Adult II Couples Class
WELCOME
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Adult II Couples Class
Physical
Spiritual
Practical
Church
Misc
 Benevolence Fund
 Monthly Fellowships
 January
 February
 March
 Dinner Out Friday (27 Jan)
 5th Sunday Breakfast (29 Jan)
 Quarterly Service Project
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Men’s Discipleship Class (today-4:30)
Budget Cmte Mtg (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)
Adult II Couples Class
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Iva May and Dr. Stan May
Creation
Patriarchs
• Genesis 1 - 11
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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
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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)
• 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
People interpret suffering (and all of life)
through one of four filters:
Revelation
Originates from God
Observation and Experience
Originates from outside effects and events
Tradition
Originates from generational practices
Reasoning
Originates from the mind of man
Five Scenes on Earth & in Heaven
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
www.themegallery.
Five Scenes on Earth & in Heaven
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
www.themegallery.
Five Scenes on Earth & in Heaven
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?
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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
www.themegallery.
Job’s “Help” Arrives
Job’s friends arrive with the intention of
providing comfort for their friend
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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
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
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Revelation (divine)
Observation and experience (human)
Tradition (human)
Human reasoning (human)
The Four Filters for Life
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)
www.themegallery.
The Four Filters for Life
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)
www.themegallery.
Conclusions
 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.”
www.themegallery.
What does this lesson teach about God? Man? Sin? Redemption?
What filter do people primarily use to interpret the
events and circumstances of their lives today?
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Observation and Experience
Tradition
Reasoning
Revelation
How does Job’s response to the challenge before
him differ from Adam’s response in Genesis 3?
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.
 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
 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!”
 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
 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)
Adult II Couples Class
NEXT WEEK…..