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[SERMON] Why God Won't Answer Your Question | Dungeons & Dragons · HOTLCAST

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: It is October, which means we do a series every year that's a little bit unusual.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: We look in scripture for the lesser-known things and we try to stick with what's going on in you know society.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've talked about all different types of things over the years.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked about angels, we've talked about demons, we've talked about werewolves and zombies.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so today we continue a series called Dungeons and Dragons.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: So last week we talked about dungeons.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of to scratch the nerd itch for some of our nerds who are like board games.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm one, like games like that.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: But also we like to use these series to go into the lesser-known parts of the Bible, things maybe you haven't seen or read, and uh teach you biblical truth about what God has had has placed those stories in scripture for us to learn from.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So last week we talked about a story that included in jail and a dungeon.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And this week, what do you think we're talking about?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Dragons, maybe.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll see.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to talk to you about a guy named Job.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Who who wants to be Job?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody lasts service either.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Job is a very wealthy biblical figure who loved the Lord.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: None of you want to be wealthy and love the Lord.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, good to know.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Good to know.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So Job is a uh, I'll kind of give you, I got a picture for you.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Job is from the land of Uz, which is in modern day, what we believe is kind of somewhere in this area of south, southeast Israel.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you've seen Indiana Jones and, you know, the city of Petra, where they go through the rocks, they see that beautiful city, that's in Jordan, southern Jordan.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So somewhere in this area would have been the land of Uz, where Job would have lived, and he would have lived somewhere between 2000 and 1800 BC.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So 4,000 years ago, Job lived.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a long time ago.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we can kind of base off what's happening in the world of today.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Job was an extremely, extremely wealthy man.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh he had a big family, he had lots of stuff.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: But when we pick up the story in Job, we're gonna be at the end of it.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so at that point of the story, Job has lost everything, presumably.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, what what are some things they lost?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me, what do you know that Job lost?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: His family, which is wife and kids.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: He did not lose his wife.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: We often believe he lost his wife.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's the one thing people often get wrong.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: He his wife did not die.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: They were emotionally disconnected, and some some scholars say the greatest punishment was that she didn't die, that she lived, and they were uh basically alienated from each other.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: She was just telling, essentially telling him, hey, all these bad things happen, curse God, and we'll be good.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he wouldn't curse God.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so the brokenness of the relationship was even more destructive than losing her because he lost the love of his life.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: He lost that that good part of the relationship in that moment.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So he lost the emotional connection to his wife.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: What else?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Horses, cattle, uh, he lost 7,000 sheep.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Raiders from Chaldea came and stole 7,000 sheep, and then to steal the sheep, they killed all the servants to take the sheep.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So he lost his friends, his servants, then they came and they stole 3,000 camels, then they came back and they stole a thousand oxen, then they came back and they stole like 300 donkeys, and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse and worse.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So he was extremely wealthy.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many of you have 7,000 sheep, let alone a thousand oxen.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very wealthy man.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: How many kids did he have?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know?
• 3:32
  unknown: Eight.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, eight, ten.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: At that point, there's a lot.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: But all of his kids were together in the house, and what happened?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody know?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: The house collapsed because a great wind came in and killed them all at the exact same moment.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my son was up here singing that first song today.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be like me watching the church collapse on top of him.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like that'd be a horrible, horrible thing.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And have that with all of your children, losing them all at the same time.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So he lost all of his wealth, all of his servants, he lost all of his children, he lost the relationship with his wife.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then what else did he lose?
• 4:06
  unknown: His health.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: His health.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: He had boils from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, and he had horrible health.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the devil kept attacking him and attacking him and attacking him, and they lost something even more, even greater.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: What else did he lose?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we don't know.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we he lost his relationship with his friends.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: We spent a lot of chapters in Job where his friends here are talking and saying, Oh, it's gonna be okay.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we'll we'll get through this, we'll figure it out, and then by the end of it, they're like, we want nothing to do with you guys.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you are you're a curse upon all of us in their existence.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: So he loses his relationship with his friends who he's been trying to figure things out with.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then he loses the respect of his community, of the people.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like he is a curse upon the existence.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants anything to do with him.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And this happens in today's world, it really does.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like when the bad things happen to people, we like to get on the internet and we don't say, oh, we hope this works out for so and so.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, Bryce Underwood is the worst football player ever.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sin.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's tell everybody, right?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is what we do in society.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: When people fall from grace, we like to beat them up and make sure everybody knows how horrible it is.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: That was the same thing they were doing 4,000 years ago.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: They were talking about nobody wants to have anything to do with this guy because he's obviously cursed.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's excommunicated from everybody.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he's struggling.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so Job lost his children, his wealth, his health, and in the sense that the world makes sense.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: He and his friends spend chapter after chapter of Job trying to explain why this happened.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually Job just wants God himself to answer.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, God, like, tell me.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why what is happening?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why is this happening?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so God does answer, but God doesn't begin by explaining Job's suffering.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, well, this is why all this happened.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: God just starts asking Job questions.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we're going to pick up the story.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: In Job 38, uh, verse 4, um, God says this.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Where, remember, you're the yellow part.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Where were you?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: You when I laid the foundation of the earth.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Job's questioning God, and God's like, okay, okay, little guy, where were you when I created all this stuff?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: You think I have to give you answers.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: How about where were you when I created everything?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so God begins to ask Job questions.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna go to Job 41.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna spend a lot of time.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Homework for you today is go read Job 41.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I want you to answer the question of what is the animal?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can let me know.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: But go read it for homework because it's a series of responses from God.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're just questions challenging Job and his need to know.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because we want a God we can understand.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we all want.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: We want God to explain Himself to us.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: God, why am I sick?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: God, why did my relationship fall apart?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: God, why am I too tall, too small, too big, right, too short, too skinny?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to explain to me, God, why, so I feel like I'm okay with it, so I can approve of what your why.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth was is we have a God that we can trust.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have a God that owes us an explanation for anything because it's the same answer.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Where were you when God created the cosmos?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Where were you?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where was Kyle Ian?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Where was Anna when God created the cosmos?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: We we were where was Kyle?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't there doing it.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have to trust a God that created everything.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to ask him to explain himself.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: See, God doesn't answer every question Job asks.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: God gives a bigger picture of who God is.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's the response.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to go to Job 41.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to skip through this, so I really do encourage you to read this for homework.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: But Job 41, 1.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook or press down his tongue with a cord?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So God is still speaking.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Hey, you want to ask me questions?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: How about Leviathan, this creature, which some scholars believe is a sea monster, some scholars believe is a dragon, some scholars will tell you it's a crocodile.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you let me know after we read a lot of these verses, and then you go do your homework and let me know if you think it's a dragon.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a dragon.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's I like it's a dragon because I like dragons and unicorns and those type of things.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but it's Leviathan.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: So this scary creature.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And as we get to the description, you'll see that.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so God says, Hey, Job, you think you can just cast a fish hook out there and catch the dragon?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: The Leviathan?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: This thing that's scary and unbeatable?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: You think you just toss a little cord out?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'll catch it because you think you're that powerful?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're not.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: See, Leviathan, the dragon, is introduced with a challenge.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: You think you're in control?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Go catch the uncontrollable.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Go catch the scary thing.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's a dragon.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you let me know what you think because you can disagree with me.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: It fits my dungeon and dragons if it's a dragon.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it works better for me.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, Job 41, 3, it says, Will he make this is about the dragon?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: God saying, Will will the Leviathan, will he make pleas to you?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Will he speak to you?
• 8:50
  unknown: Soft words.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you catch him, is the dragon gonna beg you to let him go?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is he gonna say, oh, great Job, you know, don't hurt me, right?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's the dragon.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's not gonna come to you and speak with soft words to you.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's scary, he's ferocious, he's he's he's unbeatable.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And say, the truth for us in reading this is you can't negotiate with everything that you face in life.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can't.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Job can't go out just because all these bad things are happening, negotiate with the monster.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can't negotiate with your health problems.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us is trying to say, well, doctor, are you really sure?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you sure you might want to check again?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, if you've got stuff, you got stuff.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can't negotiate in every situation you go through in life.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I got robbed in Rome.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: That happened two weeks ago.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know, I was going to the airport, got robbed.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: We were standing in the parking lot, there's no one to negotiate with.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have a broken window and all our stuff's gone.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like, oh, hey, let's let's talk to this, to the brigands, the robbers, that's and try to negotiate to get our really big, my really big clothes back because of these tiny little Italian guys, like like someone over here.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're my clothes aren't gonna fit.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I could just negotiate with them, that dragon, I'd get my stuff back.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is we can't negotiate with everything in face.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: We can't.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: We don't get to have conversations with everything.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the reality of your life.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: You might be in a failing relationship, a failing career, you might have financial problems, you might have health problems, you might have emotional problems, whatever it may be, you don't get to negotiate with everything.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: You're not in control.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the reality that God's telling Job, you're not in control of everything.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get to negotiate with the dragons of life.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the scary thing.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Job 41, 5.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Another question, God says, Will you will you play with with Leviathan as with a bird?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna catch the dragon and you're gonna put a leash on it, and you're gonna send it out there and let your kids play with a scary monster?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's irrational to even think that about things in life.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: But we feel like, well, I can, if I just understand, I can control it and it'll do what I want.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be great if politics were that way.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: The world's insane.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you know this.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: People are nuts.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Our politicians are absolutely nuts.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just the way it's all across the board.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter what political party you're in.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, are people just this crazy, right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they are, right?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, we can't leash everything and make it do what we want and make it calm down and play with our kids.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Can I wish last night I was or a couple nights ago I was at a person's house and they had a cat.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I can't pet a cat, I'm allergic to cats.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: The cat came up and was rubbing on my legs, and I was like, oh, I'm sorry, I can't pet you.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: The thing bit me, right?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: I get bit all the time.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: I just this thing.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it bit me.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, I was like, no.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Did I kick it?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, I didn't.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: It ran off before I could kick it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so but like this thing that was tame, I can't tame it.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's nothing I could do.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so in life, the things that we're good we're dealing with, we're trying to be in control, we're trying to tame them.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the reality is you can't tame the dragon.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: God's telling Job, you're not in charge, you're not in control.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm God, you're not.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to understand that.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Job 41.8.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Says this, lay your hands on him, lay your hands on Leviathan.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the battle.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: You will not do it again.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, if you touch the dragon, you won't touch him twice, right?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing with the cat, right?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't good.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: That cat came back.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was get in the boot.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, like you know, that's the truth.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you you learn a lesson.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes in life, things happen and you you play with fire and you get burned.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's the reality.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And some battles only have to hurt you once before you learn you're not God.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes in life, we learn the hard way that we're not in control.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're not in God.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a person that thinks I can fix just about anything.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: I really do.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: I always have a plan A, B, C, D.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you learn, you know me, you learn about this.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I got robbed in Rome.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh well.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was like, oh well, we'll figure it out.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I had somebody tell me uh yesterday, it's like, I don't know what I would do if I got robbed in Rome.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: I would be devastated.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, that's just not me.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I always just try to immediately my mind starts going, how did I fix this?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: How do I fix this?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then somebody last week told me, he's like, Man, you should have, it's good, really good you did you had your passport.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, I my passport was in that car.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I wish it was there.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'd still be there.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: So like I'd be having a great time, and you none of you could make me come back.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So like, it's like, oh, shame on me, guys.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the truth is, we're not in control and we can't fix everything.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: We can't defeat every dragon, we can't make it do what we want.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: We can't go to the doctor and get a diagnosis and then say, Well, I'm gonna just make this do what I want to do.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's just not the way it works.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: We're not in control.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's this uh saying I have a friend that says this all the time.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's this fool me once, shame on you.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Fool me twice, shame on me.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: We learn when we touch the dragon, we get burned.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: It attacks.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to do it again.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because then it's it's on us.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: God is essentially telling Job, if you touch it, you won't touch it again.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You'll just trust me.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Job 41, 10.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: A little further.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: He says, No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Who then is he who can stand before me?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: God's telling Job, no one's, no one's, no one's daring enough, no one's strong enough to challenge Leviathan.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if no one can challenge Leviathan, the thing I created, who can stand before me to challenge me?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why are you trying to challenge me, Job?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm God.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: You need to trust me.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't stand before the creature, how will you stand before the creator?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's reality.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Job 41, 11 goes on to say this.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who has first given to me that I should repay him?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: It all belongs to God.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he's reminding Job, no matter what you're experiencing, it's all mine.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Everything.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Under the sun, created on earth, and heaven, and the cosmos, it's mine.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Leviathan doesn't belong to chaos.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Leviathan belongs to God.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: The dragon belongs to God.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's over it all.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: The dragon doesn't scare God.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's scary to us.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: The situations in life, the dragons that we face, the leviathans that we come across, they don't scare God.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's over it all.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we all got different dragons.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the reality is you're gonna face a dragon now or in the future.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: As you get older, you face dragons because the people you love start dying, you start having more health issues.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's the reality of it.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: When you're young, you got dragons because you're walking through life trying to have relationships and do life and grow.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like we all got to have different phases and places in life.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: But those don't scare God.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Job 41, 15 says this.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is of Leviathan.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: His back is made of rows of shields shut up closely as with a seal.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: His back is impenetrable.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot defeat the dragon.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: As hard as you're gonna fight against the dragon, you're not gonna win.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, no sword, no weapon is going to pierce his shielded back.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's no room, there's no gap, there's no weakness.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: You can't beat him.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And see, the thing Job could not penetrate was still something God created.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: God knows.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: But God's bigger than Leviathan.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Job 41, 18 goes on to give us some more descriptions of the Leviathan.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Leviathan, his sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of dawn.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know if you've seen dawn.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: When I go to Italy, uh I always see dawn and I always see dusk.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's my thing.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I go to Italy, it's you know, I'm on I'm on jet lag, so I'm always up at those times.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I get up, like I wake up, I get out of bed, I go to where I can see the sunrise, and then I wait for night and I find the perfect place.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Patty.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I will find the perfect location to watch sunset at 7 o'clock or whatever time it is at night.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's my thing.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I find it and I'll get up on a mountain, I'll set the beautiful view.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And just a few weeks ago, I don't ever see dawn and dusk here because I live, you know, we're in a lake community.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: I live in the river valley down in the in the woods.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't ever get to see either of those.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, it's always fun to go someplace where I can experience that.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I was driving to church last Sunday, and there was a beautiful orange bulb of a sun rising to the it in the east, and it lit up like the woods and the trees like fire.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've got a video of me going, like, it's like fire, it's like the trees are on fire.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like driving to, I mean, I wasn't driving to church with my cell phone in my hand.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I and Patty and I were just talking about it was just the ever the sky was a glow with orange, and this bulb of glowing orange comes up in the sky.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's being described here.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it was kind of terrifying, like, because that orange glow, you don't see that.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: The whole sky was a light with orange in the morning.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And like, if that was the eyelids of the dawn on a dragon, and his sneezings are flashing forth light, that's scary.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's a scary monster.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: It goes on the next verse to say, out of his mouth go flaming torches, sparks of fire leap forth.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, eyes of light, right?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: The dawn, this orange bulbous glow, and then you've got flaming torches with sparks of fire shooting forth from his mouth.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: That is a scary creature.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Out of his nostrils come forth smoke as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Leviathan is intimidating.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, the Leviathans in your life, the dragons in your life, they're scary.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're scary to look at, they're scary to confront.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the Bible's dragon isn't scary to God.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: The dragons you face, the dragons Job faced, they were nothing to God.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: God's bigger than all of it.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we learn in Job is we just have to trust God, have faith in God, not in our own selves.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Not that we can, not that we can be in control, that we can defeat the dragon, but we have a God that's bigger than the dragon and that can control the dragon.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And really, God can defeat the dragon.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: We skip a good number of verses down to 4133 in Job.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: It says this on earth there is not his like a creature without fear.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Leviathan, the dragon, doesn't have fear.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's not afraid of you.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: The things that you're facing are not afraid of you.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you can't be meaner, you can't be stronger, you can't be better equipped because it's not afraid.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: You've just got to trust your God that's bigger than the things that you're facing.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so the question this morning is what has become your Leviathan?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: What's the dragon in your life?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: What are you facing?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: What are you confronting?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: What is that thing that's scary and it's defeating you that you've touched and you've got burned and you recognize I don't want to touch that again?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, what are the things that you're coming across?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because the reality is you don't have to control everything that God already controls.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: You don't.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: You just gotta let God be God.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Trust that God is God.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so what does this mean for you?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we talking about this one?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's Dungeons and Dragons.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, we gotta stop measuring God by the size of what scares you.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: You put God in a box.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And some of us, we talk about it a lot here, but some of us just think if you if you just pretend that God's a little genie in a in a in a bottle and you just, you know, or like a Liden's lamp and you just rub on it, and you make, you know, a genie will pop out, and God will make, you know, what's your three wishes?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And he'll grant your wishes.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's not God.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's not how God works.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: But we keep trying to do that with God and say, God, I'm in control.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: You need to do this for me.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: You need to fix this financial situation, you need to repair this relationship, you need to give me the career I want, you need to give me the body I want, you need to change things that I'm thinking or feeling, you need to change my health.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: We we often try to force God to do what we want.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then we get frustrated when God doesn't.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: We got a book of the Bible, Job, that's the whole conversation about how they can't control God at all.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: At all.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's all these conversations going back between Job and his friends, and we recognize that by the end of it, you're not in control.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: He God is.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: What we're really challenged to do is just trust God.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Stop measuring God by what scares you, and trust God that He's bigger than anything that scares you.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: He is Faith isn't knowing how God will handle the dragon.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Faith is knowing the dragon is still his and still belongs to God.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: The things in your life that you're struggling with, God's bigger.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: God's bigger.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible promises that all things will work out for good according to his purposes.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Not for good according to what you demand from God.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, God, I want this this way, and if you don't do it, you're not really God.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: It'll work out for good according to his purposes.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to trust his purposes.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: You have to believe in his plan.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go to the next chapter in Job 42, too.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: We see kind of the response.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be forwarded.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: See, the thing about Job is he trusted God.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: The whole point of Job is everybody's trying to get Job just to curse God, just to turn your back on God, and it'll all end.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like the attacks will stop.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have everything back.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: And Job continues time and time again.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: He loses when he gets something else stolen from him.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: He still trusts God.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: When his family dies, he still trusts God.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: When his wife turns on him, he still trusts God.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: When his health turns, he still trusts God.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: When his friends turn, he still trusts God.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: When the people turn against him, he still trusts God.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So much so that nothing could turn him from God who controls the dragon.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then if we know anything about the story, God blesses Job for his faithfulness, and Job gets it all back in double.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: He gets double the blessing back.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: But he went through a whole season and series of calamities and difficulties and trials.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the reality is we do too.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: We do too.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now I don't think getting robbed in Rome is that big of a deal.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know for some of you you might think that's a huge deal.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really think that's that big of a deal.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a significant inconvenience, right?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: But what are you going through life that you've made a bigger deal?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And what have you made a dragon?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's really just an inconvenience.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing now in making the inconveniences of life into dragons that you're terrified of because you haven't given them to God and trusted God?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: See, what terrifies you doesn't terrify God.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is the creator and all things are under him.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: God is still in control when everything in your life feels out of control.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the blessing of having Job in Scripture is recognizing even someone as rich and as famous as the Job of the day.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I know it doesn't sound like he's rich and famous because he's got sheep and he's got oxen, but he was uber rich.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he lost everything, and God still restored it all.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: For us, I've lived long enough to know that people generally land on their feet.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can lose things, you can lose your job, you can lose your health, and God will provide.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: You do.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: God is still in control when everything feels out of control.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I know whether you're young, whether you're old, or somewhere in between, you have a God that's still in control.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: But you have to trust him.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: You have to live for him.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to have the faith of Job.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: There are gonna be seasons where it seems like everything's falling apart, but God is still God.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: And God is still working out the good according to his purposes if you just trust him and wait for what he reveals in the blessing to come.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's the beauty of God.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're here today and you're struggling and you've got dragons you're facing, you've got a Leviathan you're facing, a crocodile, whatever you want to call it, that's terrifying you and against you, the only thing I can do is challenge you to have faith and trust God.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: That He's bigger, that He's in control.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you for your word.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the example of Job.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I don't think there's any of us here that's lost as much as Job has lost.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we can see that even in the midst of all that loss, he still remained faithful to his God.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we pray that we can have a Job-like faith in our lives, that we can trust you and trust that you control the dragons, you are over the Leviathans in our life.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you have a plan that works out for good according to your purposes.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone here, Lord, is just feels in their heart right now, you're speaking to them.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I just pray that they just embrace faith, real, true faith that you are in control and we are not in control.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we don't have to have an answer.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: We just have to trust that you are God.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.