New Covenant Bible Church: St. Charles, IL

Job 26-42

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:32:00 -0500

In Job 26-31, we hear from Job. In faith, Job is clinging to His wise and faithful God. In Job 32-37 Elihu emerges and gives his speech. He is the only counselor who is not rebuked by God in 42:7-10. Elihu's speech gives God glory for both His justice and His mercy.

In Job 38-42 we are going to read God's response to Job. God mercifully responds to Job by revealing His awesome, majestic glory. It seems that Job never fully understands why he experienced so much suffering, but he finally he was content to simply cling to the trustworthiness of Yahweh.

“I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

‘Hear, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you make it known to me.’

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees you;

therefore I despise myself,

and repent in dust and ashes.”

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” - Job 42:2-6

A book that has been very helpful for me as I'm reading through the Bible this year is God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology by James Hamilton. I very highly recommend it. Here is a section that I think is a helpful conclusion as you finish out your reading in Job.

"The book of Job teaches the mysterious, hidden nature of the justice and mercy of God. We must trust what we cannot see. Job gets the vindication he desires when Yahweh declares that he has spoken what is right (42:7), but this vindication comes only after the purifying condemnation of his ignorance and presumption in chapters 38-41. Job's vindication is accompanied by the rejection of Satan's accusations and the false conclusions of his friends, and through the condemnation of their ignorance the friends too might be saved (42:7-9). Job experiences the glory of God in a salvation that comes through judgment, and that is the central message of the book that bears his name."

Job 4-25

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:44:00 -0500

If you are following the Bible Reading Plan, you should be somewhere around Job 15 today. You are right in the middle of the cycle of conversations between Job and his counselors. I think it would help if you jumped ahead and read chapter 42. In Job 42:7-9 you read about God's response to Job's counselors when He rebukes them and calls them to repentance.

Although Job does not understand why God has caused his suffering, he does express his faith in God.
In 9:32-35 he recognizes his need for a mediator.
In 16:19-21 he knows his mediator is in heaven.
In 19:25-26 he has faith that his redeemer lives.

There are three cycles to the speeches of Job and his Counselors

Job 4-14	Job 15-21	Job 22-25
4-5 Eliphaz’s 1st speech	15 Eliphaz's 2nd speech	22 Eliphaz's 3rd speech
6-7 Job’s response	16-17 Job's response	23-24 Job's response
8 Bildad's 1st speech	18 Bildad's 2nd speech	25 Bildad’s 3rd speech
9-10 Job's response	19 Job's response
11 Zophar's 1st speech	20 Zophar's 2nd speech
12-14 Job's response	21 Job’s response

Bible Reading- Job

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:22:00 -0500

Youth Group!

It's obvious that I'm getting late start on blogging through our Bible reading plan. This past Sunday, I encouraged you that this would be a great week to jump into the Bible reading plan if you had missed the first three weeks. We finished Genesis and are jumping into Job this week. This week we are reading Job 1-24.

These two paragraphs from the ESV Study Bible will be helpful to give you some help with the theme of Job. "The book of Job concerns itself with the question of faith in a sovereign God. Can God be trusted? Is he good and just in his rule of the world? Job will declare outright that God has wronged him (19:6–7). At the same time, Job is certain that his “enemy” is actually his advocate and will vindicate him.

The book sets out from the beginning to show that the reasons for human suffering often remain a secret to human beings. Indeed, Job’s sufferings come upon him because Satan accused him in the heavenly courts, and the reader never learns whether these reasons were explained to Job. Probably they were not. There is irony in the book of Job, due to the fact that God seems both too close and too far away. On the one hand, Job complains that God is watching him every moment so that he cannot even swallow his spit (7:19). On the other hand, Job finds God elusive, feeling that he cannot be found (9:11). Though God is intensely concerned about humans, he does not always answer their most agonizing questions."

Youth Group!

These two paragraphs from the ESV Study Bible will be helpful to give you some help with the theme of Job.

"The book of Job concerns itself with the question of faith in a sovereign God. Can God be trusted? Is he good and just in his rule of the world? Job will declare outright that God has wronged him (19:6–7). At the same time, Job is certain that his “enemy” is actually his advocate and will vindicate him.
The book sets out from the beginning to show that the reasons for human suffering often remain a secret to human beings. Indeed, Job’s sufferings come upon him because Satan accused him in the heavenly courts, and the reader never learns whether these reasons were explained to Job. Probably they were not. There is irony in the book of Job, due to the fact that God seems both too close and too far away. On the one hand, Job complains that God is watching him every moment so that he cannot even swallow his spit (7:19). On the other hand, Job finds God elusive, feeling that he cannot be found (9:11). Though God is intensely concerned about humans, he does not always answer their most agonizing questions."

Fall Events

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:33:00 -0500

Here are our upcoming events for the youth ministry for the Fall.

9/11__8:45______Begin 7th-12th Sunday School in room 305
9/14__6:30-8:15__Youth Group every week unless noted
9/17__9:00-4:30__Work Day (Brautigam) Lunch provided
9/28__6:30-8:15__All Church Prayer Meeting (Worship Center)
10/26_6:30-8:15__All Church Prayer Meeting (Worship Center)
10/28_8pm-8am__Lock in / Bonfire
11/9__6:30-8:15__Youth Group  (Parent Meeting)
11/16_6:30-8:15__All Church Prayer Meeting (Worship Center)
11/23_6:30-8:15__No Youth Group- Thanksgiving
12/7__6:30-8:15__All Church Prayer Meeting (Worship Center)

For more information please contact Dan Leeper at dleeper@newcbc.org

Welcome

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 13:40:00 -0500

Welcome to the New Covenant Bible Church Youth Ministry Blog. I am planning to use this blog to provide resources for our teens and parents. Our church is excited about our Read the Bible for Life initiative that we began last week. We are encouraging every teen to participate by reading through the Bible this year, and I'm hoping to help the teens by writing small devotional thoughts about what God is teaching me through the reading. I will also use this blog to post other helpful things for the youth group like announcements, links to helpful resources, etc.

If you have any questions please email me at dleeper@newcbc.org