Welcome

1. Adult II Couples Class Welcome discoverjoy.com

2. Have you always been a Southern Baptist? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

3. Prayer Requests

4. Church Stuff Class Events Church Events • Benevolence Fund • Monthly Fellowships • January • February • March • Dinner Out Friday (27 Jan) • 5th Sunday Breakfast (29 Jan) • Quarterly Service Project • Men’s Discipleship Class (today-4:30) • Budget CmteMtg (11 Jan) • Youth SNAC (15 Jan) • Heart 2 Heart w/YAH (16 Jan) • Special Prayer for Youth (18 Jan) • Long Range Task Force Mtg (18 Jan) • Ladies Mentoring Mtg (21 Jan) • Youth Winter Retreat (20-22 Jan) • Olive Grove Terrace Visitation (22 Jan) • E-Sunday (29 Jan) • Men’s Prayer Breakfast (4 Feb) • Super Bowl Party (5 Feb) • Blood Pressure Checks (12 Feb) • D. U. begins (12 Feb)

5. Have you always been a Southern Baptist? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

6. Chronological Bible Discipleship Iva May and Dr. Stan May week two Job 1 - 37

7. Review

8. Review Creation Patriarchs

9. Review Genesis 1 - 11 • Creation and the fall • The second generation dependent on the sacrifice • Noah and the flood • Tower of Babel Two groups of people • Those who come to God His way • Those who rebel and devise their own way God reveals His goodness • Through creation • Through His merciful response to the fall • Through His revelation of the way to redemption • Through His judgment in the flood (Noah and family were saved)

10. Overview The Book of Job Job the man • Believed to have lived about the time of the patriarchs • Righteous, rich, religious, respected by God and men God points out Job’s character to Satan • God allows Satan to test Job • Takes his possessions, children and health • God only prohibits the taking of Job’s life Job enters a dialogue with three friends (Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad) • They come to comfort Job, but end up condemning him • Young Elihu speaks last, justifying God and exposes the error of the others, including Job (Ch. 32-37) • After hearing from God directly, Job responds humbly and God restores him

11. People interpret suffering (and all of life) through one of four filters: Key Truth

12. Job, Faith, and the Revelation of God Job 1 - 2 The Patriarch Era

13. Five Scenes on Earth and in Heaven Job 1 – 2:10

14. Five Scenes on Earth & in Heaven www.themegallery.com • Scenes one, three, five take place on earth • Job is living a pious, prosperous life without adversity (1:1-5) • Within minutes, he learns of the loss of everything he owns and holds dear (1:13-22) • Stricken with painful sores over his entire body • Job undergoes an immediate reversal • One day he is wealthy, healthy and respected • The next day he is poor, sick and despised

15. Five Scenes on Earth & in Heaven www.themegallery.com • Scenes two and four take place in heaven • God holds up Job as a unique example of righteousness among men (1:8) • Satan questions Job’s sincerity and commitment to God (1:9-11) • God grants Satan the authority to take away everything Job has, including his health (1:12 & 2:4-6) • Job’s faith and trust in God does not waver (2:9,10) • Job responds positively to the loss of his possessions and family • Despite the trials, he determines to receive his lot from God

16. Five Scenes on Earth & in Heaven www.themegallery.com • Where did Job’s knowledge of God come from? • Job’s faith was based solely on the truths handed down to him • The stories of the Creation, Fall, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, and the tower of Babel • What did these stories reveal about the character of God that would give Job the faith to persevere under severe physical and emotional stress? • God is good, merciful and redemptive • God is worthy of trust • God is to be feared (held in awe) • Evil and suffering are the result of sin in the human heart and enticement by Satan

17. “Help” Arrives to Make Sense of Job’s Suffering Job 2 : 11 – 13 Job 4 Job 8 Job 11

18. Job’s “Help” Arrives • Job’s friends arrive with the intention of providing comfort for their friend • Eliphaz the Temanite • Bildad the Shuhite • Zophar the Naamathite • Elihu the Buzite (youngest and last to speak) • After seeing Job, they sit in silence for seven days • They are so shocked at Job’s appearance they could not speak • This would be the only real comfort they provided

19. Job’s “Help” Arrives • They open their mouths to speak and begin to interrogate Job • They sincerely, but wrongly believe that Job is suffering as a result of some sin in his life • As far as he knows, Job contends that he is right with God • Job’s friends each speak to one of four sources of knowledge through which people filter and understand suffering and life • Revelation (divine) • Observation and experience (human) • Tradition (human) • Human reasoning (human)

20. The Four Filters for Life www.themegallery.com • Revelation (dialogue between God and Satan) • Divine in origin and infallible • The book of Job opens with revelation • Job’s situation is defined by what takes place in heaven • Observation and Experience (Eliphaz) • Making conclusions based on tangible evidence • Interprets Job’s suffering through what he has seen • Innocent people don’t suffer, implying Job is guilty of some wrongdoing (Job 4:7-8)

21. The Four Filters for Life www.themegallery.com • Tradition (Bildad) • Accepting the interpretations of others • Interprets Job’s suffering through what has been passed down by those who lived before (Job 8:8-9) • Holds to the doctrine of retribution; uses the death of Job’s children as proof (Job 8:4) • Since Job still lives, his suffering is a result of a less serious offense; he should take comfort that he has been spared • Human reasoning • Defining life in a way that makes sense to the observer • Suffering is a result of sin, but God is still merciful (Job 11:13-15) • Job’s suffering is really less than he deserves and serves as a warning against future sin (Job 11:5-6)

22. Conclusions www.themegallery.com • Some truth about suffering can be understood through observation and experience, tradition, and human reasoning • God’s wisdom and revelation always trumps man’s understanding • If God had not revealed the opening dialog in heaven, how might our interpretation of the book of Job differed? • People still filters suffering through the sieves of revelation, observation, tradition and human reasoning • Those who reject the divine revelation of Scripture are left with the resources of human wisdom of observation, tradition and reasoning • All of these lines of authority fall short • Proverbs 14:12 – “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

23. Application What does this lesson teach about God? Man? Sin? Redemption?

24. Discussion What filter do people primarily use to interpret the events and circumstances of their lives today? Observation and Experience Tradition Reasoning Revelation How does Job’s response to the challenge before him differ from Adam’s response in Genesis 3?

25. Summary GOD SPEAKS but often what is expressed in heaven remains in the heavens, but man can trust what the Bible reveals about God regardless of circumstances GOD ACTS to sometimes remove the hedge from around the lives of His people, not as retribution for sin, but to refine and reveal faith. While suffering happens to both the saved and the lost, Christians can suffer in hope. GOD REVEALS His character and His promises to ground the faith of sufferers so that they persevere under trial.

26. Bible KNOWLEDGE QUIZ Genesis – The flood • What were the names of Noah’s three sons? • Shem, Ham and Japheth • How did Noah determine the flood waters had receded? • He sent out a dove which returned with an olive leaf in its beak Job • Where did Job live? • The land of Uz • What was Job’s famous response to the news of the loss of his wealth and children? • “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.” • What advice did Job’s wife give him about his suffering? • “Curse God and die!”

27. BONUS ROUND Genesis • Who was the oldest man in the Bible and how long did he live? • Methuselah (969 years) • After the flood, when people still had one language, what was the name of the area they all settled in? • Plain of Shinar • Who was the grandfather of Abram? • Nahor Job • What two bands of raiders came and took all of Job’s livestock? • The Sabeans and the Chaldeans • How many children did Job lose? • 10 (7 sons, 3 daughters)

28. JOB 29 & 42 The Lens of Suffering Adult II Couples Class Next week….. discoverjoy.com