Heavenly Father, we come before you today in the midst of a tragedy that has impacted so many. And while we know scripture says that the secret things of your will are yours alone, we do need your comfort and assurance. Through your servant Isaiah, you have told us that your thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways your ways. They are much higher, we understand that. And we understand that you are all-knowing and sovereign over all things. Yet we struggle with the grief of loss and we are disheartened with the work we know is ahead. Father, I pray you would instruct us and more so to comfort us and strengthen us this morning from your word. Give us hope in the best possible way by showing us your love through showing us Christ. And it is in His name I pray. Amen. Someone mentioned to me this morning that it seems like Sunday, October 8th was a long time ago. And that certainly is true. And as I recall, it was quite a pleasant day. We had gathered here for worship as a family. And we sang and we prayed and we heard a message from Pastor Steve about how Jesus is sitting at his father's right hand, even as I speak this morning. Afterwards, there was a baby shower at the Lopez's. I know that Pastor Steve went out for a birthday dinner. Many people just began to relax in anticipation of the work week ahead, and no one could anticipate what Monday morning would bring. It was 3.15 at our house and the phone rang, which is never a good thing since both of our kids or two of our kids were traveling and my mom is in hospice care. So I expected the worst, but it wasn't family news. It was Pastor Steve's wife, Patty, who said, our power is out. And I don't know if you've heard, but there's a fire in Santa Rosa and Steve doesn't think the church will survive the night. That ended sleep. And we began to pray. We didn't know the details, but we began to pray and just lift up everyone in our family because this disaster seemed to be spreading faster than we could even imagine. At daybreak, the first news came of the tragedy and it was even worse than we could have imagined. Although the church was spared, the fire devastated homes of several of our members that we just saw, many of our friends. I think I spoke to Steve about 630 or 7 and he was actually going through the flames. Patty had been on her motorcycle kind of surveying the area like a scout so that they had some advanced warning even though the area was evacuated. So as friends and family, we now share each other's burdens. And perhaps you've asked yourself, what are we to make of these tragedies? How are we to reconcile the goodness of God with the sight of entire neighborhoods just to the west burning to the ground? And what's sad is that many people aren't even asking that question. We've seen friends losing not only precious possession, but even necessities for basic living. And where is God when you've lost everything? And for those of us who have been spared, how do we speak encouragement into the lives of you who have lost so much? What can we do to encourage you in the grief that you're feeling? What are we to thank? What can we say to help? And this is what we need this morning. And as Christians, we know that the answers and the comfort comes from God's Word. Because God's Word to us is His comfort to us. So I've titled my message this morning, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord. It's from the words Job spoke in response to the disasters that came upon him just as suddenly as they came upon us last Monday morning. And in the midst of his shock and confusion as he sat with a torn robe and a shaved head, that's the ancient way of grieving, Job said simply, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." Although he didn't know it, Job was being tested. We learned at the beginning of the book of Job that when God mentioned his faithful servant to To Satan, Satan said Job was faithful only because God had blessed him with much material wealth. Take away his wealth, Satan said, and he will not bless you. But God, to prove that Job's faithfulness was because of God's gracious work in Job's heart, said go ahead, test him. God allowed Job to be tested, allowing Satan to take everything from Job, and Satan did so with vengeance. But it's important to recognize that it is God who brought this test. And he did so for reasons that are of cosmic proportions, which will become clear a little bit later. Job was enjoying the fruit of a lifetime of hard work. He had a nice home. You can imagine him on his deck, kind of kicked back. Nice afternoon, cool drink. His kids were grown and independent. That's a blessing itself, isn't it? Kind of an unusual one these days. And he had a secure income. But suddenly, all heck broke loose. First, a servant came running to tell Job that bandits had stolen his herd of oxen and donkeys, and they'd killed his servants, and that he alone had survived. While he was still speaking, another servant came and said that lightning had struck his flocks of sheep, killed them all, and killed the shepherds, and I alone have survived. Before he was done speaking, another servant came running. He said, the Chaldeans have come and they have stolen all of your camels, all of your wealth, and they killed all of your servants. Only I have survived to come and tell you this. Before he could stop speaking, a fourth servant came. He said, a whirlwind came out of the wilderness. All of your children are at your oldest son's house having dinner. They're all killed. Only I have survived to deliver this news. In the blink of an eye, Job was left with four servants and a complaining wife. He'd lost everything. Now after the events of this week, we're better able to imagine how Job must have felt. His losses were overwhelming, but his response is interesting. It's a tribute to his faithfulness and trust in God. Verse 20, then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. Verse 22 concludes, within all of this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. The book of Job is given to us to answer the question of how a good and sovereign God can allow the righteous to suffer. The discussions fill 36 chapters that follow after chapter 1, our text here today, between Job and his four friends, and the amount of discourse is an indication of how difficult this question of suffering and the sovereignty of God is to understand. Only at the end of the book does God finally intervene and give us the answer. It's threefold. One, God is always worthy of our worship. Two, God allows His people to suffer to refine and strengthen them. And three, everything God does is based on His infinite knowledge of all things. God knows every potential outcome of every possible event, and he always uses the best possible means to bring about the best possible end in all circumstances. Shall I say that again? God knows every potential outcome of every possible event, And He always uses the best possible means to bring about the best possible end in all circumstances. It's important to remember that all things really do work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. And our part as Christians is to trust Him completely, even when we think we know better. The New Testament book of James is a useful commentary on the Old Testament book of Job. Job answers the questions of why the righteous suffer. The book of James gives us, as the righteous, God's instructions on how to persevere through suffering. We need several things this morning to face what's ahead and God's instruction on how to persevere is certainly one of them. James says this about Job's patience in James 5 11. Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purposes of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Now the word James uses here for steadfastness is one that means to persevere. And it's used 221 times elsewhere in the Bible. And that means our perseverance is an important issue for God. John Calvin says two things about perseverance. First, God will have us ready to endure all things by assuring ourselves that good and evil proceed from the hand of Him. He will have us to abide in His chastisements, desiring nothing but to be governed by Him. In other words, God tests us to develop our perseverance and to show us that our only hope is in Him, to abide in Him alone. Second, Kelvin says that we cannot persevere in these tests, he says, if we do not take the occasion to comfort ourselves in God, to comfort ourselves in God. Job proves Calvin's point. Job's response to this incredible loss was, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And throughout the book of Job, we see his perseverance, and in the end, God gives Job the comfort by blessing him with more than he had to start. At the end of the book, it says that Job had more children than he had lost, and that he saw his grandsons to the fourth generation. The book closes, 42.17 says, and Job died an old man and full of days. God blessed his servant Job with the strength to persevere and with the comfort when the testing was done. Trials are God's plan for us, which is why James 1-2 says that we are to count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds. Because God uses hard times like this to grow our perseverance, and as the rest of James 1 says, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete and lacking in nothing. where you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance and that work must finish so that you will be complete and lacking in nothing. Now, it's easy for James to say, is it? Well, not exactly. James wrote this in about 46 AD. At the time, persecution was coming on heavily on the new Christians in Jerusalem. Soon they would be driven out. James would be killed shortly after he wrote this. Yet he says, count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds. God brings them to grow your perseverance. Now, in Job and in James, we find three keys to perseverance. In Job, they're found. In James, the commentary points us in this direction. First, we persevere by reminding ourselves that this world is not our home. There's an unchanging statistic. Insurance companies know it well. One out of one dies. From the beginning of life on Earth, the mortality rate, with one exception, is 100%. In the grave, we eventually decay to dust, and that should remind us of who we are and where we're going. Now, on verse 21, the NIV is a bit clearer by translating, naked I came into my mother's womb and naked I will depart. That's the same word that God uses when he tells Adam, after his sin, that he will rest in the dust. From dust you came, from dust you will return. James says, I will depart. He is in full knowledge that his end would be dust. And Job lived in the light of the certainty that one day he would depart. In Psalm 90, after praising God in stanza after stanza in this poem for God's sovereignty over his creation, including how all people returned to dust, the psalmist then says, So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Strength to continue after the events of this week comes by reminding ourselves that one day, maybe one day soon, we will leave all of this behind. So when we live life packed up and ready to depart, the shocks in the present age are not quite so shocking. Second, we persevere by remembering, remembering that all we have, including our lives, comes from God. That's why Job uses the word naked, because he understood that everything he had lost had been given to him in the first place. He was a rich man. But he understood, when it was all gone, that it had all come from God in the first place. The Lord gives, and the Lord has the right to take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Those seven words open the Bible because God wants us to know that everything is His. Job tells his friends this, ìIn Godís hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.î And it is necessary for us to fully embrace this truth to develop the underlying gratitude that can fuel our desire to obey God's commands, that can fuel our desire to face the challenges ahead, that can fuel our strength as we persevere, that everything we have, including our lives, we owe to God. It's all His. Does not He have the right to do with what He wants, with what is His? Yes. And when we understand that it's all His, and that the Lord gives and takes away, blessed be His name. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commands. And that statement has convicted every one of us at one time or another. But we persevere in our sanctification by keeping his commands and becoming more like Christ because of the gratitude we have for what God has done for us. We're grateful for all of the material blessings we have. But some of us have lost them all. We're grateful for the life that He has given us, for the next breath we take. And thankfully, none of us in our family have lost our lives. But one day we will. Most of all, we're grateful to understand that God's Word is the truth, and in Jesus Christ, eternal life is available for all who by faith believe and are given the righteousness of Christ. And with that gratitude then comes the fuel, not only to persevere through this, but to persevere while keeping God's commands as we go about encouraging our friends and neighbors. In all of this, Job did not charge God with wrong. When James 1-2 says, to count it all joy when you face trials of many kinds, he states that in the imperative. And if we love Jesus, we will keep his commands. And a statement in the imperative is a command. Therefore, what is the command for us? To count it all joy as we face these trials. Is that possible for the Christian? Yes. For the Christian, yes. That's why it's sad that not many people are asking, where is God in all of this tragedy? But for the Christian, it is possible for us to count it all joy because of the gratitude that flows from the realization that helps us to face the task of building that lies ahead. So we do this by remembering. Third, Job teaches us to persevere by responding to trials in worship. Responding to trials with worship. His statement, blessed be the name of the Lord, is straightforward worship. We just sang that song. We've sung that song when the sky is bright with sun and we are all happy, clappy, and fully engaged with each other because we have so much blessing from God. We've sung it with robustness when that happens. But we sang it with robustness today, too, didn't we? And I hope even those of us who've lost everything were able to do that. I know Lisa was. She was up there. Dave was on the base. So we respond to trials by worship. James 5.11 contains two reasons why Job was able to respond with worship. The first is Job's trust in God. Job remained steadfast. The Bible clearly teaches that trials like the one we're now experiencing happen for God's glory. If God is sovereign, and He is, then the trials we face have been brought by Him. And if God does everything for His glory, these trials are for God's glory. Regardless of what we think God should do or not do, we need to remain steadfast and trust that He does know what is best in all circumstances and is always advancing things for His glory. But how is God's glory displayed in what surrounds us? Too many ways to count. Steve alluded to that earlier. His glory is being displayed in too many ways to count as we see God's hand on this tragedy through God's people and their response. My view has been limited because we've been staying out of the way, but I do know that houses were lost, but no one in the congregation's homeless. Stuff was lost, but no one lost their lives amongst us. Fire rained down on the roof of this building Monday morning, but the building is still standing. And the backstory to that's quite interesting. The winery in the back brought in a semi-truck-sized generator so that we have electricity. And because we do, the police and the firefighters have had a place to go for rest and refreshment. That's been going on all week, ever since Tuesday. Steve and others have been able to get here and provide these things for them, and we have been given the benevolence fund and the physical resources, and now the Mercy Chef ministry is in the parking lot with their portable restaurant. And that means that we, as the people of God, centered around our church, we can feed people from the neighborhood as they return to sift through the ashes of their life. We can provide comfort because they will not be joyous in doing so. We have people coming from all over to help. The list goes on and on and it will continue to grow. So we often pray that we as CFF would be a light for Christ in our community. Guess what? we can be a light for Christ in our community. That's the first reason we trust God. The second reason is that, as James says, the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Second half of verse 511. The answer for skeptics who often say, if God is good and bad things happen, then he's not all powerful. And if God is all powerful and bad things happen, then he's not good. The answer to that, which is a difficult answer, in large part is answered by carefully considering how God's compassion and mercy are woven, woven through everything he does. God's will, the outworking of it, bringing tragedies, bringing trials, bringing things that will grow us in faith, and bringing tragedy amongst others, is not a steel-cold, calculating, sovereign, unchangeable will. It is unchangeable, but woven throughout it is God's compassion and mercy. If trials are a consistent Bible theme, so too is the mercy and compassion of God towards His creation. And when we understand this, we are better equipped not only to respond to the skeptic who says, well, if God is all-powerful and bad things happen, He's not good, and if He's good and bad things happen, He's not all-powerful. We have the ability to respond to that in in our faith and from God's Word. And when we understand that God is merciful and compassionate within all things that happen, we then are able to better not only respond to critics, but to persevere through hard times. Now, how often does a well-meaning Christian offer consolation to someone struggling through loss or grief with a statement, well, it's God's will, We know that in all things God works for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And while those things are true, often they're not too helpful. Because there's more to be said when people are wrestling with the grief and loss that occurs in a fallen world when God is both sovereign and good. Woven throughout this biblical truth of God's sovereignty is a deep mercy and compassion. Human grief over the outworking of God's will is legitimate. It is a proper response. So as Christians, we must imitate God's heart of compassion when we respond to those who are suffering as a result of God's will. For example, the wrong response to Job's grief was by his fourth friend, Elihu. Elihu lays out a brilliant argument, goes over four chapters, of the sovereignty of God over all things." And in conclusion, he tells Job this. He says, Job, God is sovereign. Get a ladder and get over it. Now that's helpful. But God comes to Job with a heart of compassion in which to wrap Job's trials, which were ordained by God, so that Job can persevere. He reminds Job that he set the limits of the sea. He made the morning stars to sing, he says. He caused the dawn to know its place. He set the storehouses of the water. He controls the forces of evil, evil personified in the behemoth and the leviathan. Yes, Job, God says, I know you're suffering, but trust me because I am God and you're not. God's answer is given to Job with gentleness and compassion. Another example is Jeremiah. Jeremiah, too, once sat in ashes, like Job, like us, because Jerusalem had burned down around him. God gave him the words in Lamentations. Lamentations are five poems of godly lament over the fall of Jerusalem. The third poem is a graphic description of sorrow and suffering of the people of God, people of God who, by the way, were unfaithful. Yet at the end we read this, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. In a similar fashion, the Psalms are the words God has given us to both lament over sin and wickedness and death, and to give us comfort by assuring us of His said love, His constant faithfulness, and the assurance that He is the rock of our salvation. But the greatest example of God's compassion that runs throughout the outworking of His sovereign will is found in John 11, where we find Jesus standing outside the tomb of Lazarus, weeping. He weeps, even though He knows His resurrection and the salvation it will bring will soon occur. He weeps, even though he knows he's about to call Lazarus back from the dead. He weeps, even though he knows that Lazarus has been allowed to die to show the glory of God. In all these things, Jesus knows as he stands there before that tomb, that great things are coming. But he weeps. Why? Because God's sovereignty doesn't mean that Jesus is uncaring about the grief of Mary and Martha and all of those who were friends of Lazarus. Jesus does not deny the agony of death, nor does he offer simple platitudes or snippets of biblical truth at this moment. He speaks plainly when he tells Martha that everything that's happened is for the glory of God, but he doesn't allow that to reduce his compassion for her and for Mary and for all of those people around. So he weeps. You see, Jesus did not allow God's sovereignty to swallow up his compassion. He balanced them as the perfect and ultimate counselor that we need to, don't we? Here's the important point. God's glory is not served by denying the reality of grief and tragedy, but by passing through tragedy to the resurrection. What are we doing here? We're keeping our eyes focused. on the one who sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us day and night. Lift your eyes, your redemption draws near. God's glory is not served by denying the reality of the grief that surrounds us and the tragedy that's happened, but it passes through tragedy by the resurrection. God's sovereignty will be fully revealed when Christ returns, but that doesn't mean that we don't have real pain now. And that doesn't mean that we can't provide comfort and solace to those who are suffering and in grief at the present time. The glorious truth of God's sovereignty is the compassion and mercy that's interwoven throughout the outworking of His will. Jesus wept with Mary and Martha even as He knew that raising Lazarus would be the final straw His enemies needed to arrest Him and put Him to death. But He raised Lazarus. The clearest picture of sovereignty and compassion, the answer to the skeptic who says a good God must not be all-powerful if he allows bad things to happen, or if he allows bad things to happen and is good, he's not all-powerful. The answer to that question is that God himself entered into our world and faced the same grief and tragedy and death that we face. clearest picture of compassion is Jesus because God is so committed to ending, ending suffering and death that he was willing to come into our world and enter into our suffering and grief and even die on our behalf all in accordance with God's sovereign will. and it was for His glory and our unfathomable good. Does God care about our grief? Yes, He does. And the proof is in the gospel. Now, these are the truths that we must hold on to today and in the weeks and months and even years ahead, that God is sovereign He works all things, even this fire, for His glory and for our good. Second, God is worthy of our worship, whether we are in plenty or in want. Home Fellowship groups are studying Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. The interesting thing is that verses 7 through 12 are one solid piece of outward worship on Paul's part while he sits in chains in prison. God enters into our grief and God is worthy of our worship whether we are in plenty or in want. Third, God allows our suffering so that we can be refined and strengthened in our faith. Our refinement and our strengthening is a cosmic issue. Remember what Satan said to God? God allowed him into his presence. We don't know exactly how that worked. But God said, have you considered my servant Job? Satan's challenge. Take all that you have given him and he will curse you. That's what his wife actually suggested he do. But God knew that because of the work that God had done in Job's heart, that Job would be faithful. And the result had cosmic implications because all of the unseen world that exists saw Satan put down, called out, and defeated. Our perseverance is because of the work that God has done in our hearts. Without that work, these words are ridiculous. that we should praise God in our loss, that we should persevere because we know He loves us. But with that work, we know that these things are true. So because of the work in God's heart, we will persevere. And that has cosmic proportions, cosmic implications. Finally, God's mercy and compassion are always a part of his will. So as we go out from here, we have the opportunity to be truly a light at a very important time in our community. And we have the resources that are pouring in from other Christians surrounding us to help us in this task because we're near the ground zero. So as we go out from here, we go out from here trusting that God knows what He's doing, trusting that we will grow through this situation, and trusting that in His strength, we will persevere. And we will give Him all the glory in the end, won't we? Let's pray. Father, what can we say? We love You. Thank you that you have given us your word to console us and to equip us to console others. Father, thank you that you have given us your people, coming from afar, bringing water and food and kitchens and restaurants and meals and encouragement, all these things. May we be an integral part of all that you're doing here, Lord. May we be the ones who truly are a light for your glory in an area that needs to see light so badly. We recognize, God, that you will be with us through all these things. And I pray that you would give us the strength and encouragement to persevere. And we will give you all the thanks and glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Pastor Steve has actually going to do an outgoing song and then there's going to be another short announcement.