the book of Job tonight. I heard another man preach this text the other night, and I took his skeleton, and God gave me my own meat. I said, well, I don't believe all the preachers of the men's messages. Well, best I can tell, We've been preaching Paul's messages and James' messages and Mark's messages. Ain't none of them ours, amen. This is his book. Amen. And God gave me my own meat, but I want to show you something. I'm going to read several verses. Is that all right? If you're behind on your Bible reading, I'm here to help you. Amen. Several verses. Let's just begin reading in verse number one. The Bible said there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And the man was perfect and upright and feared God and eschewed evil. That means he avoided evil at every cost. And there was born unto him seven sons and three daughters. and his substance also was 7,000 sheep, and 3,000 camels, and 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-asses, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, everyone on his day and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. I want you to notice this. There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth? I wonder what the Lord would say about us tonight. Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and is steweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made a hedge about him And about his house, and about all that he hath on every side, thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Now verse number six said, now there was a day. Notice verse number 13. And there was a day. Notice that again. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them. And the Sabeans fell among them, and they took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, the fire of God has fallen from heaven and have burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I alone, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came yet another and said, The Chidians made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away, yea, and slain all the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee, while he was speaking, There came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house. And it fell upon the young men, the young men, and they're all dead. And I only am escaped to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground in worship, and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Now notice this. I've showed you twice and there was a day. Look at the beginning of verse number two. Chapter number two rather. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan came also to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, from whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man who feareth God, one that feareth God and is good evil. And still, he beholdeth faith his integrity, although thou movest me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, skin for skin, all that a man hath, will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with a sword of balls from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him apostured, and scraped himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Three times we find in our text that the Bible said there was a day. And all three times Satan comes before God. And all three times Job is considered. And all these areas The Lord said that there's none like Job. And Satan tries to say that Job is serving God for naught. And so, on all three of these days, God allows Satan to go after Job. I want to preach on this thought tonight, if you'll allow me. When you're doing right, and the day goes all wrong. When you're doing right and the day goes all wrong. I've got several things I want to say. I don't know if I'll hit high gear or not. I feel like the Lord has slowed me down for this message so that you can hear what I'm trying to say. I'm not against shouting, I'm not against getting happy, I'm not against being loud and boisterous, but I feel like sometimes that if we're not careful, Brother Brian, people can become more enthroned with our theatrics, our antics, than the truth of what we're trying to say. I was in a meeting, I was talking to a young man the other day and he was talking about going to hear a preacher. And he said, man it was really good. He said at one time he was even standing on top of a pulpit. And I said, well that's fine, but what did he preach on? And he said, I don't know. I'm gonna be as nice as I know how. Cause y'all heard me preach enough to know that I'll shout with the best of them and as Brother Charlie Bishop said, drop the hat to shout. I'm not ashamed of that. But if you see me and you notice what I do and you notice my mannerisms, but you missed the message, I failed. You don't need my theatrics, but you desperately need the truth of the word of God. I need the truth of the word of God. This same man, our friend, Job, said, I've esteemed his words above my necessary food. And I wanna try to help you from the word of God tonight. Let's pray together. Our heavenly Father, Lord, I love you. Thank you for being so good to us. Lord, I know what you put in my heart. I beg you to help me tonight. Lord, help me not to say anything that I ought not say and everything that I ought to say for the edification of the saints and the exaltation of my precious Savior. Heavenly Father, I pray God tonight in Jesus' name that you might move among us. Lord, help us tonight. Oh, God, I pray, Lord Jesus. I pray, Lord, that you'd encourage your people. God, there may be somebody here in their life tonight, everything's fine. But tomorrow, everything will be different. And they'll need this message. Lord, I've had messages that I heard preached and I didn't need them in that hour. But just a few days later, in the midst of turmoil and tragedy, the sweet Holy Ghost would bring back to my remembrance the things I just heard from the word of God. So I pray, God, you'd help us to hide your word in our hearts tonight that we might not sin against you. We thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. The story of Job is one that's brought me comfort many, many times. I would tell you on the outset that the story of Job is not just about the fact that Job trusted God, although he did. Amen, he had to trust him because there came a time when he was afflicted, and the Bible said, notice this, now God said he's the greatest man on the earth in that hour, and the Bible said that his friends come to see him at one point after he's been afflicted, his children are dead, his wealth is gone, and the Bible said in verse number 12, His friends show up, and when they had lifted up their eyes afar off and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept, and they ran every one of his men on a sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him, for they saw his grief. was very great. We're talking about a man that God said was the best upon the earth. But his grief is very great. There may be somebody here tonight, as far as you know, you're in the will of God, but your grief is very great. And on these days when Satan came before God, his grief would be very great for many reasons. But I want to say again, this book is not just about that Job trusted God. It's about that God trusted Job. Because every time it was God that said, hast thou considered my servant Job? It was not Satan's idea, it was God's idea to try Job. Did y'all know? Did y'all know that the fact that I'm in this wheelchair was not an accident or a happenstance? or an oversight by a doctor, or a medical mistake, but it was God's idea. Maybe tonight you're in a lot of affliction, maybe it's mental, maybe it's physical, maybe it's emotional. I don't know, but you know what David said? He said, in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me. If you're a child of God, even your affliction is proof of the faithfulness of God. You say, explain that to me. I can't. I just know it's the truth. and I would say old Job passed the test but I wonder if Satan went before God tonight and he brought our name up and he said God if you'll let me do this I can get him and he'll curse you to your face essentially brother Donnie the Lord said I know what Job's made of. Go ahead. He won't do it. It's not just that Job had confidence in God. It's that God had confidence in Job. I wonder, can God have confidence in me to trust Him and still be devoted in my darkest I want you to see first of all that Job lost his heavenly protection. God said to Satan, has thou considered my servant Job? And Satan said, yes, Lord, I have. But I've been down to his house, and you've got him hedged in. You blessed the work of his hands on every side, and I could not get in. And God said, okay, and he lifted the hedge of heavenly protection off of Job's life. when we shout over the hedge, glory to God, I'm hedged in. You can't get to me and thank God that most of the time that's so. But if God decides to lift that heavenly hedge of protection off of your lives and off my life and let all hell come against you, I wonder what kind of shape we'll end up in when we're doing right and the day goes all wrong. He lost his heavenly protection. And then can I say he lost his honorary possessions. God honored him and blessed him with great riches, Brother Brian. He had prospered in a financial and physical sense. Oh my soul, can you imagine one day he's looking over his fields and his farm and all of his fortune, and the next day it's gone. It's all up in smoke. And the Bible said, Brother Donny, that there's nothing left but ashes. One day, Job's looking over his fields and his farm and his fortune and said, boy, ain't God been good. And the next day, all there is is smoke and ashes. Can I submit to you a question? Have you ever noticed how much of our shouting and singing consist of what God has given us? Oh. What if He, oh Lord, what if He took it all? And all my honorary possessions are gone and all I got left is Him. Oh. when I'm trying to do right and the day goes all wrong. They're having conversations in heaven that we don't know anything about. I wonder will we pass the test? How is it, Brother Donnie, that I've been to Africa and India and Mexico And I've met all these Christians that they're poor and they live in poverty, but somehow or another, they got more joy than the most blessed man I know in America. It's because they're in love with the giver more than they are the gifts. Hey man, they're more in love with the sovereign than they are their stuff. I heard of a pastor that was having a mission conference and he couldn't get the people to give. And they were trying to raise money for a missionary going to Japan. And the pastor got up and he said, if we don't start giving, I'm going to pray that God calls every one of our young people to Japan. And then they started giving. You know why that is? Because they're more in love with home than they are with him. I have no doubt that it would be hard, Brother Donnie, if my little girl came to me and said, I'm marrying a preacher and we're going to Japan. No doubt that'd be heartbreaking. But if she come to me and said, I'm moving halfway across the world to tell somebody about him, by God's good and grace, I'd say hallelujah. Because all this is gonna pass away one day in the first place. One day all this is gonna be gone. I wonder what we'd do if God took away all these honorary possessions that he didn't have to give in the first place. Job not only lost his heavenly protection and his honorary possessions, but he lost his health physically. The Bible said Satan went and afflicted Joes with bull from head to toe. And he was so sick, Brother Brian, that when his friends got there, they didn't even recognize him. Can I be honest with y'all? I don't really care much about stuff. I don't. but I'd give everything I had for good health. It seems like the more I pray about it, the worse it gets. And as far as I know right now, there ain't nothing between me and the hill. As far as I know right now, I'm more in love with him than I've ever been. And I'm doing my best to be faithful, but I feel worse in body as a whole than I ever have in my life. My wife has been sick for months. The doctors, have not been able to figure out what's wrong. She's been losing blood for four months and she's got other thyroid issues and just a whole plethora of things that have happened because of that. And we've been told that we wouldn't be able to have any more children. And all of our friends are having more kids faster than we can blink. And I watch her as she posts a congratulation with tears running down her face. I don't understand it myself, but they could be having conversations in heaven. If we take their health, they'll curse you, God, and quit. Mitchell, I don't want to fail the test. I wish it was different, but I ought to be in hell. And if he never blesses me again, He's been good enough to this point. If he never blesses me again, as long as I can look back at Calvary and see what he did that I might be saved and have a home in heaven and know that one day there'd be a glorified body. If he takes my health and I never get better and I still get worse, he's still God and he's still good and he's still worthy of my worship. When you're doing right and the day goes all wrong. Did you know that Job, not only did he lose his hedge of protection, did he lose his honorary possessions, did he lose his health physically, but he lost his human purpose. Look at chapter number three. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. In other words, God, I'm not gonna curse you, but it's got so bad I'm cursing the very day I was born. Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night in which it was said, there is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness. Let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let the darkness and the shadow of death stain it. Let a cloud dwell upon it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it. Verse number 11, he asked a question. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? He's cursed the very day that he came into being. He's lost his human purpose. And there may be, listen to me now, there may be somebody in this room that Satan has convinced you the world would be better off without you. Everybody around you would be better off if you weren't even here. May I say that's a lie tonight? That's a lie tonight. God's got a purpose for you and his purposes are great and they're right. There may be somebody, we come to church and people ask us how we are and we say I'm doing fine. But there could be somebody that on the inside you've already cursed the very day you was born. You don't even want to be here. Hang on, friend. Because I realize that most of this message has been very hard. But I came with hope tonight. Hallelujah. Look at chapter number 42. Sure, brother. It may be hard tonight, but it's not going to be that way forever. Look at chapter number 42 and verse number 12. Actually, let's read verse number 11. Verse number 10, actually. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. All them people that said, it's your fault, and you're in sin, and you've done this to yourself. And they offered no words of comfort whatsoever. And the Bible said, and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he'd had before. Then came there unto him his brethren, and all his sisters, and all that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house. And they bemoaned him and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. Every man also gave him a piece of money and everyone an earring of gold. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. For he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 she-asses. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And may I say you don't have a new wife in the midst of all this either. Just as a side note. The same woman that said curse God and die is the same woman that God in mercy gave all these new children to. Amen. And by the way, may I say we better not be too quick to judge. Because we've not fathered 10 children in the graveyard. And we don't know exactly how strong we are. I'll let another preacher fuss at Job's life, but I ain't. Can I say Job not only lost his heavenly protection and his honorary possessions, and his health physically and his human purpose. But glory to God, there'd come a day when Job would lose all that heavy pressure that he'd been under, and God would bless him again and give him twice as much as he had. And may I say to you tonight, it's not always gonna be dark, it's not always gonna be difficult. Child of God, hallelujah, the sun will shine again, weeping, may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. Amen. Just stay with God. Just worship God. Just lift your hands in the midst of it all and say blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, thank the Lord. I want to show you one more verse and I'll be done. Book of Isaiah tonight. Isaiah chapter number 43. Look at verse number 13. The Lord said, yea, before the day was, I am he. Y'all get that? Three times I told you there was a day. And now God says, yay, before the day was, I am. He was already there. And whatever you're facing tonight, he was there before you got there. Yay, before the day was, I am he. There is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let it? Glory to God. Before the day was, I am. Thank God before we ever got to these troubles, before we ever got to these trials, God was already there in his providential care, making a way for us to make it through. By the grace of God, amen. You say, well, I'm in ruin, and I'm surprised. Well, he rose, and he's sovereign, and he was already there, hallelujah. For the day was, I am. Bless his name, hallelujah. Glory. Oh, when you're doing right, and the day goes all wrong. Everything may be fine tonight. But boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Tomorrow could get worse. For Brother Brian, it could be the day the Lord says, that's enough. I'm going to turn it all around. But whatever kind of day it is, before the day was, is. The question is, will you and I pass the test? Brother Sam, I desperately want to pass the test. One preacher said about Job, he said, of course, he proved Satan wrong and stayed faithful. He said, and every time we preach or teach from the book of Job about trusting God and God helping us and accomplishing His purpose through suffering, he said, every time somebody says, open your Bible to the book of Job, He said, I wonder if a demon in hell says to Satan, I told you we should have left him alone. Yeah, got that right. I want to be able to make it through on the other side, Brother Sam, and the demons of hell say to Satan, I told you we should have left him alone. Because here's the deal, Job's been gone for thousands of years and tonight I open my Bible to the book of Job and fed you from the word of God. Oh my soul. If Job hadn't have stayed faithful, all we'd see was his failure. but instead we see the faithfulness of God. And I don't want people to look at my trials and see my failure, but oh God, I want them to be able to look at my trials and see the faithfulness of God. Honey, if we don't ever get better one day, it'll all be better. And we'll be glad we stayed faithful. Greater Vision sings a song and the chorus goes like this. And only one thing will matter when I see his face. For there's eternal meaning in this one little phrase. And when this life is over and a new one's begun, I want it to start with, well done. I listen to that song often and say, God, Granddad, he's been so good to me. I don't want to disappoint him, Brother Brian. I want to cross the finish line thankful and be able to hear him say, well done, not because of my good, but because it'll bring him glory. And he's worthy of all the glory. I never will forget the first time God ever let me preach in the Holy Ghost. I mean, God sat down on me and let me preach. Not within myself, but he took me beyond myself and let me preach in the fire. I don't remember much about it, Brother Brian, but I do remember this. My daddy's always been the hero. And I remember him standing up in the midst of that sermon and saying, Hallelujah, that's my boy! Hallelujah! And I got through preaching, and he said, that's the proudest I've ever been in my life. And I love my daddy, but more than him, there's somebody that sets way higher than that. And I aim to please. Oh, he's done things for me my daddy couldn't do. And I don't, Oh, I don't want to disappoint him. I want to be found faithful. By his good grace, I want to be found doing right when the day goes all wrong. I'm done tonight, sis. Will you come back to the piano? Let's play for invitation. I know it's proper to say I preached longer than I meant to and blah, blah, blah. But I did not. I didn't preach one second later than I meant to. And furthermore, I don't believe I preached one second later than God meant for me to. I don't say that in pride. I'm just saying I was trying to please him. and I'm trying to give you something to take home that'll drive you to please him when the day goes on wrong. Oh God, maybe tonight you're in a hard place. Be a good idea for you to say, Lord, please help me to honor you in the hard places. Please make it to where somebody will see your faithfulness in my trials and not my failures. Oh, some of us need to come tell the Lord, Lord, I love you more than my protection. I love you more than my possessions. I love you more than my physical health. I love you more. Oh, somebody needs to come tell the Lord I'm more in love with you, the giver, than I am the gifts. Oh, God help us.