Sound Truth Radio

There's a lot of discussion today about what constitutes a life worth living. What's the good life? Where do you find meaning? And is happiness possible? Today, Pastor Malcolm contrasts the viewpoints of the cynic and the faithful. And those viewpoints will determine the direction of your life, Living in the light of the knowledge of God will give you truth and peace. Living without God will leave you with nothing truly worth living for. It's as simple as that. So what will you choose?

To say that there are millions of voices speaking in the world today is no understatement, never before in history have so many ideas been available to us. But today, Pastor Malcolm reminds us from the first psalm that the voices we listen to determine who we become. If you start with walking in the council of the ungodly, you'll proceed to standing in the way of sinners, and you'll end up sitting in the seat of the scornful. But if you delight in the law of the Lord, you'll be a fruitful tree.

Wouldn't it be great if we understood all the reasons for all the suffering in the world? Much of it seems pointless, and try as we may, we can't even find a partial answer, let alone a complete and satisfying explanation. Today, Pastor Malcolm explains why this is the case. If God were required to explain everything to you, that would be like you putting God on trial. And you can't do that. You don't have the perspective that God has. And so you're not qualified to judge him for what he does or doesn't do.

A lot of people want to believe in God today, but they want to construct their idea of God out of their own values. In terms of their goals for society and the way they live their individual lives, they have decided for God how God should run things. But as Pastor Malcolm points out today, telling God what to do is like putting him on the witness stand and making him answer to you. But that's not your place in the scheme of things. God can't and won't hold himself accountable to your judgment.

As the centuries have passed, we humans have understood more and more of the mysteries of the physical universe from the vast scales of space to the tiny details of the subatomic level, our knowledge has increased dramatically. Yet as Pastor Malcolm proves today from the Book of Job, we're still infants in our abilities compared to the wisdom of God. So, when you're tempted to question God about why and how he runs the universe, remember who he is and trust in his wisdom.

There are people who manage to live this life really well. From an earthly angle, they appear to be a saint. They're kind to everyone and constantly giving of themselves to others. They may appear to be flawless, but they're not. And any goodness they do have should only be attributed to God at work in and through them. As Pastor Malcolm examines the story of Job today, we will be reminded of the danger of pride. When we start to see our own righteousness as enough, we are in a dangerous place.

We serve a loving, benevolent father. As Pastor Malcolm will illustrate in today's message, God does allow hardship in our lives. Often it's of our own making, when we stubbornly cut a hole in the wall after God closed every window and door to a certain path. The beautiful thing about our God is that his pride isn't hurt and his love isn't hindered by our mistakes. It saddens him to see us suffer, but he'll allow it when he knows it's the best way for us to learn to trust him more.

Sin does have natural consequences. A lifestyle of sin will generally bring hardship in some form. But in this world, sin can also be used to attain wealth, comfort, pleasure, and power. It's often used for these end-goals, and these things can feel good and look good in the moment. As Pastor Malcolm will warn in today's message, we can't assume that those who are doing well by man's standards have the approval of God, while those that suffer have invited his wrath because of their personal sin.

It's good to strive after integrity in your life. But as Pastor Malcolm will clarify in today's message, integrity as the world measured it is a far cry from the purity and righteousness of God. His son, Jesus, was perfect. He was tempted and did not sin. None of us could say that. Even if you've done pretty good at resisting sin, you can't say you've never given in or fallen short. Our only hope is to trust in Jesus. He was perfect, yet he took the punishment we deserve for our sin, making us right.

There's much to be learned from the story of Job. In the scope of scripture, it's the only time we see Satan and God in this kind of encounter. Job's righteousness was enough to catch the attention of the prince of darkness. He must have been an impressive man. Why would God allow the cruelty that Satan wanted to inflict on him? As Pastor Malcolm will explain in today's message, God has a deeper purpose than winning a bet against Satan. He allowed this for Job's growth and our own.

God is not against fun or pleasure. He is against death and destruction. He designed us and gave us the capacity to experience wonderful things in this life. He doesn't tell us not to do things out of some selfish desire to deprive us of pleasure, quite the opposite. He knows that the ultimate pleasure is found through faith and communion with him. As Pastor Malcolm will point out in today's message, we are called to trust and obey God, believing that he is all-knowing and benevolent.

While God's Word wasn't written as a science book, it's inspired by the creator of all things, including science. Mankind has made a God out of reason in the sciences. Many have determined that only things we can touch and measure can be trusted. Yet each of us has a deep sense that there is something outside of the physical realm. As Pastor Malcolm will point out in today's message, God's word needs to be our foundation for how we look at the physical and spiritual world.

Faith doesn't come naturally. Because of our sinful nature, fear is much more natural. Much of our lives are built around protecting ourselves from the things we are afraid of. As Pastor Malcolm will explain in today's message, faith is something that must be purposefully tested and grown. If you never experience an opportunity to test your faith, it won't have a chance to grow. It's in those moments you can choose to follow God's voice or to cower back and cling to your comfort and safety.

Faith isn't a feeling or an evidence based conclusion. Those things may shore up our faith over time and through experience, but ultimately, faith is a choice to lean in and trust God, even in moments where the evidence isn't there. Most of us, if we experience what Job did, losing everyone in his family, we would likely feel justified in walking away from our faith. As Pastor Malcolm will explain in today's message, it's in those moments we must choose to believe God is who He says He is.

God is not bound by our limited understanding of who He is. What a powerful truth to remember. We like to create boxes of doctrine and theology to fit God into, but He exists beyond the scope of our understanding. As Pastor Malcolm will point out in today's message, we need to be very careful not to expect others to fit our mold of who God can use to accomplish His will in this world. He used the broken, the marginalized, and weak all throughout scripture, and He still works that way today.

Following Jesus will require faith and perseverance on a supernatural level. You are incapable of persevering without faith and you'll have to persevere at times when your faith is lacking. As Pastor Malcolm examines the story of Job in today's message, we'll see a man who endured hardship and suffering that few of us can even imagine. The only way Job made it through was by faith in God. He submitted himself to God's sovereignty, trusting that He would be faithful to him.

Have you ever been around someone who thought they could decide who should or shouldn't receive God's grace? This has been a struggle since the beginning of the church. God did something incredible when Jesus died on the cross. He tore the veil of the temple into. This eliminated the barrier that had stood in between us and his holy presence. As Pastor Malcolm will remind us in today's message, it's not our place to decide who gets access to this grace. No one is out of its reach.

Have you ever tried to capture the wind? It can't be done. We can use its power to move sailboats or create electricity, but we can't control it. It decides when it blows or when it stops or how strong. As Pastor Malcolm will illustrate in today's message, seeking after peace and fulfillment through the things of this world is just as futile as trying to grasp the wind. It's a never-ing quest running out after this new thrill or passion, just to find that it isn't enough to satisfy that deep longing in your soul.

Even as Christians, fully aware that our position in life does not reflect our performance in God's sight, we still tend to fall into this way of thinking. As Pastor Malcolm will warn in today's message, just as Job's friends assume that his bad fortune must have been a result of some sin or personal failure, we tend to do the same when we look at the struggles in our own lives. God allowed these trials because of how righteous Job was. Trials will come even when you are faithful to God.

Everything on planet Earth pales in comparison to knowing Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. While there are many things to take responsibility for in your life, the most important one is to make sure you live for God and trust in his Son for salvation. Pastor Malcolm is going to remind you today that even when Job lost all the material possessions he had, he knew where to keep his focus. He never took his eyes off who is most important. He kept God always at the forefront of his mind.