A Penetrating Reproof from the Almighty │ Msg 17/22

0:01 Well, God finally speaks to Job. What he says is surprising, as you're going to discover this morning, but that's fine. God's full of surprises, which we will affirm again and again in the message today. Job 38. I'll read just a few verses and then we'll jump to 40. then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind verse 1 begins and said who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge now gird up your loins like a man and I will ask you and you instruct me where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth tell me if you have understanding who said its measurements since you know or who stretched the line on it on what were its bases sunk or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of god shouted for joy if you were to list the questions between here and the end of the book you'd find 77 that Job is asked.

1:23 None of them able to be answered by Job. Humbled and broken, chapter 40, Job responds in verse 3. Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am insignificant. what can I reply to you? I lay my hand on my mouth once I've spoken, and I will not answer. Even twice, and I will add no more. It's an old Hebrew colloquialism that means I have already said more than I should. that's a good place to be, isn't it? I've never learned while I was talking, and I talk too much. Most of us have that problem, and that's why we learn so slowly and so little.

2:21 We learn as we sit in quietness before the Lord, as we are instructed from his book. and as we pray. It is a distinct privilege and honor to sit in your presence, our Father. we've never known anybody else anything like you. Forgive us for thinking of you like we think of others. You understand our wayward ways, even though we're ashamed of them. we're grateful we're able to come to you and tell you from our hearts that we love you. and we lift our voices to worship you and to rejoice before you.

3:20 Thank you for the distinct ministry of this couple who have come for the single purpose of turning our attention to you. and to help us love you more. may our message to you be a sweet sound in your ear, Lord.

3:45 May the message of our hearts, coming from the valleys that you take us through, bring with them. a soft and gentle humility where we come not to instruct you but to wait before you. there are those we love who are laid aside and we ache for them, feeling helpless. uneasy and sometimes even admittedly worried. like the man in this congregation today whose father is dying of cancer. I pray for that man and his wife as they spend time with their dad. and as he passes into your presence, I pray that you will use them to touch others' lives.

4:47 like the woman who sits in this flock today, having been left by her partner. She's alone now. And I pray that you will, in a special way, help her as a single parent, that you will minister first to her and then show her how you can minister through her. and there are a thousand other possibilities in between. Some are without a job.

5:23 Some have been so long without a job, they're now without hope. I pray for them, too. I pray for the young students who are working their way through school, too busy to dig deeply into the books, still passionate about their calling. Help them. as they figure out how to juggle life. There are some rearing the young, and it's tough. It's demanding, it's exacting, but it is also wonderfully rewarding.

5:58 Remind them again and again that it's worth all the effort. And richly encourage them, even though they may not feel that encouragement coming from those with whom they spend so much of their time. and Lord watch over those who watch over us take care of those who wear the uniform of our country and other countries who do courageous things when nobody's looking those who make hard decisions when most of us are not even thinking about them Now, our Father, it is a privilege on top of a blessing to be able to give to you. Thank you for providing for us in such a way that we're able to give to you.

6:57 We don't give because you need it. We give because we have a need to do that. so help us to be very generous in our worship of you in this manner it's another way of saying lord that we love you and we worship you with all our hearts In Jesus' name, everyone said. Amen.

7:31 God's ways are often so surprising, and when he does show up, if you will, his message is so often unexpected and unpredictable. Sometime it's a close call, and we realize after the fact that he has been there all the time protecting us, even when we didn't know we were in danger. that occurred to me this last week when I read a report that came from Montgomery County Maryland in the city of Wheaton Maryland the report reads the first bullet fired in a shooting spree that killed five people in Montgomery County Wednesday and Thursday narrowly missed Ann Chapman who was working at Michael Arts and Crafts Store in Northgate Shopping Center.

8:30 It's a miracle no one was heard after the bullet cut a dime-sized hole in the display window, nicked a light fixture, pierced two poster board signs, and hit a metal rack holding rows of mini-books at 5.20 p.m. Wednesday. But the amazing thing is what the bullets stop next to, the store's employees said. A book called Inspiration for the Heart from the Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson. If you were to open the book flap, you would read a simple daily prayer from the heart can inspire you to seek God's constant favor, power, and protection. The bullet has not been recovered.

9:23 Ann Chapman had no idea that she was that close to being shot. you and I think we know what is best for ourselves when in fact we do not and sometimes when the Lord does come on the scene we are downright not only surprised but shocked at how he says what he says and at what he says

9:56 I came across this week two prophets from the Old Testament who verify what I'm talking about The first one we're not familiar with at all, and the other we're rather familiar with. So let's turn first to the less familiar, Nahum. Just between Micah and Habakkuk. Doesn't help, does it? It's page 1437 in my Bible, and it's the seventh of the Old Testament minor prophets. If you're not familiar, that's okay. Most of us aren't that familiar with the Old Testament minor prophets. Nahum chapter 1 verse 3. I came across this this past week and was reminded again of how surprising the presence of God can be.

10:50 Nahum 1 3. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. The Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Now, it's this part that intrigues me. In whirlwind and storm is his way, and clouds are the dust beneath his feet. look closely put your finger on that last part of the third verse and notice he's referring to a strong wind a storm that may include thunder and lightning and that which frightens us and drives us away is often in fact the reminder of the presence of God one man writes the power and majesty of God are evidenced most dramatically in the forces of nature. So I suggest the next time lightning flashes and thunder rolls and the rain begins to fall, rather than slamming your door and closing everything up and pulling the blinds and staying away from it, that you stand and stare.

12:01 remember that the clouds are but the dust of his feet God is there and very present at times like that when he gave the law at Sinai Moses writes that the mountain was surrounded by thick heavy clouds there was thunder and there was lightning when Elijah stepped out of the cave in his depression to see what was there there was the passing of a strong whirlwind that came by the cave. The same happened with Ezekiel. When Jesus walked toward the disciples, frightened in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, it was in a time of storm that he stilled the storm and spoke peaceful words to his disciples. I read where Martin Luther, while pursuing a law degree as a young man in Erfurt, Germany, was caught in a thunderous lightning-stricken storm and the storm so humbled him he realized he should not be pursuing law this was God's way of saying to him you need to pursue ministry now every time we're in a storm that's not what the Lord is saying to his people but there was a sense of God's presence in that frightening moment and his heart became unusually sensitive and tender and aren't we all glad he was not an attorney but became a monk and ultimately discovered what became for us the roots of a reformation.

13:39 God has his way in the whirlwind and the storm. this is called a theophany t-h-e-o p-h-a-n-y theophany it's a disclosure of god's presence a theophany nahum says that god is present in the storm and in the midst of the storm he's having his way. Now with that in mind, go back to Isaiah. Isaiah is just before Jeremiah chapter 55. verse 6 I know we're in Job but we're moving in that direction and just give me a moment to set it up Job speaks of some of this at least the chapter we're looking at and I want you to see something ahead of time Isaiah 55 6 seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord.

14:53 He will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. That part we understand. The next part is so surprising. For my thoughts, this is God speaking now, he steps in as Isaiah continues to write, my thoughts are not your thoughts. neither are your ways my ways declares the lord well are they really that different are they really that far apart verse 9 as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts as far as the distance between heavens and earth, so is the distance between my thinking and God's thinking, your ways and God's ways. If you were raised like me, you were usually taught that God speaks in a still small voice, that he comes tippy-toeing on the scene, and he always sort of whispers.

16:08 But Nahum says he has his way in a whirlwind and a storm. And the clouds are but the dust of his feet. And when he does speak, what a surprising message. Often it is a shaking of our shoulders in the storm. Sometimes it is a reproof that levels us. We prefer the quiet setting. we prefer the calm and peaceful surrounding but sometime the storm is a doctor's report that's frightening sometime the storm message comes in in in a rehabilitation center or in the emergency room or in a prison cell Thank you. or as we're standing on the other end of the room and we're reading a note from our mate who says, I cannot stay any longer, I'm gone.

17:07 and we think in moments like that, where is God? Where is God when I need him? He is there in the storm and in the whirlwind. God's whirlwind messages are never forgotten. Most of us could testify that our lives began to be changed because of some reproof that came through some enormously significant event, usually stormy.

17:42 Now, Job 38 brings us to the place we've been waiting for for some time, quite some time. Got a letter from one of the men in our church this week, good letter. He said, I just want to thank you for Job, but could we do something in another book that isn't quite so character building, he said. He said, if my character gets built anymore, I'll need to have another office space, another room in my office to put some of this character that's getting built. And he names one thing after another. And it's like the wheels have come off the cart. And so it has for Job. And adding insult to injury, not only does Job lose his ability to make a living, and along with that, his home and his entire family of 10 grown children. He now has lost his health and these so-called friends have come alongside to preach their sermons and to deliver their messages, all of which are off target and they don't help.

18:46 And Job has stood toe to toe with each one of them, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and lately Elihu. And by the time he gets to Elihu, he just doesn't bother to answer. He is out of energy and he is so determined that he is going to wait for God to speak. Well, God speaks. In chapter 38, verse 1, the Lord answered, but he doesn't tiptoe and say, Psst, Job, it's me, God.

19:21 He comes in a whirlwind. As if Job doesn't have it tough enough already, he's got to go through a whirlwind and in the midst of the whirlwind, as his hair is blowing and his beard is blowing, no, he doesn't have any hair, he's bald, as his beard is blowing and as his clothes are being pulled off, he realizes this must be some significant moment and he hears the voice he's been waiting to hear. But it isn't a voice of comfort.

19:51 Now, if you and I had come, we would have come, hopefully, with comfort in mind. we'd have brought Job something to read maybe something to eat and we'd sit down with him and Job, it's tough but God doesn't do that why? His ways are higher than our ways his thoughts different than our thoughts remember that get out of your mind the idea that God is just like us just a lot older and God is understands like we understand, but he just, you know, he's been at it longer. He's not this old man with long white hair blowing wind from the north to make the boat sail across the ocean. He is totally and completely and absolutely different from us.

20:45 Therefore, his ways are full of shocks and surprises. the first word out of his mouth is a reproof why would he do that here's a man covered with boils waiting for comfort and needing help and along comes the living God who has known the whole story from start to finish he doesn't give Job any answers to his questions he doesn't apologize for having been silent so long he doesn't give a hint about the whole thing between himself and Satan way back when when it all started He doesn't acknowledge that Job has been through deep struggles. When he finally speaks, he speaks in a reproof. Frankly, having thought about this for some time, I think Job by now has gotten in his defense a little arrogant. You get like that when you defend yourself too long.

21:42 When you've had to stand against the attacks of the others, you tend to get a little cocksure. And God is going to communicate a number of things to Job, but he has to get his heart right to begin with, and does he do that? He comes with a clipboard full of questions. His opening line is, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

22:09 Now, you've got to understand, there's not a whole group of people standing there, it's just Job and God. So who is a pretty simple answer. Now, gird up your loins like a man. It's singular. He's not talking to the friends. He's talking to Job. Gird up your loins like a man. I will ask you and you instruct me. And he starts. He begins with the creation of the world. He moves to the stellar spaces, to the deepest seas. He goes ultimately into the animal kingdom, one question after another, after another. The first set of questions ask, can you explain my creation? let's even add control it can you explain or control my creation just answer the question job and that ends with a statement of humility when job answers in verses three four and five of chapter 40 god isn't through the next set of set of questions ask can you change or subdue my creation and that's ended with job's answer of repentance we'll look at that sometime from now But right now, let's think about this first set of questions, which was answered with humility, thankfully.

23:32 Now watch closely. He begins with the creation. Verse 4, chapter 38, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Well, obviously, he wasn't anywhere around. All of us were gone at that time. Tell me if you have any understanding. Who said it's measurements? He doesn't know that answer. No one knows how the earth measured or the universe about us. Are the multiple galaxies beyond that? Who set its measurements since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Who laid its cornerstone? How did all of this get flung into space? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. That's a reference to the first stars. Those morning stars sang together. Perhaps at creation, the stars could sing. Maybe it's poetic writing, and it doesn't literally mean singing, but again, maybe the heavens were in harmony with one another.

24:29 We don't know. We weren't there. Writing this account, he refers to the morning stars singing together. Maybe they were the angels as they sang at the time of creation. These angelic creatures were witnessing all of this with open mouths, staring with this incredulous look about them. And then he moves to the sea. Who enclosed the sea with doors when bursting forth it went out from the womb? This is poetic. When I made a cloud, its garment and thick darkness, its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it, I set a bolt and doors, and I said, thus far you shall come, but no farther, and here shall your proud wave stop. Could you do that, Job? Were you there when that happened, Job?

25:20 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning and caused the dawn to know its place? Now he moves to the sun, this greater light by day, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it. Verse 16, have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell me if you know all this. Quite a set of questions, isn't it? You know what happens when you're asked questions like this? You get even more silent. You're already silent, but you get... As he says at the end, he puts his hand over his mouth, lest he be tempted to give one answer. You are totally out of it. It's like a classroom.

26:12 and the prof is way ahead of you and you and you you duck behind the head of the person in front of you so the prof can't see you've done it you're you're you're there and then he begins to ask questions and you you know you're outclassed not only do you not know you are aware that others know you don't know so you are doubly silent and yet god goes on the expanses of the sea i in my research. It may be dated, but the book I read talked about the deepest place of the sea has been revealed to be 6.78 miles. There may be deeper places, but at that point, that particular authority said we've come a little over six and three-quarter mile deep in the deepest place of the sea. And how about the stellar spaces? You may remember one of our space probes spent 12 years going 4.4 billion miles, passing within 3,000 miles of Neptune's cloud bank.

27:23 But that's only in this immediate galaxy. There are millions more. who knows but what ours is the smallest of the group. It's mind-boggling. It makes you quiet. So he carries him to the telescopes, and then he takes him back to Earth, and he invites him to visit the darkness, 19 through 21. And then he says in 22, have you entered the storehouses of the snow? Have you seen the storehouses of the hail? What a poetic way to put it. All of the heavens that hold the waters that will drench the Earth and the ice that will fall and will form and the hailstorms yet to come. And he said, he's reserved those for a time of distress.

28:21 I mean, Job is just standing there. Suddenly, the boils don't seem quite as significant. And the answers he was giving his friends with such dogmatism don't flow with such eloquence anymore. He even asks him to, verse 31, Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Now he's describing some of the constellations. Or loose the cords of Orion. Can you lead forth a constellation in its season and guide the bear with her satellites, another of the star formations in the shape of a bear? Many of you are familiar with that. Do you know the ordinances of the heavens or fix their rule over the earth? It's like being invited to one of these great telescopes and you take a look and you blink and you watch this entire world beyond our present familiar surface. you don't turn and start instructing the person who runs the place you stuff your hands in your pockets and sort of walk backwards to get out of the place it is enormous it's especially enormous because the one who could answer every question is talking to him and was there and has put them in motion and keeps them in motion.

29:54 Who, how, can you, do you, will you, are you? If that isn't enough, he introduces him to the animal kingdom. Verse 39, he moves there next. This is good. Can you hunt the prey for the lion? Can you satisfy the appetite of the young lions when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait? 41, who prepares for the raven, its nourishment when its young cry to God and wander about without food? Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth? You observe the calving of the deer. If you love animals, you'll enjoy this section. It's here that he talks about the lion, the raven, the wild goat, the deer, the wild donkey, the wild ox, the ostrich, the horse, the hawk and the eagle. They're all paraded before Job in this most creative reproof.

30:48 Job is watching one animal after another go by and the one who made them is introducing him to each one, asking questions Job can't answer. Verse 5, the wild donkey. Verse 9, the wild ox. Verse 13, this is one of my favorites, the ostrich. What a funny creature, the ostrich. Wings flap joyously with the pinion and plumage of love for she abandons her eggs to the earth and warms them in the dust. And then she forgets that a foot may crush them or that a wild beast may trample them. You know, she's not really bright. The ostrich is not that bright. I made her like that. She treats her young cruelly as if they were not hers. Some guy listening to me in the early service said, two ostriches walking in the bushes noticed a couple of larger ostriches behind them. One says, let's hide.

31:44 They bury their heads in the sand. One of them says to the other at that point, where'd they go? Why are they like that? Verse 17, because God has made her forget wisdom. Made them a little dull. By the way, that's a great verse for you when you don't have an answer. You can say, God made me forget wisdom and has not given me a share of understanding. How about the horse? Verse 19.

32:21 How about the hawk? Verse 26. This is a great section. Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching his wings toward the south? Is it at your command the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? By the way, see the comment about stretching its wings toward the south? Maybe referring to the migratory instinct of the fowls. All part of Job's account. Now, why? I can just hear some of you, because that's my first reaction when I read this. What in the world does a trip to the spaces or a trip to the zoo have to do about boils all over my skin? All I ask is that you go zip and take them away. Then we can talk, and I'll walk wherever you want to walk, and I'll listen. But no, I'm going to give you all of this while you've still got the boils.

33:17 I know what I'm doing. David Atkinson writes wisely, why, we need to ask, does God spend all this time talking about skies and stars and the animals? Surely there is a more appropriate topic of conversation for someone who for many weeks has been going through an appalling sense of isolation. It is, of course, only when the depressed person has the safety and reassurance of another's presence that conversation can happen. Now that Job knows he's not alone, it is appropriate for God to talk and perhaps to distract Job from his misery, certainly to give him new perspectives on his situation. it may be that there is a gentle irony to the tone and the questions are not threatening but rather educative.

34:15 The sort of questions a good teacher may ask a child in order to elicit understanding. It is as though the Lord God is taking a walk through his creation, a walk through the garden perhaps as the storm becomes still and is inviting Job to accompany him. You see this? Do you recognize that? Let me amaze you, says God, by the complexity and intricacy of it all. From the foundation of the earth when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God in the heavenly court shouted for joy, that joyous celebration of the creator has been sung ever since. Consider the sea. What about the rain and the Pleiades and Orion to the clouds, the lightning and the mist? You see all of these things. Think of the animals too. Can you hunt pray for the lioness who provides for the ravens? What about the life-giving power of birth for the mountain goats, the wild asses, the wild oxen? Then comes one of God's jokes, the ostrich, the silly bird flapping her wings proudly but getting nowhere, leaving her eggs in the earth, not thinking someone may step on them. God did not give her a share of good sense. That's a good way to put it. Even those parts of God's creation which seem deficient in wisdom are still part of the divine wild ordering of things.

35:33 Indeed, the ostrich is a picture of Job himself, a paradox, a mixture of strength and foolishness. Yet in spite of all its failure to understand, it has a valued place in God's creation. Come round with me, Job. See these things, wonder at them, enjoy them. You cannot control them. Then he adds this. The ash heap may be an appropriate place on which to sit if we are in mourning, but it is no place to stay if we wish to feel better. Sometimes we will most help distressed people, help them draw nearer to their God from the depths of depression, not by teaching them doctrine or preaching them our best sermon or by showing them the error of their ways, but by walking with them round the garden, taking them to see a waterfall or a sunset.

36:30 by helping them recover an enjoyment in the world around them. Such steps are not always practicable, of course, but insofar as we can enable depressed people to see themselves in a new setting and to recover a place of security belonging within the rich panorama of God's creation, we are helping them as they see God's handiwork before their eyes. Job gets it We may not, but Job does Matter of fact, if you take the time to analyze verses 3, 4, and 5 of chapter 40 you'll see that he has three responses One is a response of humility The second is a response of relief and the third is a response of surrender that's exactly what God wanted to hear and what a great change for Job who has become this determined apologist defending himself thinking that he understood the providence of God his first response is verse 4 I am insignificant now we who have been schooled in psychology will never be told to repeat that because we are encouraged to realize how important we are, how valuable we are, what a significant place we have.

37:57 But I'm showing you in verse 4, it's a statement from the Bible. And God doesn't reprove him for saying it. The Hebrew, interestingly, means light and weight, as opposed to kavod, which is heavy. I'm a lightweight. I think that's appropriate in light of what you have shown me, God, in light of the world around me that I don't understand. I wasn't there when it happened. I can't explain the boundaries. I don't understand gravity. I can't put together in my mind the laws of physics. I can be schooled in them, but I do not understand how they began or what holds them in place. I can't grasp it. I'm a lightweight. I'm insignificant, which is a statement of needed humility. And the second statement is, what can I reply to you? that's a statement of relief. God didn't want answers.

38:53 He knew the answers. He wanted Job to acknowledge, I don't know them. And if I don't know about those things, as objective as they are, how could I possibly ever fully understand my things? And that's relieving. You see, the point is, when we are broken and brought to the end of ourselves, It is not for the purpose of gathering more answers for our journal.

39:22 It's for acknowledging that the Lord God has plans and reasons that are higher than mine, and I relieve myself from having to give answers or even defend them. And the third is a statement of surrender. I put my hand on my mouth. Verse 4 concludes. Statement of surrender. I don't dare say anything more I've said enough already now let me give you three principles from this if I may that I think bear a timeless element each one of them furthermore the goal in all of this is to so change our lives that we begin to think more like God and we begin to respond correctly to God's unusual workings the first if God's ways are higher than mine then whatever he allows I bow in submission if God's ways are higher than mine than whatever he allows I bow in submission and if you will add and that makes me humble that results in humility And all of us could use a bigger dose of that.

40:43 how needed a humble spirit is in a person like Job. if God's ways are higher than mine, then whatever he allows, I bow in submission. That makes me humble. Here's the second. If God is in full control, then however he directs my steps, I follow in obedience. and that relieves me. that relieves me.

41:18 I don't have to be in charge. Isn't that relieving? No one put you in charge. I was at a pastor's conference at Moody Bible Institute several years ago, and there was a huge sign up front. Somebody had painted and stretched it across the front behind where all the speakers stood to speak. and the sign read, relax everybody, for once you're not in charge. It was full of pastors, 1,500 pastors. All of us are in charge, we think, and we go to the conference and we're reminded we're not in charge.

41:57 That's God's placard that he stretches in front of Job. You're not in charge of this. This is my responsibility. I know what I'm doing, my son. if God is in full control however he directs my steps I follow in obedience and that relieves me here's the third one if God has answers I lack then whenever he speaks I listen in silence and that instructs me That instructs me. If God has the answers I lack, then whenever he speaks, I listen in silence. And that instructs me. Now, let me drive this home. You and I are not by nature, humble, submissive, and quiet.

42:52 You and I like to be in charge, in control, and calling the shots. We don't even like surprises. We don't really even like God's surprises, nor do we enjoy having to wait for anything. I read this past week the cute story, true story, of little four-year-old Timmy, who was sitting in the back seat with his older brothers and sisters and they were making a long trip and every other mile he would ask are we almost there daddy have we almost gotten there are we almost there and finally the mother says to timmy timmy no we're not almost there it'll take a long time Time passed and Timmy's next line was, Mommy, when we get there, will I still be four years old? Oh, our prayers, if they were absolutely honest, would begin with, Lord, hurry up! Come on now!

44:03 We'd rather get forgiveness than permission. we'd rather resist than obey we would rather talk than listen we would rather be in charge than submit It's like the Puritan in his prayer. When thou wouldest guide me, I control myself. When thou wouldest be sovereign, I rule myself. When thou wouldest take care of me, I suffice myself. When I should depend on thy providings, I supply myself. When I should submit to thy providence, I follow my own will. When I should study love, honor, and trust thee, I serve myself. I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself Instead of thee I look to man's approbation and I am by nature an idolater Show me that none of these things can heal a wounded conscience or support a tottering frame Or uphold a departing spirit Then take me to the cross and leave me there This is all so much hot air if we don't respond to it in a positive way.

45:14 And I'm telling you today, men and women, it will take conscious effort on our part to change. some of you have become extremely difficult to live with and it is my unhappy responsibility to tell you that because you're not getting it from those nearest you who have run out of ways of saying it I do need to warn you, if you do get serious about change, you're going to shock them. Writer Tom Anderson describes what I'm getting at. I made a vow to myself on the drive down to the vacation beach cottage.

46:14 For two weeks, I would try to be a loving husband and father, totally loving, no ifs, ands, or buts. The idea had come to me as I listened to a commentator on my car's tape player. He was quoting a biblical passage about husbands being thoughtful of their wives. Then he went on to say, love is an act of the will. A person can choose to love. To myself, I had to admit I had been a selfish husband. That our love had been dulled by my own insensitivity. In petty ways.

47:00 Really. Chiding Evelyn for her tardiness. Insisting on the TV channel. I wanted to watch, throwing out day-old newspapers before she had a chance to read them. Well, for two weeks, all of that would change. And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, that new yellow sweater looks great on you. Oh, Tom, you noticed, she said, surprised and pleased and maybe a little shocked. after the long drive I wanted to sit and read Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach I started to refuse but then I thought Evelyn's been alone here with all these kids and now she wants to be alone with me we walked on the beach while the children flew their kites so it went two weeks of not calling the wall street investment firm where I'm a director a visit to the Shell Museum, though I usually hate museums.

48:06 Holding my tongue while Evelyn's getting ready made us late for a dinner date. Relaxed and happy, that's how the whole vacation passed. I made a new vow to keep on remembering to choose love. There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. On the last night at the cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.

48:33 What's the matter? I asked her. Tom, she said, in a voice filled with distress. Do you know something I don't? what do you mean? well, that checkup I had several weeks ago our doctor, did he tell you something about me? Tom, you've been so good to me am I dying? It took a moment for it all to sink in. Then I burst out laughing. No, honey, I said, wrapping her in my arms. You're not dying. I'm just starting to live. That's what this book will help you do. Your loving your partner is a choice.

49:34 Your accepting things as they are is a choice. Your attitude is a choice. Your response to life is a choice. and if it takes a walk through the zoo or among the stars take it you begin to feel how really insignificant a lot of your selfish ways. are.

50:08 Your plans are here and his are there. And when you decide to cooperate, Everybody will notice. Isn't it time? Let's bow our head and close our eyes, please.

50:37 You know, the simple fact is you may be dying. We're all in the process, but you may be closer than you realize. it's the pastor's responsibility to hold your feet to the fire. Even when he may much prefer an easier statement, it's my job at times to say, you may not make it through this week. Now, you may not. So the first connection you're going to have with the living God has to come through Jesus Christ. That's the plan he put together. I don't care what your ideas have been. Your ideas are lower than his and they're not anywhere near as important. This isn't even my plan. I'm just repeating his.

51:31 Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. That's his plan. If I told you any other plan, it's a wrong plan. It's not a feel-good plan. It's a get-with-it plan. Since life is short and these days are terminal, it's a good idea that you're not planned to step into death unprepared. you've had enough whirlwinds and storms to know that God means business you're not going to have many more chances this is your moment take advantage of this opportunity Lord I'm I'm lost I'm a sinner you know it I know it my family knows it my friends know it that means you and I can't walk together because you're pure and holy and I'm sinful and unholy so I surrender my will to yours I take Christ as my own savior I trust him alone by faith alone because of your grace alone today right now and the Lord God will accept you into his family and begin for you a life that will be full of you can't believe the surprises he will change you in so many areas you'll hardly be the same person in a matter of time.

53:16 So today, come. There's a prayer room here in our worship center, a team of people happy to talk with you, happy to deal with you regarding Christ. Connect with us. Write us. Call us. Let's deal with this once and for all. and so our father we having met with you now leave one another's presence but yours goes with us all the way thank you for your instruction which comes in such surprising ways in a book as ancient as job turn our hearts back to you lord break our wills erase this streak that's in us that has long enough been in control.

54:12 And may we become your kind of person.