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Study #2/Spring of 2022

In this session, we will look further into ‘STUBBORN FAITH’.
— As part of that study we’ll be looking at the stubborn faith of Abraham and Job.

A stubborn attitude means that there is some force that is being resisted.

— In this world we live in, Bible-believing Christians will be challenged at every opportunity by the worldly, to abandon their faith. This comes in many forms, such as the claims of a woman’s rights to her body overrule the right to life of the unborn. Or the claim that science has disproved the account of Creation as we find written in Genesis.

The theme for this study is… HOW DOES YOUR FAITH STAND UP TO THESE ATTACKS?
— And firstly to be able to stand fast in your faith you need to… Recognize an attack.

1^st Peter 5:8-11  Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  (9)  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.  (10)  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  (11)  To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
— Those who want to discredit your faith in God are following the plans of your adversary, Satan.
— Satan is always looking for a way to discredit God’s word, and belittle God’s name.

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Q1/ How do these attacks show up in our (or your) country today? (What can we see of this opposition in today’s News?) …Discussion time

Let’s make a list of Anti-Biblical positions and laws we have imposed on us. (I will list some of those in my country of Canada, as I must speak from a personal witness.)

1. A woman’s right by our laws, to choose to abort her unborn child… (And I am forced to support these actions as they are paid for out of our taxes.)
   ~ In opposition to Scripture: Job 31:15  Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? (Who’s authority and purpose does a woman oppose when she chooses to abort her baby?)
   ~ Jeremiah 1:4-5  Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,  (5)  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (This specifically speaks of Jeremiah, however, the point to note is; Who is the one who forms us in our mother’s womb, or is it the will of the woman and a man?)

2. Gay marriage… (People are taken to court for not supporting this anti-biblical rule in their business dealings.)
   ~ In opposition to Scripture: Genesis 2:23-24  Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”  (24)  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
   ~ And repeated by Jesus: Matthew 19:4-6  He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,  (5)  and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  (6)  So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

3. A Christian Bible College has had its rights to graduate students with a degree in law… because they insist in their admission’s statement that all the students that attend there must agree to not participate in sexual activities outside of marriage.
   ~ In opposition to Scripture: Hebrews 13:4  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Sadly, there are many more policies being proposed by worldly groups that would further restrict our abilities to promote Biblical Christianity here, and many countries already have policies that do not allow the preaching of a Biblical Gospel, or evangelizing by asking people to accept Jesus as their savior.

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Q2/ When you are exposed to such anti-Bible bias, do you shrink into the shadows… OR …do you allow yourself to become a target of ridicule and defend a Biblical perspective?
— If your disagreements are not about scripture, maybe about politics, this is not an attack on your faith.
— Perhaps you could share some examples of attacks on your faith, and how you responded to them.
…Discussion time

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The examples listed are subtle attacks against the authority of God (according to His Word) which the world is constantly pushing back against.
— If your reaction is to stand up for your personal belief in the Bible authority, you have joined the ranks of the STUBBORNLY FAITHFUL.

I have two clear Bible examples of just such stubborn faith…

1/ Abraham… From Genesis 21:5-7  Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.  (6)  And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”  (7)  And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

~ And Genesis 22:1-2  After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  (2)  He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

— OKAY, this was ordered of Abraham before God gave us the ten commandments, however, Abraham had to question how this could ever be God’s will, to kill his SON OF PROMISE, Isaac.

— We need to try to understand that in those days OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY was very strictly enforced, but I still believe that Abraham HAD TO HAVE FAITH that God would somehow restore Isaac unto his father, for how else could God’s promise come to fulfillment.

— In my culture of today, I cannot comprehend the faith of Abraham, as he places his son on the altar and reaches for the knife, and then raises it up, ready to plunge it into his son’s body… I am certain I could not do such a thing, and I have the excuse now that I know it would be against God’s own commandment. So I would be right to refuse to show such an action today.

Do you see a faith here that SOMEHOW KNOWS THAT GOD WILL STEP IN and make things right?

— Maybe Abraham thought that God would revive Isaac, but he had a faith that was prepared to plunge that knife. This shows that his was a faith that absolutely refused to quit. SURELY THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN EXTREME STUBBORN FAITH.

2/The second example of stubborn faith; The faith of Job…

— To sum up the events for brevity’s sake… In the book of Job, we find that God allows terrible tragedy to fall upon His faithful servant.
~ First, Job gets a report of all his oxen have been stolen by the Sabean tribes, and all his servants who looked after them have been killed, except one.
~ Next, another servant reports that “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up all your sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
~ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
~ And while that servant was yet speaking, another comes and tells Job, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

SO HOW DOES JOB REACT TO ALL THIS DEVASTATION?

SEE Job 1:20-22  Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.  (21)  And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”  (22)  In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Is that faith stubborn enough for you?

— But there is more…

SEE Job 2:3-10  And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”  (4)  Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.  (5)  But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”  (6)  And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”  (7)  So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.  (8)  And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. (9)  Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”  (10)  But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Compare the faith of Job’s wife to the faith of Job himself…

In compassion I suspect, we are not given the name of Job’s wife, however, she reactes as I truly think most of us would. (Vs. 9)  Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

— Her faith has quit, perhaps only for the moment, but she truly has given up…

Q3/ Are any of us capable of the STUBBORN FAITH of Job? …Discussion time

— Note his reply, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (From Vs. 10)

Here is the foundation of Job’s faith spoken by him at the end of Vs. 10…
“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

I would also look at his words from Vs. 21)  And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Q4/ What attitude of understanding does Job express in these statements? …Discussion time

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We need the understanding of Job as we go through wave after wave of this pandemic, and wave after wave of bad weather news, including great losses both to lives, property and homes.

— If in our humanity we fall short of this stubborn faith, all we need to do is reach out in prayer and ask God to be our strength.

If you read through the Book of Job, you find that even his faith struggled to understand why so many bad things were being allowed into his life.
— Job struggled until God spoke and set the matter straight…

Here is what God told Job…
“Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:8)

Q5/ Do we see the world today trying to make themselves RIGHT and GOD WRONG?
…Discussion time

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And when Job repents of his mistake of questioning God’s actions, God restores him to a life of further blessings. Note the last words of Job recorded in his book…

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)

Q6/ Is there any hope for this world except REPENTANCE? …Discussion?

— We should also remember the words of Jesus… Luke 18:7-8  And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them?  (8)  I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

And Psalm 14:6 tells us… “Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble, but the LORD is their protection.”
— I trust that God’s Holy Spirit will encourage you with this promise. For in it stands your strength.

And so I close with a call for you also to remain STUBBORN IN YOUR FAITH… (KK)

YouTube worship ‘Be still my soul’