Job 23:8-17

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taking the time to respond to the accusations of Eliphaz, and that if you think about it, he maintains his integrity, although he is still struggling.
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And again, that's going to be the way the life of Job goes for a period of time until finally he's vindicated at the end of the book.
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So I'm going to pick it up in verse 8 and then read straight through to the end of chapter 24, because again, they kind of go together as he responds.
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But Job has basically, previous to that, said to them, he can't find any help from them, therefore he's going to look for help before God.
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And yet he says this in verse 8, he says, look, I go forward, but he's not there.
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And backward, but I can't perceive him. And when he works on the left hand, I can't behold him.
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When he turns on the right hand, I can't see him. But he knows the way that I take, and when he has tested me,
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I shall come forth as gold. Let me just stop there for a second. We touched on this last week, that through this all, and this is so essential,
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I think, for all of us to think about, through it all, through all the issues of life, and certainly any of us who have lived any amount of time would say life is full of issues.
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And for all of that, he still remains his integrity, keeps his integrity, and he still truly believes that he will be vindicated, not so much in this life, but in the life to come.
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And so that's why he says, when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. And then he makes these words to emphasize it.
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He said, my foot, in verse 11, my foot is held fast to his steps, and I have kept his way and not turned aside, and I have not departed from the commandment of his lips.
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I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
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And this is basically where we left off in verse 13. But he is unique, and who can make him change?
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Whatever his soul desires, that he does. He performs what is appointed for me.
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Many such things are with him. Therefore, I am terrified at his presence, and when
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I consider this, I am afraid of him. But God made my heart weak, and the Almighty terrifies me, because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and he did not hide deep darkness from my face.
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Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, why do those who know him see not his days?
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Some remove landmarks, and they see his flocks violently and feed on them, and they drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox as a pledge, and they push the needy off the road, so that the poor of the land are forced to hide.
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Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food, and the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
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And they gather their fodder in the field, and glean in the vineyard of the wicked, and they spend the night naked without clothing, have no covering in the cold, and they are wet with the showers of the mountains, and huddle around the rock for want of shelter.
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Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge from the poor, and they cause the poor to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaves from the hungry, and they press out oil with their walls, and they tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
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The dying groan in the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God does not charge them with wrong.
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These are those who rebel against the light, they do not know its way, nor abide in its path, and the murderer rises in the light, and he kills the poor and the needy, and in the night he's like a thief.
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The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, no eye will see me, and he disguises his face.
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In the dark, they break into houses which they marked for themselves in the daytime. They do not know the light, for as the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death, and someone recognizes them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
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They should be swift on the face of the waters, their portions should be cursed in the earth, so that no one can turn into the way of their vineyards.
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As drought and heat consume the snow waters, so should the grave those who have sinned.
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The womb should forget them, the worm should feed sweetly on them. He should be remembered no more, and wickedness should be broken like a tree, for he preys on the barren who do not bear, and he does not, he does no good for the widow.
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But God draws the mighty away with his power, and he rises up, but no man is sure of life.
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He gives them security, and they rely on it, yet his eyes are on their ways. They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone, and they are brought low, and they are taken out of the way like all others.
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They dry out like the heads of grain. Now, if it is not so, who will prove me a liar and make my speech work?
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Nothing. So, if you think about what had happened in chapter 22, when we looked at it,
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Eliphaz made accusations against Job, and Job is actually responding in chapter 24, and he's actually agreeing with what
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Eliphaz had said in chapter 22. Because remember, Eliphaz called him all kinds of names.
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He called him a loan shark, basically, and a thief, and cruel, and stingy, and had no compassion.
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And Job basically says, yeah, that's the way it is. That's the way people are, but don't want to go back too far.
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Let's just focus in on, from verse 13 on, where Job says this.
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He says, but he is unique, and who can make him change? Whatever his soul desires that he does, he performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.
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Now, remember what we, when we talked about this, what does it mean when it's, well, let me ask you a question.
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Who has a different translation than New King James? Dan? Well, the
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ESV says, come on, 13? Yeah. But he is unchangeable. Okay.
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And who can turn him back? Okay, and there's a couple different translations that will translate it differently.
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But here's the point, and I think this is worth consideration on our behalf, that he is calling out to God.
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Now, he can't find any help for his friends, and he really can't figure this thing out for himself at this point.
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So what he's saying is, but God is unique, and in the sense that when you think about God being unique, what is it about God that makes him unique?
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Give me a couple things, because this is where I stopped last week, and I want to just touch on it. What makes
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God unique? Like no other. Right. He's the, and we'll put it this way, because I just love to say this, that God is the great other.
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What else? What else makes God unique? Okay. His very being, if you will, right?
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He's omnipresent. He's omniscient. He's sinless.
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So let's put it this way. He's perfect, right?
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He's, how about this? He's unchangeable, right? We just said that.
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Anything else? What else? I mean, we could probably fill up 17 whiteboards. Ultimately, God is the, what makes
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God different in that sense than us also, I think, is this. God is faithful.
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Wouldn't you agree? I mean, which one of us would say that we are absolutely faithful in every area of consideration of life?
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I don't think any of us want to say that, right? And when you think about these things, and you think about what he's saying here, that he is the great, that he's unique, what
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I believe Job is talking about is well, basically he says it in verse, at the second half of verse 13, whatever his soul desires that he does.
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Now, I don't know about you, but I would hope that every man, woman, and child would say that that is a unique characteristic of God, that God is absolutely free.
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Think about that. Think about the reality that God does truly whatever he pleases to do.
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Yeah, and certainly God is the essence of everything, right?
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God is not dependent.
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Agree? Wouldn't you not say that's a unique characteristic, because which one of us could say that we're independent?
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Now, we could say it in a relative sense, but can we say it in a true sense? No. So when you begin to think about what
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Job is saying here and stating here, I mean, like I said, if we stopped and really thought about it, we could just go on and on and on, because God is the great other.
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And the very things that we see in ourselves, we have to understand that God is in essence outside the boundaries, if you will.
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And that's another thing, right? God is unique in that he is timeless.
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Agree? God is timeless. God is not bound. That's a unique characteristic, because which one of us could say that we're without boundaries?
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We all have boundaries. So again, all these things begin to come out of this thought.
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And what I think Job is stressing is that no matter what he does, and no matter how he tries to understand life, and you'll see it, what he says in verse 14, he performs what is appointed for me.
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Now again, remember I said that God is free and God is not dependent? That here's the reality, friends, and I'll read a quote.
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We cannot, well, let me pose this question first. Can we move
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God to do certain things and not do certain things? What do you think?
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Can we? Can we move God to act one way, or act another way, or not act one way, and not act another way?
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No, I don't think so. We're told to petition God, but I don't think that would change his mind or the way he's going to do something.
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So I think you're right. I think there is a reality in which God is, that's what he is.
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He's unchangeable. He's unique. He does whatever he pleases to do. However, has not
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God ordained the reality of us interceding?
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Right? Perfect example would be Abraham, right? When God says he's going to destroy
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Sodom and Gomorrah. And what does Abraham say? And he continually pleads with God and petitions
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God, what if there's 50? What if there's 45? And so on, so on. And God listens to him, and he says,
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I will not if there, and it totally gets to the point where God says that's enough. But the reality is, as Job sees his life,
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I think he's beginning to understand the reality that no matter what he does, whether he's righteous or unrighteous, whether his friends are right or his friends are wrong, there is a very specific way in which
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God's going to deal with Job. Look what Howard says, because it's really personal, isn't it?
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Verse 13, he's unique, who can make him change and whatever his soul desires, he does, he performs what is appointed for who?
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Me. That's what Job is. That's what Job is beginning to understand more and more.
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And here's the thing for you and me, friends. Do we really understand that in one sense, we're rather unique also?
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Would you agree with that, that in one way, each one of us and every one of us is unique?
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How would you work that out? What makes what makes each one of us unique? Come on, there's gotta be.
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Okay, we're made in God's image, and I'm not just talking about from the rest of creation, but I'm saying amongst us all, what makes us individually?
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Okay, as sure as DNA, and as I believe, right, DNA cannot be duplicated.
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Just stop and think about that for a second, that we are absolutely unique, not only from our, and I don't know if this is the best word, but personality, and that's pretty, that's a pretty big word.
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But also, there's a reality in which physically, we're all different.
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Some, I guess what I'm trying to get us to think about is do we ever really meditate on the fact that God is performing what is appointed for each one of us and every one of us?
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Now, you just begin to think about that for a minute. Think about the mind of God.
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Think about how, have we not often said about others as well as ourselves, man,
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I just don't know what makes them tick. I think we've all said that. We see someone that does something a certain way, and it seems so, if you will, strange to us, right?
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I mean, I think of it even in the simplest of ways. How is it that some of us can taste one food and really like it, and we can taste another food and really dislike it, and yet somebody else will say, if you won't eat it,
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I will. I mean, just think about the uniqueness of each and every one of us.
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What makes us be lifted up? What makes us sink?
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What it is about us that is peculiar to us? And if you think about this and you think about it in the reality, so we have
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God who is unique, God who is the great other, and in a sense, listen, friends, we are absolutely unique, and yet God is involved in every detail of your life and every detail of my life and every detail of every life that has ever lived.
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Now, if that doesn't blow your mind, I don't know what will. If that doesn't cause us to rise up and to say, in truth,
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God is absolutely the great other, because how could,
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I know it really simple, it really sounds simple. How could God be so big, friends? Just think about it.
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How could God be so big to be so involved and so personal in the affairs of everybody's life?
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That, to me, is... All at the same time, by the way. All at the same time, with no diminishment.
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I mean, that's, like I said, that blows fuses in my head, that God can be that big and that awesome and that, and again, that unique.
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That, and here's another thing, and it's predetermined, that God, because God doesn't,
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God is not reactionary, is he? Is God reactionary? Which would, when we say, when we talk about reaction, what are we really saying?
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Something happens and it causes us to do something based on the thing that just happened.
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Agree? I mean, that's simple. Is that the way God is? No. God is, and again, you can only take that thought so far, right?
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God just is, and God does whatever he pleases. Let me read this. This is from a man named
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McLaren. He's a commentator, and here's what he said about verse 13, where it says
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God is unique and who can make him change, and he says this, he is of one mind.
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The word mind is not in the Hebrew, which is only stated this way.
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He is in one, namely in one way or purpose or counsel.
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Notwithstanding all the evidences of my sincere piety and all my prayers to him, he still continues in the same course of afflicting me.
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And he's saying it as if that's what Job was saying, that no matter what Job does, that which
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God is performing is that which God has purposed in Job's life. And then he says, and who can turn him?
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No man, just listen, no man can change God's counsels or course of acting.
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He is most absolute and free to do what he pleases, and he deals with me, again speaking as if this were
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Job, he deals with me accordingly and not by those milder methods which he uses towards other men.
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What his soul desires, even that he does. He will not do what
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I please or desire, but only what he pleases. So now you begin to think about that.
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Does that discount or does that eliminate petitioning God? I mean, certainly the scriptures are full of how we should, what?
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What does God say? Cast all your cares on me, for he cares for us. We ought to pray for all men.
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We ought to pray for kings and those in authority. We ought to pray for, what does Paul say? Pray without ceasing.
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So as long as we recognize that in that, in all of that, we never lose sight that God is the great other and that God is going to do what he purposed to do.
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And that even that in and of itself should cause us to understand our prayers always have to be what?
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Subject to his will. Now, do we always know the will of God? Now, so there's a reality in which we are, would you agree that sometimes you and I are puzzled by the affairs of life?
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Wouldn't you agree that sometimes you're puzzled by the very things that happened to you or what happens to others?
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And even when he had said that sometimes God uses milder methods with one than he does with another.
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And some things are just beyond our understanding. Wouldn't you agree?
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Here's a perfect example, and I don't know if many of you know about it. Shane Waters, who's the, one of the pastors at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, right?
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And we have affiliation and Keith knows Shane very well. And there's some other relationships, certainly
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Mike Smith. But anyway, what was it, Friday or Thursday? He was putting away his
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Christmas decorations and he fell off the ladder trying to put things in the attic, hit his head, unconscious.
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They finally revived him, had to rush him to the hospital. He had a brain bleed and did all these tests on him.
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And finally, I think he came home, maybe came home Friday. But now you look at that and you say, okay, how many people go up the ladder to put away
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Christmas gifts? And nothing happens. They just put the stuff away.
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But yet God had prepared to perform for Shane what he appointed for him.
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Now, are we to say, well, that's because Shane did something wrong? No, it's just because God has purpose to perform that for him.
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And again, this count, I mean, the examples are beyond understanding, right? And for you and for me, and for Job, his friends really don't get this.
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And yet Job does to a certain extent. He understands that what's happening in his life is the outworking of God's purpose.
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And if we would ever get that in our hearts straight friends, I wonder how much freedom we would enjoy.
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Because I don't know about you, but I would have to confess that many times
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I am looking at other people's lives.
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And sometimes I fall into that very trap of comparing my life against their life.
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And should we do that? Should we compare ourselves with other people?
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Why not? Yeah, I'll be good.
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Well, go ahead, brother. So, I mean, you don't know what's in other people's lives a lot of the time. You know, we sit by each other, but I don't know what my brother
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Dan is going through in his life. And if I covet or envy him for some reason, I might be having something that I don't want to envy.
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Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing. And if you, and that's why I say, if we ever get our mind around the reality that God performs whatever he pleases to perform amongst his children, and amongst those who don't believe, it would set us free from a lot of things that I believe hinder us.
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Again, whether you're looking at it from a worldly standpoint, whether you're looking at it from a spiritual standpoint,
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I mean, you might say about someone, they are really smart.
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They are really intelligent. And there are a lot of intelligent people. I think of brother Mike. If you don't know, brother
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Mike has almost a photographic memory. I mean, that dude has quoted to me paragraphs and pages of books that he's read 10 years ago.
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He just has that. And I'm sometimes at a loss for what
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I ate yesterday. And again, am
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I to say, am I to look at brother Mike and his ability to do that and to be, whether it be envious or jealous, or I'm certainly puzzled by it.
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Because again, I don't have that ability. But if we put it in the fact in the realm of that God is the unique one and he's performing now, which is appointed for me, listen, do you really want
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God to perform something that he's purposed for someone else in you? Now you might say, well, it depends what it is.
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But just think about it. If you're unique and your life has been purposed by God, isn't it glorious to know that God is making those things take place in our lives and with the eye of doing what?
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Perfecting us, maturing us, causing us to grow, causing us to know him and understand, causing us to be more like him.
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And again, I'm not saying it's easy to do that, friends, to have a mind like that. But I find it amazing that Job can think that way in the midst of all his issues.
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Because I wonder if I would be more concerned at times with why me?
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I think why me is a very dangerous thing, right? It just doesn't. It doesn't lead to good places.
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Matter of fact, I think it leads to dark places. So think about that. And then he says this, and this is to me,
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I've been thinking about this all week, verse 15. Therefore, I am terrified at his presence.
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I am terrified. And when I consider this, I'm afraid of him. What is Job afraid of?
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What is Job terrified about? I'll tell you what
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I think. I think he's terrified about the fact that God is free. And that God relies on no one for counsel, and that God does whatever he pleases.
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I think that's terrifying, when you think about it. Not terrifying in the wrong sense, but he's in awe of God.
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Listen, friends, you and I ought to be in awe of God. Absolutely.
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Yeah. And listen, when you and I understand that we're never going to fully understand, it's a little terrifying.
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Because, again, God becomes, I really believe as we become smaller,
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God becomes bigger. Right? Almost the same way of increase and decrease.
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And God, as God becomes bigger, God is awesome to think about, bro. I might be the only one that thinks this way sometimes.
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You are, brother. I probably am. Yeah, go ahead. Um, you know, we're talking about things that happen to us in our lives, like the guy falling off the ladder.
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Yeah, yeah. When stuff like that happens to me, sometimes I wonder if God's trying to get my attention.
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You know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah, yeah. Dummy, what are you doing? Yeah. I don't think you're unique in that, brother.
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I think we all think that. And, again, the remedy for that in...
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That could be a blessing. Well, absolutely. Versus death. Yeah. Because everything is a blessing.
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If we're his, if God is for us, what? Who could be against us? If God is purposeful in our life, are we not satisfied with God's purpose?
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And I think there is some discontent in us that, again, sometimes we'd rather have someone else's purpose, someone else's life.
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I personally, and it's just me, I have never been comfortable wearing sports apparel with names of other people on my back.
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And it might seem weird. And, again, I'm confessing it. I don't want anyone in any way to think that I'm trying to be like whoever's on my back.
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Because, again, I'm unique. And I know I'm weird. But don't get too far ahead of me, because you're weird, too.
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We're all, in that sense, apart from understanding everything.
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And so I agree with you, brother. But I wouldn't say that you're the only one, because we all think that way.
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Just like his friends have made a jump to what you just said,
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Barry, about that. They don't fully understand. They've made a jump already. And what the jump is, is that they have ascribed to Job the punishment that they believe
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God is inflicting on him. Now, if you think about it, and what
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I said to you before in verse 11, Job says, my foot has held fast.
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I've kept his ways. I have not turned aside. I've not departed from the commandments of the lips.
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And by the way, Job is not saying he's sinless, is he? No. He's just saying he trusts, and that he believes, and that he's seeking to be obedient.
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And that's another thought for you and for me. None of us can make that claim.
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None of us should make that claim. And yet, within that, there's still going to be this, if you will, overwhelming reality of the uniqueness of God and the uniqueness of us.
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And you and I should be able to rest in that. And it's not easy, friends. And I think that's because there's so much wrong thinking buried in our hearts.
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And it doesn't come out easy. There is so much that needs to be cleaned up in our minds.
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And the more we realize it, I think the better off we are. Brother Lee?
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Job just doesn't understand yet that God has his good in mind for what he's doing.
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Certainly. And it's not going to be till the end of the book when
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God ultimately does what? OK, Job. And if you remember what
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Job did in the beginning of the book, Job says, well, if I could just find God, I would argue with him.
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But at the end of the books, God's going to say, here I am. Stand up. I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to answer me.
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And you remember how that worked. And we'll see how that works out in the final chapters of the book, that ultimately
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Job comes to the realization, if you will, that he's just so frail and so small and God is so big.
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And then finally, God will vindicate him. But yeah, Job is a troubled man, yet he's a steadfast man.
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And wouldn't you agree that that's the way we are? I mean, I don't know about you, but are we not rather...
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Many times we're moved by just a slight movement of the wind. Just think about it.
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Have you ever felt as if you're really on spot? And then two seconds later, you feel like you're lost in the wilderness somewhere.
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You have a very clear thought of a particular thing or a particular situation.
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And then in the very next minute, all of a sudden you're as if, what's going on?
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What do I do? How do I handle it? We all have those kinds of experiences. And I think even to think about it, the evil one will whisper into our ear.
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And I'm not... Brother Dan, what you said, am I the only one?
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I think that's one of the great tools of the evil one is to whisper into our ears, you're the only one.
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You're the exception. But really the things that happen to us, what does he say?
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It comes upon all of us. So all these things are wrapped up in us.
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And when he says he's terrified and when he considers it, then look at verse 16,
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God made my heart weak and the Almighty terrifies me. So who is he looking to as the, if you will, the one who has brought all these things to pass?
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God. God has afflicted me. God has done this. God has brought to pass things that either others don't understand or in many ways, even
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I don't understand. Let me just end this section with this thought. I get really offended when
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I hear people call God the man upstairs. I am really offended when people say
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God is my best bud or my BFF. And the reason why
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I say that is because God is too awesome to be considered as the man upstairs.
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God is too immense to be just considered as my BFF. There is no one like God and we ought to hold
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God in that esteem. We ought to hold God in such awful, awesome reverence that we would give him the glory he truly deserves.
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And again, not always easy to perceive, but well worth it for us to make the effort.
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And so as I say to you, and as Job considers this and that God has this perfect design for him and here's the other part, he's not going to get out of it.
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God's going to do what he's going to do in Job's life. How many of us have, would have to say there are times in our life where we worry about tomorrow?
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Come on, I know y 'all do. One way or another, for one reason or another, or maybe it's not tomorrow, maybe it's next week, or maybe it's next month, or maybe it's next year.
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And isn't it interesting, in many people, much easier to trust
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God for eternity than to trust God for next week? Right?
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Because that seems so far away and so distant, and we seem to rest in that.
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But whether or not I'll be breathing tomorrow, and I'll be able to sustain myself, and I'll be able to take care of the needs that are in front of me, and I'll be able to be useful.
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Sometimes those are the very things that trip us up. And so as he says this, with the realization that God has terrified him,
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God has made him weak, and then in verse 17, he says, because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and he did not hide deep darkness from my face.
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The Job is realizing that there's no way out of this. He's going to have to go through this.
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People are going to misunderstand him. People are going to accuse him of certain things.
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Ultimately, his vindication is where? Before God. I can make a
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New Testament application of it simply by thinking about the areas of, let's just say,
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Christian liberty. Remember what it says in Romans 14? Where it talks about Christian liberty.
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It says one person will do this, another person won't do that. Some eat vegetables, some won't eat vegetables, and it goes on and on and on.
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You remember what it says? We all will stand, or we all will be before the judgment seat of God.
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And that you and I ought to be fully convinced in our own mind before God.
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And again, that's part of our uniqueness. Whether you will do this or not do that, or whether you're moved into this area or moved into that area, or your personality works well with this, or your personality works well with that.
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All these things, friends, they're all kind of... Sometimes it's just, to me, they're all balled up.
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And it's hard to understand them all, unless you have made that great leap.
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And if that's the case, then God bless you. But I do think it's difficult for us, right? Because tomorrow is going to have a different set of issues for us.
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And I think I... You had brought it up a couple weeks ago, something that I had put in the bulletin, where I said, we cannot live on yesterday's faith, no more than we can live on yesterday's oxygen.
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Faith has to believe God for every day, right? In that sense, faith can be perishable, just like the manna.
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If you leave it there, it begins to stink and rot. Faith has to be active. And so Job needs to press on, and you'll see that...
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What's interesting, as we close, and we'll pick up next week, chapter 25 is the final words of Bildad.
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And after that, basically, it runs quiet for a while, until Elihu comes.
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And Elihu has better understanding, but guess what? He's short too. And just think about that.
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None of us have it all. And that's one of the reasons why we need each other, is because what you can supply to me, many times is not what
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I can supply myself with. And if we were to think about that, that you, in many ways, make up the deficiency in me, and hopefully,
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I can help make up the deficiency in you. And between us all, and I do think that's one of the essence of the body, right?
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That we are able to build one another up, because guess what? We're all a mess.
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Some of us are just bigger messes than others. All right, let's close, and we'll go away.
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Lord, thank you for this morning. Thank you for who you are, Lord, that you are so free, and so boundless, and so unique, and so big,
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Lord. And thank you for loving us. Thank you for caring enough for each one of us, and every one of us, that you perform that which you have already appointed for us.
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Help us, Lord, to walk in the light of your truth. Help us to be those who are satisfied that you know the way we should go.
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And help us, Lord, to enjoy our fellowship with one another. Help us to be those who worship you in spirit and truth.
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Bless our fellowship this morning. Be with Brother Keith. Be with our singing. Be with our praying.
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Be with our fellowship with one another. And may we all grow in the grace and the knowledge of the one who so loved us, that he gave himself for us.