Thursday, January 1, 2026
Friday, October 10, 2008
Devotional for “First Friday”
Tara Baptist Church, October 10, 2008
by Mike Hardin, pastor, First Baptist Lovejoy, GA
Job 1
Prologue
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred
yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of
servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4
His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they
would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5
When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have
them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering
for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed
God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.
Job's First Test
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8
Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There
is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who
fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10
"Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything
he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and
herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15
and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to
the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
16
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire
of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and
I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
17
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The
Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels
and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the
only one who has escaped to tell you!"
18
While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your
sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest
brother's house, 19 when
suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four
corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am
the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Job 2
Job's Second Test
1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
3
Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There
is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who
fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though
you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."
4 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."
6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."
7
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with
painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
Job 42
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11
All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came
and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all
the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a
piece of silver and a gold ring.
12
The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He
had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of
oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15
Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's
daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with
their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.
A description of Job.
Job was a righteous “church
going” man.
Job was a family man. He loved
his family and prayed for them regularly.
Married
seven sons and three daughters
Job had a great (live) stock portfolio.
7 thousand camels
3 thousand sheep
500 yoke (pair) of oxen
500 donkeys
Many servants
Even when all seems lost, God is in
control. Before Satan could take Job's wealth and his family from
him, he had to enter the presence of God and seek God's permission.
God is not unaware of our market crisis. He is not unaware of our
health problems or family problems. He is not unconcerned or impotent
to deal with these problems. He does have reasons for allowing
problems that we don't understand, and may never understand.
The story of Job reminds us of the
principal of stewardship. When told that he had lost everything, he
grieved. However, he recognized that all he had belonged to God, and
it was God's sovereign right to take it whenever he chose. So he
praised God. The Bible doesn't tell us what he praised God for.
Perhaps he praised God for his
sovereignty. It is easy to think when we have great wealth and
many servants that we don't need God. The loss of all these things
reminded him that God was still in control.
Perhaps he praised God for the
time that he had his wealth and family.
We are often guilty of thinking in terms of what we lost. Job
acknowledged that he came into the world with nothing. Rather than
thinking in terms of what he lost, he felt lucky to have had so much
for so long.
Perhaps he
thanked God for what remained. Job still had his wife. At this
point in the story he still had his health. Tragedy has a way of
helping us to appreciate what we have.
Lessons for us in
these uncertain times.
Trust that God
is in control, even when the market is out of control. Remember the
promise of Romans 8:28.
Remember that
our real wealth is in our family, not our fortune.
Remember that
we serve a God who can take it all away, but we also serve a God who
can restore all we have, and even multiply it.
Guard your
heart. The world may take our wealth, and our health. We will
certainly lose family members whom we love and hold dear. But our
integrity is one thing that cannot be taken from us. If we lose our
integrity it is because we have given it up.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Chapter 7: Heaven's "Whoever" Policy
"Whoever" is a barrier breaking word.- It breaks down racial barriers.
- It breaks down gender barriers.
- It breaks down social barriers.
- It breaks down economic barriers.
- It breaks down the barriers of time. Anyone in any age can believe.
Other "whoever" verses of the Gospels:
"God's 'whoever' policy has a 'however' benefit, a whenever clause."
Lucado illustrates the "however" benefit with the parable about Lazarus and the rich man. He illustrates the "whenever" clause with the parable of the landowner hiring laborers an hour before quitting time.
One more.... The whoever policy also is available wherever you are. You can't be too far from home to come home. See the parable of the prodigal.
Chapter 8: Believe and Receive
John 3:14-15 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.Numbers 21:5-9 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
The Three Angels
Revelation 14:6-13I. The First Angel (vv. 6-7)
Revelation 14:6-7 6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth--to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."This angel comes preaching good news. Even in the last hour, as God's judgment is imminent, he pleads with the lost to come to him for forgiveness.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Characteristics of the angels message:
- It was good news.
- It was eternal news.
- It was universal news (all nations, tribes, languages, and people). (Acts 2:5-12)
- It was urgent news (judgment has come).
II. The Second Angel (v. 8)
Revelation 14:8 A second angel followed and said, "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries."Just as Jerusalem is the center of Judaism, Mecca is the center of Islam, Rome the center of Catholicism, and Nashville the home of Southern Baptists, so Babylon will be the center of the cult of the unholy trinity of chapter 13. The cult of anti-christ, the statue, will all be in Babylon. Whether this is the actual city of Babylon we know from history, or is a symbolic name for whatever city hosts this abominable worship, we don't know.
Babylon has not yet fallen at this point in the progression. The angel is speaking in the "prophetic present." The fall of Babylon is depicted in detail in Revelation 18, at the end of the seven bowls of God's wrath.
III. The Third Angel (vv. 9-13)
Revelation 14:9-13 9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. 13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."God's judgment on the unrepentant.
- Will drink the wine of God's fury (this prepares us for the bowl judgments)
- The wrath (fury) of God in this time will not be tempered. (full strength, without mixture).
- The wrath brings torment.
- The torment takes place in view of the angels and the Lamb.
- The torment is eternal (smoke rises for ever and ever).
- Two Guarantors of the Wrath
- Worshiping the Beast and his image,
- Receiving the mark of his name.
- God's blessing on the saints
- Saints must endure much.
- Obey God
- Remain Faithful to Jesus.
- Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-11 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. 11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.
