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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Study Headquarters

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Speaker 1: dot com. You're listening to the chapter today Audio Bible.

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Speaker 1: I'm John Stogey, and today we're in Job chapter one

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Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the contemporary English version. Many

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Speaker 1: years ago, a man named Job lived in the land

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Speaker 1: of Uz. He was a truly good person who respected

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Speaker 1: God and refused to do evil. Job had seven sons

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Speaker 1: and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels,

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Speaker 1: five hundred pair of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and a

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Speaker 1: large number of servants. He was the richest person in

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Speaker 1: the east. Job's sons took turns having feasts in their homes,

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Speaker 1: and they always invited their three sisters to join in

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Speaker 1: the eating and drinking. Each feast, Job would send for

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Speaker 1: his children and perform a ceremony as a way of

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Speaker 1: asking God to forgive them of any wrongs they may

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Speaker 1: have done. He would get up early the next morning

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Speaker 1: and offer a sacrifice for each of them, just in

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Speaker 1: case they had sinned or silently cursed God. One day,

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Speaker 1: when the angels had gathered around the Lord and Satan

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Speaker 1: was there with them, the lord asked, Satan, where have

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Speaker 1: you been. Satan replied, I have been going all over

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Speaker 1: the earth. Then the Lord asked, what do you think

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Speaker 1: of my servant Job. No one on earth is like him.

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Speaker 1: He is a truly good person who respects me and

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Speaker 1: refuses to do evil. Why shouldn't he respect you? Satan remarked,

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Speaker 1: you are like a wall, protecting not only him, but

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Speaker 1: his entire family and all his property. You make him

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Speaker 1: successful in whatever he does, and his flocks and herds

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Speaker 1: are everwhere. Try taking away everything he owns and he

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Speaker 1: will curse you to your face. The lord replied, all right, Satan,

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Speaker 1: do what you want with anything that belongs to him,

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Speaker 1: but don't harm Job. Then Satan left. Job's sons and

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Speaker 1: daughters were having a feast in the home of his

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Speaker 1: oldest son when someone rushed up to Job and said,

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Speaker 1: while your servants were plowing with your oxen and your

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Speaker 1: donkeys were nearby eating grass, a gang of Sabinians attacked

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Speaker 1: and stole the oxen and donkeys. Your other servants were killed,

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Speaker 1: and I was the only one who escaped to tell you.

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Speaker 1: That servant was still speaking when a second one came,

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Speaker 1: running up and saying God sent down a fire that

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Speaker 1: killed your sheep and your servants. I am the only

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Speaker 1: one who escaped to tell you. Before that servant finished speaking,

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Speaker 1: a third one raced up and said, three gangs of

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Speaker 1: cold attacked and stole your camels. All of your other

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Speaker 1: servants were killed, and I am the only one who

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Speaker 1: escaped to tell you. That servant was still speaking when

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Speaker 1: a fourth one dashed up and said, your children were

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Speaker 1: having a feast and drinking wine at the home of

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Speaker 1: your oldest son, when suddenly a windstorm from the desert

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Speaker 1: blew the house down, crushing all of your children. I

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Speaker 1: am the only one who escaped to tell you. When

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Speaker 1: Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his

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Speaker 1: head because of his great sorrow. He knelt on the ground.

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Speaker 1: Then worshiped God and said, we bring nothing at birth,

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Speaker 1: we take nothing with us at death. The Lord alone

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Speaker 1: gives and takes praise the name of the Lord. In

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Speaker 1: spite of everything, Job did not sin or accuse God

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Speaker 1: of doing wrong. Pray, Lord, we thank you for your word,

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Speaker 1: and we thank you for the privilege of beginning our

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Speaker 1: study of this new book together, the book of Job

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Speaker 1: and Lord. We're grateful for the things that you illustrate

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Speaker 1: to us and for us in this passage. But Lord,

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Speaker 1: this is a difficult and sad passage for us to read.

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Speaker 1: To think of a kind man like Job losing his family,

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Speaker 1: losing his possessions, losing the things that mattered to him

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Speaker 1: in this world apart from you, Lord, we can't help

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Speaker 1: but feel compassion toward him, particularly Lord when we think

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Speaker 1: about the grief that he must have experienced in the

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Speaker 1: loss of all of his children in one moment. But Lord,

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Speaker 1: we're also grateful for the testimony that we see at

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Speaker 1: the end of this chapter, as Job praise to you

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Speaker 1: and recognizes that you're the one who gives and takes,

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Speaker 1: and that your name should be praised, regardless that our

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Speaker 1: desire to praise you should never be dependent on our circumstances.

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Speaker 1: That you're good, whether everything we want to have happened

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Speaker 1: to us happens or whether it doesn't. And Job did

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Speaker 1: not sin or accuse you of doing wrong, even in

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Speaker 1: the midst of the greatest trial he had ever experienced.

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Speaker 1: And Lord, we wrestle with that. Sometimes in the midst

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Speaker 1: of our trials, we can get angry with you, and

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Speaker 1: we can question your decisions or why you allow certain

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Speaker 1: things to come into our lives. But Lord, you tell

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Speaker 1: us elsewhere in scripture that the trials that come upon

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Speaker 1: us are actually things that have been designed to strengthen

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Speaker 1: our faith, to help us to trust in you more deeply,

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Speaker 1: to help us to recognize that if we have your

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Speaker 1: son Jesus Christ as our savior, then we have everything

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Speaker 1: we truly need in the midst of this world. Lord,

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Speaker 1: we pray that, by your grace that we would be

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Speaker 1: content with Christ, that we would be satisfied with what

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Speaker 1: you choose to supply, that we would accept whatever you

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Speaker 1: choose to bring our way, and that we would understand

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Speaker 1: that you have a great and mighty purpose for our lives.

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Speaker 1: And in almost every context, the way that plays out

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Speaker 1: is going to look different than what we expected. Help

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Speaker 1: us to be okay with that, we pray, we love you, Lord,

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Speaker 1: We thank you for your presence with us today, and

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Speaker 1: we commit this day to your care in Jesus' name. Amen.