could be forgiven. He took God's penalty for all
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: of our moral guilt and failings.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: So that our judgement is already finished, it's been paid
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: in full by Him, and that allows God.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: To forgive us and welcome us into a living relationship
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: with Him, and that is when life changes.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: If you are already a Christian and in relationship with God,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: then you have got to maintain and develop and grow
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: your personal relationship with the Lord, and you do that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: mainly by opening up your Bible each day and spending
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: time with God, listening to Him, responding to Him.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: We're talking this week about a major issue of life,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: and that is making choices under pressure, and we're looking
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: at the life of Job in the Bible who underwent
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: such terrible things, and we've already seen this week that
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: God allowed Satan to attack Job's life and destroy all
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: that Job had built up in life. Satan said to God,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Job only loves you because of all that you do
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: for him, not for yourself. If you take away all
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: those blessings, he'll curse you instead. And God allowed Satan
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: to take away all of Job's business successes in life.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: And then even to take the lives of Job's children,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and still Job honoured God and trusted God.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And we see the story continuing today in chapter 2
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: of Job in the Bible. It says again there was
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: a day when the sons of God, that's the angels,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: came among them to present himself before the Lord. And
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: the Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from?
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: And Satan answered the Lord and said, from roaming about
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: on the earth and walking around on it.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: servant Job? Have you noticed that even though you did
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: all these things, Job still loves me and worships me?
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: For there is no one like him on the earth,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: from evil, and he still holds fast his integrity, although
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: you incited me against him to ruin him without cause.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: And Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, yes,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: all that a man has, he will give for his life. However,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: put forth your hand now and touch his bone and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: his flesh. He will curse you to your face.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: If you actually bring physical pain and suffering to Job himself,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: that's when he'll lose his faith in you.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: So the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he's in your power.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: You can't take his life though. And Satan went out
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: sore boils from the sole of his feet to the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: crown of his head. And Job took a piece of
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: pottery to scrape himself while he was sitting.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Among the ashes, well, Job didn't know what was going
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: on between God and Satan. He didn't realise he was
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: part of a major demonstration by God to Satan.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: He couldn't see what God was about in his life.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: All he could see was the suffering he was facing.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: He had to just trust.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: What God was doing, trust in God's goodness. It's so
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: important that you develop your relationship with God when things
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: are good because you do not have time when things
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: get bad to suddenly develop a deep relationship with God
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: that's going to carry you through.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: As someone said, don't trust to hold God's hand. Let
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Him hold yours. Let Him do the holding.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: And you the trusting.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I'm John North.