Job 14 and verse number 14, one verse this morning, if a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. I'd like to preach this morning on this thought between here and there. By way of introduction, notice a puzzling question that Job asked, if a man dies, shall he live again? You know, there are a lot of people that think when people die, that's it, it's over, you're done, nothing else happens, but that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible said it's appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. And so he said, if a man dies, shall he live again? Notice the progression of time. He said, all the days of my life. Notice what he said here. All the days of my appointed time will I wait. So we notice the progression of time. Now look, I don't have any idea and you don't have any idea how many days you're going to have. You're getting ready to have the funeral for a precious lady who was a member of the church for 50 years, and I understand somewhere around 94, 95 years of age, that's a long time to live. And thank God for the years that God gave her. But you understand this, we know that death can come at any moment, and we're not guaranteed a number, a set amount of time. But he said to all the days, here's the significance of life. He said, my appointed time. Do you know that God is the giver of life? We think about not only the significance of life, but the seriousness of life. Now, let me just say this. I love to laugh. I don't think it's a sin to laugh. I was preaching in a church one time. By the way, I started preaching when I was 13. I was 16 preaching a revival up in northern Illinois, and after the service, a lady came up to me and she said, I don't appreciate you laughing in church. I said, dear lady, all I do is go to church. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, revival meeting nights, I go to the men's meetings, and if my dad could get by with it, I'd have to go to the women's meetings. So you have to understand, if I don't laugh in church, I'll never get to laugh. Now, I don't think we should make a mockery, I don't think that we should belittle the things of God, but the Bible did say, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. I wanted to say to her, you could sure use a dose of it, but I didn't feel like that would be appropriate. But Job is saying here the point of times, there's a seriousness of life. It is a gift from God. Don't take it lightly. Whatever time you have, look, if you're not saved, you better not put it off another day. You better deal with that today. And if you're saved, you better get serious about living for God now. And then we see the shortness of life. Psalms 90 and verse 12 said, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. In other words, whatever time I have, let me use it to live for God. So we find not only the puzzling question and we find here the progression of time, but as you think about this, and again still an introduction, there were many great days in Job's life. You start reading in the book of Job chapter 1, the Bible said he was the greatest man. I mean that's a pretty good statement. If God makes that statement about you, you must be something. He was a godly man who had been blessed with all the things that you could imagine, and yet we find there were not only great days in his life, there were grievous days in his life. We begin to read the book of Job, we know he was under the attack of the devil, and the Bible tells us that during that time that he was going through that, he lost his fortune. He lost his family, all of his children died in the same day. And by the way, he felt the assault of sickness in his flesh. This man experienced everything you could experience in being under attack with the exception of dying himself. What a horrible time this was, but that wasn't the end of the story. There were many glorious days to come in Job's life. You know, if you read the book of Job and only read chapters 1 and 2, or even read all the way up to chapter 41, you will miss the great ending of Job's story. Matter of fact, go to Job 42, keep your place there, but Job 42, and look if you would at verse number 12. The Bible said this, So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. For he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camel, 1,000 yoke of oxen, 1,000 she-asses. He also had seven sons and three daughters. So God gave him double everything, twice as many sheep, twice as many camel, twice as many of all the animals, oxen and the donkeys, twice as much. He said, well, brother Graham, you only had 10 children. And He already had ten children that had died. I know ten and ten is twenty. Ten that had died and had already gone on, and ten that were added to Him. That to me is twenty. God doubled everything He had. But go on and read what it says here, verse number 16, after this. after Job's trial, after all that he went through. Job, the Bible said, lived Job 140 years, saw his sons and his sons' sons, even four generations, so Job died being old and full of days. In other words, yes, Job had a trial, But that wasn't the sum total of his life. Can I tell you, sometimes life brings sorrows and troubles and heartaches and burdens and yes, even grief, but that's not the sum total of life. God has been better to all of us than we deserve. So Job is being inquisitive when he asks this question. He said, If a man die, brother, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come." We notice the beginning of Job's life, the battles of Job's life, and the benediction of Job's life. Don't you notice as we think about this, between here and there, Job said, He said, in my appointed time will I wait till my change come. Job said, if man dies, shall he live again? Of course we know he knew the answer is yes. I'm glad that death is not the end of it all. I've had to go to the cemetery too many times with family and friends that have gone on before. Some of them have lived many years and some of them were young and their life yet tender and God chose to take them home. Can I say to you, Paul said, we sorrow not as others which have no hope. I'm glad that Paul didn't say we don't sorrow because I would have failed the test. Yes, we sorrow, but not like the world. When somebody dies who knows the Lord, that makes all the difference in the world. And Job said, I'm going to wait till my change comes. So in the meantime, there's some things that Job made up his mind to do, and I want to challenge you in this area this morning. Number one, he determined to stay faithful. Job said, I'll wait till my appointed time. He determined to stay faithful. Job, what are you going to be faithful to? Well, he's going to be faithful to the Word of God. In Job 23, verse 12, neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Think about what Job said there. Now we're talking about a man that lived before all of the Scripture was given to us. We have the entire Word of God. Somebody say amen. Aren't you glad that you have a Bible today? From Genesis to Revelation, we have the Word of God. Job had some of the Word of God that had been given to him at that time. No doubt God had spoke to him what would become the Word of God. We know that Job had some knowledge of things because of the flood and other things that he was aware of. Job said, I'm going to take God's Word as being more important than my necessary food. Job said, I need to eat to keep my flesh taken care of. More important, I need the Word of God in my life. Job said, I'm going to stay faithful to the Word of God. But not only that, Job said, I'm going to stay faithful to the will of God. In Job 23, verses 10-11, he said, but he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job had moments of wondering, Lord, what's going on? Job at times even said, I just wish I could have a conversation with God. But Job said, I'm going to keep on trusting Him. He said in verse 11, my foot hath held His steps, His way have I kept and not declined. He said, I'm going to stay faithful to the Word of God. I'm going to stay faithful to the will of God. But notice secondly, not only did Job make a decision to stay faithful, and can I just say folks, if there's ever been a time when Christians need to be faithful, it is this hour we're living in. And I realize, and we were reminded in Sunday school the importance of coming to the house of God. We need each other. And I understand people get sick and they can't come. I understand that. I understand sometimes people are in a position where they'd love to come and their health won't let them. There have only been a few occasions in my life when I've had to miss church, and one of those, I was in the hospital for a couple weeks, had surgery, and man, I was a slow recover. I was 25 years of age. They took my gallbladder out, I ended up with pneumonia, had all kinds of complications. Anything that could go wrong with the surgery, I had it. I'm 25. I mean, that's young. And I'm laying there in the hospital with all these issues going on. The man in the bed next to me is 86 years of age. We had surgery the same day. The next day they give us that little thing that, you know, you're supposed to breathe in to kind of move the, you know, the little balls in there. And I can't hardly budge it. That dude's over there knocking the top off of it the next day. Bing, bing, bing, you know, and he gets out of the hospital. A week later, him and his wife come to visit me at the hospital. We talk about embarrassing. I'm 25 and an 86-year-old man and his wife come to visit me because he thought I was dying. And his wife came in, I said, I'm so embarrassed. I said, here you are out of the hospital taking time to come back and visit me. And I said, man, I'm getting there, it's just been slow. And he looked at me and said, son, don't worry, they don't build them like they used to. What a truth that was. But during that time of having to miss church, can I tell you something? I missed it. The psalmist said, I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. During COVID, Ms. Graham and I experienced some COVID and had a service we had to miss. And one other time I was in the hospital during COVID, but didn't have COVID. And my doctor said, I'll let you go home on Saturday. We got one more test to run on Monday. Nobody's here this weekend, and there's a lot of COVID in the hospital, and you'd probably be better at home, but you've got to promise me that you will not go to church tomorrow." I said, well I could sit in the balcony, away from everybody. He said, no, you're going to give me your word you're not going to church tomorrow, I'm not going to discharge you. And then he said, you are a preacher, right? Yes, sir. You believe that people ought to tell the truth? Yes. As a man of God, I want your word. You're not going to go to church tomorrow. Now if I find out you did, then I'll know you're a liar. What are you going to do? You know, it's either go home and not eat their food or stay there in any way, so I agreed I wouldn't go. And that next day I got up, boy, put my suit and tie on, sat in the living room, called the guys in the sound booth and let them see my, you know, FaceTimed them so they could see I was ready for church. I said, guys, my doctor won't let me come, but I'm here, so tell them I'm there, you know, in spirit, I'm going to watch the service. And I understand, but I'll tell you, sometimes people begin to use excuses to lay out a church that are totally unnecessary. if you can be there. Now, I understand their time, so don't feel like I'm browbeating anybody. But man, we need each other. There's something about coming to church and seeing each other that does so much for us. And he decided not only to seek God's face, or to stay faithful, but he decided to seek God's face. Job said, I'm gonna talk to God. Now, Job did a lot of praying. By the way, have you ever prayed when you're in the hour of crisis? Have you ever found yourself praying and you don't know what to pray? It was mentioned that my son's in the hospital and right before Sunday school started he shot us a text and you know it was a little bit alarming what's going on, of course he's battled cancer for the last few years and he has some pneumonia right now and so as he sent us that text our minds just get overwhelmed for a moment and we're reminded that we can pray. But you know sometimes we're like the Bible said in Romans, we know not what to pray for as we ought. How do you word the prayer? Sometimes you just have to say, Lord please make sense of what I'm trying to say, but I need you. Lord please answer this prayer, let your will be done. But he was in prayer, he said, I am crying out to God. But not only that, he not only wanted to be in prayer as he sought God's face, but he wanted to be pliable. Job 23, 16, he said, for God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me. Job said, God, what I'm going through, I can tell you this, you are softening and tendering my heart. There's something about the sufferings of life that can help us either get better or get bitter. And I don't know about you, but I want my heart to stay tender. I want to have concern and compassion about those around me that have a need." And then notice thirdly, he displayed not only a decision to seek God's face, but he displayed a heart of forgiveness. You know, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to forgive those that have wronged us. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but if you've lived very long at all, you've probably experienced somebody that did you wrong, somebody that mistreated you, somebody that maybe if you wanted to and it wasn't wrong you could just be bitter and hold grudge and you know the Bible makes it clear. that bitterness needs to be put away from the child of God. Listen, bitterness is to the spirit what cancer is to the body. You and I don't need to harbor bitterness in our heart. And you say, well how do you know he forgave? In Job 42, the Bible said in verse 10, and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. It's interesting, God blessed him when he forgave his friends. Now wait a minute. Really I believe the phrase, with friends like this, who needs enemies? I think that originated with Job. His friends had good intentions, they showed up. By the way, the ministry of presence is a wonderful thing. But sometimes we just need to stop right there. be there. Have you ever tried to find the right words to say? You know, I can't tell you, preacher, how many funerals I've preached over the years. I've never left a funeral going, I said everything that needed to be said. No, no. I always think, oh I wish I could have done better, I wish I could have said more, I wish I could have helped comfort them more. But you know, sometimes we don't know what to say. But sometimes just being there, that ministry of presence, And you know, it speaks volumes. I remember when my sister was killed in a car wreck in 1977, the people of our church and our community began to surround our family. The comfort that it brought, just their presence, just being there. Nobody knows exactly what to do, but there's something about the ministry of presence. Less than four years later, my brother who was adopted into our family, I was the only boy for years, and then mom and dad adopted Jeff, and when he was killed in an accident at home, working on his car and it fell on him, took him at a young and tender age, and again, the ministry of presence, of people just being there, helped us so very, very much. He displayed a heart of forgiveness. Can I tell you, every one of us would do well to forgive those. that have wronged us. Jesus, in His beatitudes, talked about that very thing. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that despitefully use you. Can I tell you, you know, there's a place in the Bible that talks about heaping coals of fire, but that's not our motive, that's for God to handle. I'm going to be kind to them just so God will sizzle their head. No, no, no. Let God handle it. But don't let your life get eaten up with bitterness. He displayed a heart of forgiveness. So let me say, He was delighted about the future. Job said, I'll await my change, he said, till my change comes. Job said, I know there's coming a day when it's going to get better than it is right now. You know what we need in our hearts and lives today? A reminder of the hope that is found in Jesus Christ. Now if you're not saved, you don't have that hope, but you can have it. You and I that are saved, we have a hope that's steadfast and sure. He said, till my change come. In other words, Job said, it's bad right now, but this is not the end of the story. And can I tell you something, child of God, the best is yet to come. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. I heard it in the song as it was playing today. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Better days are coming for the child of God. As a believer, there's better days coming. Heaven awaits the children of God. You know, one of the marvelous things about heaven is that it is beyond our description. You ever tried to tell everybody what Heaven is like? I mean you can't even begin to really describe the majesty and the beauty of it. Can I say this? Heaven is a lovely place. That's beyond description. Sometimes you think, well, let me think of the most beautiful place. No, no, no, you can't even compare it to anything in this world. Heaven is a beautiful place. It's a lovely place. Can I tell you this? Heaven is a lifting place. Think about this for a moment. Listen, when you and I realize that Christ lives in our heart, the Bible said that when we get to heaven, our tears will be wiped away, and that means that our heartbreaks and our heartaches are going to be gone. Trials will be gone. What a difference it's going to be when we get to heaven. No more heartaches, no more burdens, no more sickness, no more pain, no more problems like we face in this world. Heaven is a lifting place. But I like this, heaven is a lasting place. Forever. Forever. Now by the way, if heaven is a forever place, then hell is a forever place. I don't say that with any delight. The Bible makes it clear that people who die without Christ will suffer eternally. in that place called hell. Someone said, well, Brother Graham, how could they have a second death and it not be the end? Well, if God can give eternal life, and He can, He can also offer eternal death. Where someone suffers, the Bible talked about the torments of hell, day and night, where the fire is not quenched. What a horrible place, but I'll tell you, for the child of God, heaven is a lasting place. We get to be there forever and ever. Now, you know, it's hard for us to understand Your body's like mine. It functions in the realm of time. We get up at a certain time. We go to bed at a certain time. We need certain things to get through the day. Our body is designed that way. It's hard for this human mind to comprehend forever, but I'll tell you when we get to heaven, we're going to have a glorified body. Won't that be exciting? Someone said, preacher, I'm already in heaven. No, no. You may be enjoying a little heaven on earth, but the best is yet to come. Can I say this? Heaven is a limited place. Now wait a minute. I'm not talking about limited atonement. It's a whosoever will gospel. But only those who have received Him can enter. Somebody said, well I'm going to get to Heaven because I've been a good person. That sounds good, but it won't take you to Heaven. I'm going to get to heaven because I'm a member of a church. That's a good thing, but it won't take you to heaven. I'm going to get to heaven because I'm a good neighbor. It's good to be a good neighbor, but that won't take you to heaven. The Bible said the only way to heaven is through Christ. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father. but by me." Jesus is not one of the ways of salvation, He's the only way of salvation. If you're going to get saved, you've got to come by the way of the cross. And if you're not saved today, I want to plead with you, give your heart to Christ. Somebody be glad to open the Bible, show you how you can know Christ as your Savior. And if you're saved today, and you may be facing trials, and I understand when my brother died, The second death within less than four years, someone said to my dad, you must feel like Job. He said, no, Job lost ten children in one day. I've only lost two. But he said, all I know is God's grace is sufficient. And can I tell you, God's grace is sufficient. Sunday morning when my sister was killed on Thursday, my dad's sermon that morning is, God's grace is sufficient. God is faithful. If you're His child, listen, don't be bitter. Seek God's face. Stay faithful to the things of God. Have a heart of forgiveness and then be delighted about the future. The best is yet to come. Let's bow our heads for prayer, heads bowed, every eyes closed. No one's looking around. Let me ask you a couple questions this morning. Our musician's coming in just a moment. We'll have our song of invitation. I wonder how many say, Brother Graham, I know the Lord is my Savior. If I die today, I know I'm going to Heaven because Jesus lives in my heart. Lift your hand real high and give that personal testimony of salvation. Thank you, may it put them down. Listen, I wouldn't embarrass you for anything in this world. I'm not going to come to you. I'm not going to point at you, but I would love to pray for you. My prayer is not going to save you, but I will invite you in a moment to come to the altar. I wonder if there's someone say, preacher, truth is if I died today, I don't know that I'd go to heaven, but I'd like to know. And you'd lift a hand and say, pray for me. That's the need of my heart. I don't know, but I'd like to know. Is there anyone like that right now? And I wonder how many would say, Preacher, I know I'm saved. God spoke to my heart today. I wish you'd remember me in prayer, a need in my life. Maybe you're facing a battle, a burden, a heartache, I don't know. You'd say, Brother Graham, by the grace of God, between here and there, I want to do what pleases the Lord. Would you remember me in prayer? Hands up across the auditorium. God bless you. God bless you. Let's let the Lord have his way right now. Father, please bless these that lifted their hands and Lord, others that maybe needed to and didn't. I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would work. God, that you'd have your will and way. And we promise to give you the praise for it in Jesus' name. Let's stand quietly at our feet as our brother sings, God speak into your heart, the altar's open. I want to invite you to come on the first note of the invitation. Would you come right now? God spoke to your heart, would you come right now? How about it, sir? How about it, ma'am? How about it, teenager? Would you let the Lord have His way right now? You're among friends this morning. If we can help you, we'd sure love to do that. Let's mind the Lord church. God is speaking to your heart. Would you come right now? Come home. Ye who are weary, come home. earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling. Why would you want to tarry when he's pleading? Would you mind the Lord? Why should we linger and heed not His mercies? Come home. Come home. Here you are weary. Come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling. One more verse and close the public part of the invitation. Fasting from you and for me. Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming. Coming for you and for me. Come home. Come home. If you are weary, come home. Look this way, if you would, please. I trust that you've minded the Lord this morning and that you've let God have His way in your heart. And certainly if you didn't make it to the altar, but you need help today, please don't hesitate to talk to us if we could be a help to you or others around here. I know this church, I know that there are many, many, I'm talking about servants of the Lord that would help you if your questions about your salvation or your walk with God, we want to be an encouragement to you. Thank you for your attentiveness this morning. And again, let me just remind you, we look forward to be back at six o'clock tonight. And everybody remembered what time, that's a blessing. Amen. So we are looking forward to it, and just appreciate your spirit. By the way if you are a visitor let me encourage you to come back. I want you to hear Pastor Bujak, you won't be disappointed. I tell you he is not only a tremendous preacher but also I don't know how often he sings here at church, but I love to hear him sing as well as preach. And of course have others that can sing, got a lot of talent in this church that God is using. And I'm for that, I'll tell you we ought to use our talents for the Lord, and I mean that, I appreciate that so very much. If that's everything we need to say, Tim, would you dismiss this in prayer? All right. Thank you, brother. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for allowing us to meet in your house today. Lord, we thank you for this great message. Lord, we thank you for Job and the example that he gave, that he gives each and every one of us. Lord, I pray that you'll bless each one that's here. Lord, we thank you for visitors. Lord, we thank you for the holidays and we thank you for your son. Lord, I pray that you'll bless each one that's here. Bring us back tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.