Sermons from September 2024
Job 1:1-5
SERIES: The Book of Job Man of Perseverance, Man of Piety SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Have you heard of the perseverance of Job? The Apostle James assumes you have, for in the last chapter of his NT epistle he is recounting the blessings that come through endurance and says, “You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” Whenever we think of Job, certain word associations immediately enter our minds—not just…
Job 1:6-2:10
SERIES: The Book of Job God in the Dock SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: The Court of Heaven has just been called to order. The Judge sits on His throne and listens as His various messengers and assistants report on their recent activities. Suddenly an intruder makes an entrance. A hush falls upon the entire proceedings. The others recognize this intruder because there was a time when he was a welcome Advocate at the Court. But he has long since abandoned the Judge and has established his…
Job 2:11-3:26
SERIES: The Book of Job How to Comfort a Broken Heart SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Most people are not known for their compassion and caring these days. In Stockholm Sweden last year a woman sat for two months on her balcony from about the first of January until the first of March before a neighbor discovered she was dead. The woman was sitting in a chair, dressed in a coat and hat. Her forehead was leaning against the railing. Margaretha Marsellas, a neighbor, realized something…
Job 4:1-14
SERIES: The Book of Job Round One of the Garbage Dump Debate SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: A Junior High School teacher was showing her class through an art museum. As they passed from gallery to gallery, she enthusiastically extolled the abilities of the men and women whose paintings graced the walls. “A truly great artist,” she was heard to say, “can turn a smiling face into a frowning one with a single stroke of his brush.” In response one of the boys remarked in…
Job 15-21
SERIES: The Book of Job Round Two of the Garbage Dump Debate: What About the Prosperity of the Wicked? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Note to David: Check to see how the two parallel lists halfway through this sermon come out with the formatting. Introduction: Two of the major philosophical questions believers of all ages have had to wrestle with are, “Why do the righteous suffer?” and “Why do the wicked prosper?” As we look around we see apparent evidence of both. Most of us could name…
Job 22-31
SERIES: The Book of Job Round 3 of the Garbage Dumb Debate: The Pursuit of Personal Holiness SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Some 4,000 years ago a debate was held on an ash heap outside a town named Uz, somewhere in the Fertile Crescent. The detailed substance of that debate has been preserved over the centuries in the Book of Job. On one side was a good man who, for all intents and purposes, was dying an agonizing death, while on the other side…
Job 28
SERIES: The Book of Job The Quest for Wisdom SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction to Scripture reading: I am a spelunker at heart. Nothing causes the adrenalin in my body to flow like a cave. I guess it all began when I was about 9. We were visiting the Mark Andrews family, who lived way out in the country in western Kirkwood on N. Signal Hills Dr. off Marshall Rd., and their two boys took my brother and me to an old abandoned quarry near…
Job 32, 33
SERIES: The Book of Job Pain is God’s Megaphone SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: The Great Debate between the Patriarch Job and his three counselors is over. They have argued fiercely over the cause of the terrible suffering of this man of God. We, the readers, know that Job was suffering through no fault of his own; on the contrary, his suffering was due specifically to the fact that he was so righteous. But Job’s three friends didn’t know that, nor did Job. In…
Job 34, 35
SERIES: The Book of Job When Theology Goes to Seed SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: What is God like? An ancient legend tells us that the richest man in the world, Croesus, once asked the wisest man in the world, Thales, “What is God?” The philosopher asked for a day in which to deliberate, and then for another, and then another, and another, and another. At length confessed that he was not able to answer and that the longer he deliberated, the more difficult…
Job 36, 37
SERIES: The Book of Job Weather Report SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: This morning we conclude the speeches of the principal human characters in the book of Job. From chapter 3 through chapter 37 we have seen the largest single portion of “uninspired,” but occasionally “inspiring,” human wisdom in the Bible. But lest I be misunderstood when I call these speeches uninspired, I hasten to explain. The record of these speeches is an inspired record, but the speeches themselves are not. You see, neither Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, or…
Job 38, 39
SERIES: The Book of Job Finally, A Word from God SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction to Scripture reading: Please turn in your Bibles to Job, chapter 38. Our Scripture text today is rather lengthy, but I want to appeal to you to listen carefully. The reading of God’s Word is not a ritual we endure, nor a transition between hymns, nor a time to read the bulletin inserts. It is a time for God Himself to speak to us, unencumbered even by the sometimes faulty…
Job 40, 41
SERIES: The Book of Job God, Behemoth, Leviathan, and Job SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction to Scripture reading: One of the finest books ever produced for children was published in 1978 by the Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts. It is entitled Character Sketches: From the Pages of Scripture, Illustrated from the World of Nature. It is published in two beautiful, large volumes. Like many children’s stories, songs, or plays, adults can enjoy them as much as the children, though, of course, they don’t like to admit…
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