Job chapter number 40. I believe this is our 42nd sermon from the book of Job and There is light at the end of the tunnel basically we're gonna have tonight's sermon and then He talks about two more animals. He brings up two more animals that that gets us down through chapter number 41 now You're not gonna miss those animals. We're talking about behemoth in chapter 40 verses 15 to 24 And then chapter number 41, he talks about Leviathan. And you're not going to want to miss that, I guarantee. Leviathan. So we're going to start in Job chapter number 40. Would you stand with me as we read Job chapter 40 in verse number 1? Job chapter 40 in verse number 1. And please forgive me, we're going to do a little bit of a review because I think it's necessary to get what the Lord is about to say next in context. I often feel bad spending too much time in review, but I'm also aware that sometimes people have other things going on and don't quite get it all. And I think that we need to just have a quick review to be able to get to where we are tonight. Job chapter 40, verse number one, the Bible says, Moreover, the Lord answered Job and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. Verse number six, then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind and said, gird up thy loins now like a man. I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me. Will thou also disannul my judgment? Will thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency, and array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath, and behold everyone that is proud, and abase him. Look on everyone that is proud, and bring him low, and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret. Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. Father, I pray that you bless the time and the word of God tonight. I pray that it will be profitable as we study Job chapter number 40, and Lord, that we might remember that you are the almighty God. We love you, and we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, thank you, and be seated. The title of the message tonight is Contending with Your Creator, Contending with Your Creator. On more than one account, Job has made a statement that he would like to have an opportunity to talk to Almighty God, that he would like to ask the Lord a question. Now, I need to be honest with you. I mean, I'm sure that all of us have certain questions that we would like to ask God about, that we'd like to talk to God and say, Lord, what about this? And why is this? And why is that? But we're not talking about a casual asking God of questions or asking God why he did something. Job has said on a number of occasions that he wants an answer from God. Literally wants to demand an answer that God, his creator, would give him. Look back with me at Job chapter 13. Job chapter 13 in verse number three. Job 13 in verse number three. In verse number three, surely I will speak to the almighty and desire to reason with God. He said, I'm gonna speak to the almighty and I'm gonna have a dialogue with him. And he says, I want him to reason with me. I want him to give me an answer of why this is going on in my life. Now here's a man sitting in ashes, a man that lost his house, lost his buildings, his outbuildings, his barns, lost his cattle, lost his servants, lost his sheep, lost his wealth, and most of all, lost his children. The man lost absolutely everything. And he's saying, I want God to reason with me. I want God to give me an explanation of why this is going on in my life. Look at chapter number 31. Job chapter number 31. Look with me at verse number 35. Job 31 and verse number 35. The Bible says in verse number 35, Job 31, chapter number 31, verse number 35, The Bible says, oh, that one would hear me. Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. He said, I wish that the Almighty would answer me. I want him to give me an answer of why I'm going through what I'm going through. Now, I need to just, because titles and names mean something, when he refers to God, and many times in the book of Job, by him and his friends, they refer to the Lord, and they use this phrase or name or title of God, and the title that they use is Almighty. Do you believe that God is Almighty? Oh, listen, he is almighty. The title almighty means possessing all power, that our God possesses all power, all power. He is omnipotent, being of unlimited might, that God can do everything, that he has the authority to do everything. He is almighty. Now, when we say I want the almighty, all powerful God to give me an explanation of why he's doing what he's doing in my life, When we word it that way, it sounds a little bit troublesome to say, I want the Almighty God to give me an answer. I want the Almighty God to reason with me and explain to me what He's doing. Genesis chapter 17, verse 1, and when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the Almighty God. I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Wow, in Exodus chapter six, verse number three. And I appeared unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. Revelation chapter one, verse number eight. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. He's saying I have always been the Almighty, I always will be the Almighty. I am the all-powerful God. I am the all-sovereign and controlling God. And listen, that's who the Lord is. He is the almighty God. And so he asks in chapter number 38, in chapter number 38, he's asking Job to say, I want the Lord to answer me. Well, in chapter 38, the Lord answers him. Chapter 38, verse number one, then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, So God's not gonna answer him now. It's interesting that he's answering out of a whirlwind. And if we have time, we'll get to that, because he's also in the whirlwind in chapter 40. But he answers him in a whirlwind. And when I try to explain to you what God is doing, he's saying, all right, Job, you want an answer from me? Verse number three, gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee and answer thou me. All right, Job, you want an answer from me, the almighty God? All right, put on your big boy pants. put on your girdle, put yourself together, because we're gonna reason together, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about who I am. And what God does is this, and the word gird, we get the word girdle from, it's when a man was gonna go for, when he was gonna contend, when he was in a fight, he would gird up his loins, like Ephesians chapter number six, 1 Peter, gird up the loins of your mind, it is to take everything that's loose and tuck it in, and you're preparing to to wrestle, you're preparing to contend. He says, you want a reasoning from me? You want to contend with me? All right, Job, then you gird up your loins and let me just tell you a little bit about who I am. And what God did, and we already talked about this, God is going to now talk about the earth. And in this earth, he's gonna talk about the sea and the water in the earth in chapter number 38 and verse number eight. Chapter 38, verse number eight. He says, or who shut up the sea with doors when it break forth as if they had issues out of the womb. He talks about the sea and he's the God that created the sea and separated the sea from the dry land. Look at verse number 25. Job 38 verse number 25 who have divided a water course for the overflowing of waters or the way for the lightning lightning of thunder He's I control the water of the rivers that run into the sea. I'm the guy that made that I'm the one that that puts the paths in the sea I'm the one that did that I am the God that created the seas and I'm the guy that created the earth look at chapter 38 verse number 4 and Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? He says, I'm the God that made the earth. I'm the God that made the sea. I'm the God that made the dry land. I'm the God that did that. And not only did I do that, but I created the sea and the earth. I put those animals there on that earth. He says, I'm also the God that created the first heaven. Now that first heaven, we know in the Bible there's three heavens. There's a first heaven, there's a second heaven, and then there's the third heaven. And he says, I'm the God that created the sea, and I'm the God that created the earth. I'm the God that created everything that's in the first heaven. And the first heaven are the fowls of the air. The clouds, the rain, the snow, that is all in the first heaven. He's on the God that made that first heaven. Look at chapter 38 and verse number 4. Job 38 and verse number 34. The Bible says in verse 34, Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? I'm the God that controls the clouds. I'm a God that controls the fowl of the air. Now, later on, he's gonna enumerate all these different animals, and many of them that he talks about are animals that dwell in the first heaven. He says, I'm a God that created the sea. I'm a God that created the earth. I'm the God that created the first heaven and everything therein. I'm the God that created the second heaven and everything that's therein. Now, the second heaven is where the sun, moon, and stars are. Should I try to draw birds here? Does this help? Okay. I'm the God that created the stars. Let's look at this in chapter number 38 and verse number 31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth a Maseroth in his season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? He says, listen, do you, are you, listen, I'm very bad at knowing what constellations there are. I have no idea. But I do know Orion. I got that one figured out. When I was preaching in Africa, I wanted to see the cross, but I didn't see it. I know the Big Dipper. I know the Little Dipper. I know Orion. That's all I know. But I know that as I'm looking at it and I see those little tiny stars twinkling, that they're not little tiny stars. They're massive. that if any star we could see with the naked eye was replaced with our sun, if we swapped our sun for any star we saw, we would all die. because you're all more powerful than our own son is. And that's the God that made him. He's not the God that made him. He says, listen, you can't tell me about the fish of the sea. You can't tell me about the animals in the dry land. You can't tell me about the first heaven, the fowls and the lightning and the clouds and the evaporation, condensation, precipitation. You can't tell me how all that works. You can't tell me about the stars and the heavens. I mean, listen, man, how powerful is man? Well, we made it to the moon. How about that? Some of you don't think we did, but we made it to the moon. That's man's greatest achievement. We made it to the very next rock. That's about it. What God's saying is, listen, Job, listen to me. I'm the God that created these things. I'm the God that controls all these things. Now listen, I am also the God that is the Almighty God, and the Bible says that God dwells in the third heaven. He said, you can't answer me to where you live. You can't answer me about the fowls of the air or the stars and the second heaven, and I'm the God that dwells in the third heaven. And let me remind you, the Bible's very clear that the God that dwells in that third heaven, he does what he pleases. I'm the Almighty God, and I do what I please. And that might sound a little bit rough, but he's the creator. The Bible says in the book of Revelation chapter 4, verse number 11, that all things were created for him, that he's worthy of our praise because he created all things. Let me read it. We can quote it. But look at Revelation chapter number 4. Keep your finger on Job. Revelation chapter 4. Revelation chapter four, look at verse number 11. Revelation four and 11. While you're turning there, well, just let's read that. Revelation chapter four, verse number 11. The Bible says in verse number 11, thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. Why? For thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Everything that was made was made to the glory of its creator. I'm telling you, I was sitting on the porch the other day drinking some tea, doesn't get much better than that, and I heard a bird, and I'm telling you, it was singing, I don't know what kind of bird it is. I know a couple birds, a crow, I can figure out what a crow is. I know what a blue jay sounds like, I got that one figured out. An oriole, I know what that is. But whatever this, I know what a woodpecker sounds like. I got that figured out, but this, I'm telling you, I'm sitting there and I'm listening, and I don't know what kind of bird it was. I didn't even see it, but I heard it. But I'm telling you, it was whistling, hallelujah, praise the Lord. I'm telling you, that's what I heard. I heard, it was whistling, hallelujah, praise the Lord. I don't know why I thought that, but that's what I heard. And then I couldn't unhear it. Every time I said it, it said, hallelujah, praise the Lord. So I said, hallelujah, praise the Lord. I'm having a conversation with this bird, and we're praising Jesus. Two bird brains. Praising our creator. It was all created for him. So now he's looking at Job and saying, listen, Job, I'm the God, the Almighty God, and I dwell in the third heaven. The verses that I was quoting is Psalm 115, verse number three, but our God is in heaven. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And so for some reason, we don't see the Lord as our ultimate authority, as Almighty God, and yet he introduces himself to us as, who are you? I'm Almighty God. See, when Jesus was on earth, and by the way, Jesus is God. And when Jesus was on earth, there was a couple encounters where Jesus is doing something. Jesus is teaching in the temple. And here come the Pharisees and say, by what authority doest thou these things? By what authority? Isn't that amazing? They're looking at the creator of the world saying, who do you think you are reading a Bible? that you inspired and that's about you in a temple that's dedicated to you. Everything we're doing here pictures what you are going to do. Who do you think you are? Well, listen, he is the savior. He is the only mediator between God and man. He's the creator of all the world. The Bible says in Colossians chapter number one that he created all things. By him, all things were created. And by him, all things consist. He said, I'm the God that made the sea. I'm the God that made the earth and the first heaven and the second heaven. And I'm the God that let the third heaven to come down to this earth and to die for you. And one day I'm going to go back to that third heaven and every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess to the glory of God the Father. Listen, that's who I am. So the question is, well, where'd you get your authority? Well, He's Almighty God. He has all authority. And by the way, according to the book of Romans, every authority is ordained by God. So if you have authority as a father or as a mother, if you have authority as a pastor, if you have authority as a police officer, if you have authority as a politician, All that authority was given by Almighty God. See, that's why the world wants to get rid of God. That's why government wants to get rid of God. Because if you get rid of capital G, then what do we have left? Government. I'm just telling you, we're going to be ruled by man, or we're going to be ruled by God. He is the Almighty God. He's the Almighty Father. That's who He is. And so he says, all right, Job, you want to ask me a question? All right, before you ask me any questions, before I answer you, let me tell you who I am. Let me tell you what I've done. And then in chapter number 40 is where we pick it up in verse number one. Moreover, the Lord answered Job and said, shall he that contended with the Almighty instruct him? He says, all right, Job, I've told you who I am. I am the Almighty God that made these things. Would you like to instruct me? You can't tell me where the peacock got its feathers. You wanna instruct me? Listen, I know we're looking, and listen, we've been very gracious to Job, and I think he's a better man than we will ever be, but I will tell you this, there's something to be learned here because I do believe that when you and I don't submit to the authority of Almighty God, we are prideful enough to ask God why he's doing what he's doing. Have you ever had those conversations with the Lord? Well, Lord, how come I have to go through this? I can't relate, I can't totally relate, but the best that I can is to look at a child, look at my five-year-old that's asking me, you know, I tell him, listen, you need to eat your bread. Well, why? Right? Now, I can answer him in one of two ways. I can tell him, I can say, listen, and the why really dictates my response. the why dictates my response, meaning if he says, I say, all right, son, eat your broccoli. I better eat mine, too, unless I preach to others and I myself be a castaway. I say, son, I don't want you to eat your broccoli. And he looks at me, and he says, well, why, daddy? I already had some. Why do I have to have more broccoli? OK, well, because your mother's making us eat it. No, because it's good for you, and it'll help. Oh, OK. But if he does one of these, well, why? Why do I have to eat my broccoli? Okay, now there's a different problem. See, in that question, he's not questioning my authority. See, I believe this. I believe that the Lord is answering through a whirlwind for a reason. You know, when Elisha was going through his turmoil, and he's running in a cave, and he's just discouraged, he's asking the same question, why? Why am I the only one? Why is that wicked woman pursuing my life, why? And there's an earthquake, and there's a wind, a mighty wind, and there's an earthquake, but the Lord didn't talk to him through there. He talked to him through a still, small voice. I believe it's the same question, why? Totally different response. when we begin to question God's authority. I want an answer from Almighty God. Okay, well then, for sometimes, sometimes it is totally appropriate for you and I as parents to raise our voice to enforce our authority. I'm not talking about screaming at your kids. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about lying off the handle or being angry. And I'm not talking about that. But there are times because I'm your father and I said so. Those are appropriate times for that, right? I'm almighty God. So Job, answer me. Go ahead, Job, answer me. Ask me your questions. Do you want to instruct me? He that reproveth God, let him answer. Do you want to reprove me? Do you want to instruct me? Do you want to prove me? Do you want me to tell me how I could do better? Do you want to tell me where I'm doing something wrong? Would you like to just fill out this questionnaire? about my service, would you just, how could we serve you better? Now, I know I'm belittling a little bit, but I'll tell you this, many times in our prayers, many times in our prayers, we might not reprove the Lord, but we instruct him. Lord, this is the problem, and this is how I think you need to fix it. Come on, people, we've all done that. Because in our little minds, okay, this is the problem, and you can do everything, you're Almighty God, and so this is what you need to do. But the fact that he's Almighty God does not just mean he can do everything, it means that he's the authority to figure out how it needs to be done. So the idea to say, all right, Lord, well, whatever it is, work it out for your glory. Isn't that where we started some 42 sermons ago? that this whole confrontation between the devil and God, and Job is the pawn, he's the chess piece, if you will, and the whole battle is who's gonna get the glory? God or the devil? And realizing that he's Almighty God, he says, alright God, you're way beyond me, I'm not gonna instruct you, I'm certainly not gonna reprove you, I'm not gonna do that. So he says, answer it, verse number three. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. Behold, I am vile. The Bible says on two different occasions that Job was a perfect and upright man that feared God and eschewed evil. He was so perfect and upright that when Satan was looking for somebody to devour, he says, have you considered my servant Job? Look at that guy. And Job, in his uprightness and his spiritual maturity, when he came face to face with God, what's he say? I'm vile. I'm just vile. I believe the closer that we get to the Lord, the more we realize how vile we are. I believe that. I believe that when we clean ourselves up and we think that we've arrived, that we're pretty far from the Lord. And we pray thus with ourselves. But I believe the closer that we get, the more vile we realize we really are. The word vile means morally despicable or abhorred. Do you realize all the men that came in the presence of God such as this? Realize the same thing. In the book of Isaiah, chapter number six, what did Isaiah say? He saw the Lord high and lifted up. What did he say? Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips. He said, I am undone. Ezekiel, Joshua, Paul. The end result is I am unworthy. but I'm willing to do whatever you tell me to do, to recognize that you're almighty and I'm not. He says, I'm vile. Charles Spurgeon, a famous preacher, said, we must all be caused to see our lightness next to God. Surely, if any man had a right to say, I am not vile, it was Job, for according to the testimony of God himself, he was a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil. Yet we find even this eminent saint, when by his nearness to God he had received light enough to discover his own condition, exclaiming, behold, I am vile. Repentance is about seeing us as God sees us and realizing that we need to change because he's almighty God. So look at this. Go with me to the book of Psalm, if you would. Psalm chapter number eight. Psalm eight. Before Job says he's vile and God pointed out these things on heaven and earth, God points out the animals, the lion, the wild goat, the unicorn, the peacock, the ostrich, the horse, the hawk, and the eagle. Now we've preached on all of those things. And somebody said, well, why are you preaching on all these animals? I didn't bring them up, God did. God brought them up for a purpose. And what did I tell you to go? Psalm 8, let's go to Psalm 8. Psalm 8, look with me, verse number one. Psalm 8, verse number one. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Now watch this. David says, when I consider thy heavens and the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. He says, when I consider, This second heaven, when I consider the sun, the moon, the stars, when I lay down on the grass and look up and I see those stars and I see the constellations, I think, wow, how wonderful you are. You are an almighty God. Now I know in the next couple of years, we're scheduled to launch a new telescope that is a hundred times more powerful than the Hubble telescope. And tonight I can tell you exactly what they're gonna find. Of course, if it has the right lens and there's no finger smudges on it. If it's fully focused. 100 times more powerful than the Hubble telescope. You know what it's gonna show? It's gonna show how wonderful our God is. And for the first time, humans are going to see things that no human has ever seen. That tells me that some 6,000 years ago, God created those things to show his glory that only our generation was going to be able to see. I love it when they go down as deep as they can go in the Marianas Trench and go, well, look at that. We didn't know this animal. How does this animal live? Well, look at this light. It has lights of its own making here. How did this happen? That's been down there for 6,000 years, and we've never seen them before. And they might look down at the deepest part of the sea, and they might look at the farthest expanse of space and say, wow, what billions and billions of years. When I see those things, I say, hey, what an almighty God. And then he says this, he says, when I consider these things, David says in verse number four, he says, verse number three, when I consider the heavens and the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man? Vile. What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? Lord, with all the things you made, why do you even care about us? Why would you ever visit us? Why would this almighty God care about us? Verse number five, for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Watch this, verse six. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and beasts of the field. You know what that is? That's the earth. Is that right? He says, we talked about the heavens and the work of your fingers, and now he's talking about the earth and the animals that are on the earth. Same thing. Look at verse number eight, the fowls of the air. He's talking about the fowls of the air. So folks, he talks about the second heaven. He's talking about the fowls of the air, the first heaven. He's talking about the earth, right? Do we see that? He said, Lord, you're just a great God. Verse number eight, the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the palace of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. Now watch, he said in verse number one, the conclusion of it. Verse one, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy glory above the heavens. He said, you're a great God. And I have no idea why you even think about us. Because you know who we are? We're nothing but a pile of dust at our best. We're vile and worthless. And yet you love us and you care for us. Go back to Job and we'll finish up. Job chapter 40. Job says, behold, I'm vile, verse number four. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Lord, I don't have anything else to say. The Bible says it includes, yes, it's chapter five, verse number two. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. Why? For God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. God's in heaven. He's almighty. He's the creator of all things. We have to be careful what we say. So Job says, listen, I've spoken once and maybe twice, but I'm not going to speak again. I'm done. I'm done contending. I'm done complaining. I'm done reproving. I'm done asking the question, why? You're God. You're almighty. You're in heaven. And you do what you please. Verse number six, because we just got to finish it. Then answered the Lord and said unto Job, out of the whirlwind, again, out of the whirlwind. Again, he says in verse number seven, gird up the loins like a man. The Lord's not done. He said, all right, Job, I'm not done here. I'm still talking to the whirlwind. I still want you to gird up your loins like a man. I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me. Will thou also disannul my judgment? Do you just want to discount my judgment? Will thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous? Now, I'm telling you, there's a whole sermon that could be preached on that. We're gonna belittle or we're gonna besmirch or we're gonna pull down who God is so that we're better? Wow. He says in verse number nine, hast thou an arm like God? Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency, and array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath, and behold everyone that is proud, and abase him. Can you take the people that are proud, and can you humble them? Look, verse number 12, look on everyone that is proud, and bring him low, and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret. Then will I confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. Joe, if you can do these things, then, Boy, then your own hand can save you. But you can't do those things. but I can save you. I want to end with this thought, because it's a New Testament principle. I mean, it's a Bible principle, but it's declared very wonderfully in the New Testament. And these verses mean an awful lot to me. And I don't share this story very often. As a teenager, I was very bitter against God, very bitter. I was never really rebellious against my parents. I never got it out and did a whole bunch of stupid things and stuff. But I was bitter. And I was bitter at God, and I really didn't even know that I was bitter. Has that ever happened to you? You were bitter about something, and you didn't really know you were bitter, but something came about, and it proved to you that you were bitter. And I was bitter against the Lord, and I was bitter because I was half black. I was bitter against the Lord because my biological father left before I was born, and my grandparents disowned my mom, and she was a young teenage girl when she had me, and that side of the family kind of abandoned her. I was bitter about that. I was bitter that I ended up getting saved, and my parents got saved, and went to a Christian school, and I would see girls there, and be interested in the girls, and on more than one occasion, on several occasions, well, Ken Sparks is a really nice guy, but you can't date him because he's black. And that would get back to me, and my whole family was white, and the whole school was white, and I was bitter. It wasn't until the mission's trip in Mexico, where we're down in Mexico, and forgive me, you probably heard this story, but we're in Mexico, and we're passing on gospel tracts as a teenager, about 16 years old. I'm gonna go in the Marines, that's what I wanna do. And I didn't really even know how bitter I was. Passing on gospel tracts, and here comes this old, short, little lady, and she comes up to me, and she starts screaming and pointing her finger at me. I'm yelling at me in Spanish, and I'm like backed up against the wall, like what in the world is going on here? And she ended up leaving, and I asked the missionary, what was that about? Oh, she's just a local witch. I said, well, what was she yelling about? Oh, she just put a curse on you. Well, that's great. That's wonderful. Probably that I'd lose my hair. I'm not sure what the curse was, but. I said, why was she screaming at me? We had all these people here watching. He said, how many tracks have you passed out? I said, I don't know. I'm on my third or fourth stack. He said, all your friends haven't finished their first stack yet. I said, well, why? Why are they taking them? He said, everybody's taking them from you. I said, why? Because of me. Because they think you're one of them. What do you mean they think I'm? Because of your skin color. What? That night, the preacher got up and preached there in that little mud church, a little adobe church, Romans chapter nine. Can the clay say to the potter, why hast thou made me thus? And it dawned on me, I've been bitter about this thing. Because that was, I never worded it that way, but that's exactly how I felt. God, why did you make me this way? Can the clay say to the potter, why hast thou made me thus? He's the creator. He's Almighty God. He can do whatever He wants to do. And I'll be honest with you, I hit that altar as a teenage boy. I said, Lord, you're in control. Whatever you want me to do, I mean, you know, this is the skin color. I'm sure you made me this way so I could be a pastor in Woodstock, Virginia. I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea. That sounds like a plan to me, Lord. What do you know? Let me ask this question. You have some bitterness. We always refer to bitterness against people because it's really hard to admit that you're bitter against God. But you know deep down inside, every bad situation that you're in, God could go like this and it would be over. Right? Financial, physical, marital, gone. You know as well as I do. And we know he loves us. So Lord, you love us, why don't you go like this? Job, do you wanna instruct me? Joe, you want to tell me how to do this? The other day, I was driving and my wife is not a backseat driver because she sits next to me. If she sat behind me, she'd be a backseat driver. And so I didn't want to drive. I didn't want to drive. And so I was just tired. And so I go to get in. And she goes, no, no, no. I want you to drive. Please drive. I said, I'm really tired. Please drive. I said, OK, fine. I'll drive. So I get in. Put my seatbelt on. We pull out. I take a left. She says, why are you going this way? I pulled over, put it in park. I got out. She said, what are you doing? I said, you're driving. That's it, I didn't want to drive in the first place, and you're gonna tell me how to drive? Nope, it's all you, babe, it's all you. And it was, like, you're gonna tell me how, you make me drive, and then you're gonna tell me which way to turn, all right, whatever. So, praise the Lord, we got that right. So, folks, listen, God is not our co-pilot. You remember those license plates and bumper stickers? God is my co-pilot. No, he's not. He's not your co-pilot. You're lucky to be on the plane. We're not even in first class. Lord, you could just go like this, and that problem would be gone. And then because we know that, I think deep in our hearts sometimes we go, well, why isn't he doing that? Why isn't he taking care of that problem? Why isn't my spouse getting saved? Why do I still have this spilling? Why are they threatening to cut off my lights? Why won't my kid come back to church? Why can't they heal me of this sickness? Lord, you could just, why, Lord, why don't you just, and it could be, the Lord could have done that in Job's life. He could have done that in the Apostle Paul's life. He says, no, I'm gonna get more glory with you going through that. I got this, I'm the almighty God. Is there some circumstance, and there's a little bit of root of bitterness? Listen, you know, it doesn't go away unless you take care of it. It only grows. It's the most invasive weed there is. We had, in Connecticut, in our yard, we had these bamboo shoot things. I don't know what they're called, but we went out there, we spent a day, bamboo? Is that the technical term? I don't think it technically was bamboo, but it was bamboo-like. And it grew really fast. So we went out there with the boys, and we're hacking this stuff down. We cut it all down. I ran that thing over, and I'm like, all right. I kid you not, two days later, it was this tall. It grew so fast that I would measure it. And the problem was, I said, oh, fine, I'll take care of you. And I just mowed that whole thing down. And I kicked all the stuff out towards a good part of the lawn. And it started growing over there. It's just this invasive weed. And it's like, how do you get rid of this? And sometimes, if it goes too far, you end up killing good things. If you don't kill that first, it will spread. And bitterness against God, I'm just telling you, it can spread. And I wanna be honest with you, I had no intention whatsoever of talking about bitterness tonight. You have some bitterness? The Bible says, by a root of bitterness, many shall be defiled. One little root, and it spreads. He's Almighty God, He does what He pleases. Yes, He loves you. But we've been put on this planet to give Him glory, and we can't reprove Him, we can't contend with Him, we can't instruct Him. We just have to trust Him. because we only have two more chapters left and we find out in the end, he's a pretty good God. He always has been. Father, I pray that you'd bless this time in the word of God. Lord, I just feel just really led to, Lord, to lean towards that bitterness. And Lord, I'm not even saying that Job was bitter, he was questioning God and he was questioning you and was frustrated with how his life was turning out. Lord, I just imagine that there's probably a few of us here that might be struggling with some bitterness, put a predicament or a circumstance that's uncomfortable and hard and brings tears to their eyes and grieves their hearts. And we know that you're almighty and that you're God that loves us and that you could just snap your finger and it would all be over. But yet, Lord, it seems like you're tarrying and so we want to instruct you and we just kind of fret and we worry. And Satan whispers in our ears that you really don't care. And that bitterness begins to spread. Lord, I pray that we'd realize that you're almighty God. I pray, Lord, during this invitation that we could bow our knee to your power and your authority. I pray that we could, at this invitation, bow our knee and confess some root of bitterness or not being thankful, being complaining about certain situations that we find ourselves in, that we could just worship you whether we're in Whether we're doing well or doing poorly, our circumstance don't dictate who you are, you're always good. Help us, Lord, tonight to remember that. If you had bowed, if you had closed, let me ask you this. Who would say, you know what, Pastor, I realize tonight, freshly new, that he is Almighty God, and he's in heaven, he does what he pleases, and I'm just gonna trust him. If that's you, would you just up your hand? Praise the Lord, amen, amen, amen. You can put your hands down. This is gonna be a hard one to admit, Is the Holy Spirit tonight just really impressing upon you that bitterness in your heart that maybe you never even knew was there until this time right now? That you're going through something or have gone through something in the past and it has produced some bitterness against God? If that's you, would you honestly step up to your hand? Amen, thank you for your honesty. Hey, can we cut down that forgiveness? Can we deal with that? Can we root it out at an old-fashioned altar? Pray to Him and thank Him for being almighty. Or come and ask the Lord to forgive you for that bitterness and just thank Him for who He really is. Father, I pray that you bless this invitation. With every head bowed, every eye closed, would you stand on your feet and the piano's gonna play. Let's talk to the Lord tonight before we go home. Let's just thank Him for being almighty. Let's confess some bitterness, perhaps, in your heart and life. Would you come?