The Radio Teaching Ministry of Pastor Malcolm Wild
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.
A life without God is one devoid of joy and true inner peace, but a life dependent on Jesus and serving God is one of eternal blessing and peace on earth. Today, Pastor Malcolm will show you that Job knew that God's ways were the best. Even despite losing everything he had, including his family, Job still knew and remembered that anything outside of living for God is futile and ends in destruction. Even through his great loss, he knew pleasing God was still most important and remained faithful to him.
When the hardest trials of Job's life came his way, he was left with nothing. His family, his flocks, his riches, they were all destroyed. Around him in those days were his friends who were eager to offer supportive words. However, as Pastor Malcolm is going to point out in today's message, their advice wasn't right. It wasn't of God. Job knew this, but it serves as a lesson for you today. Beware of those who false doctrine, even if it's disguised as well advice. What God says is most important.
When Job was going through the testing that God allowed to happen to him, his friends said that he must have done something sinful to deserve it. They incorrectly thought that God was punishing him or simply abandoning him because of his shortcomings. Today, Pastor Malcolm is going to walk you through why that simply isn't the case. The Christian life isn't guaranteed to be easy, and it's not a sign of sin when you see bad things happen. What's important is to stay faithful to God during those times.
Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you? Like too many bad things have happened to you for God to possibly be there? As you look at Job today with Pastor Malcolm, you'll learn that you're definitely not alone. Job lost everything in his life and wondered why it could have happened. He didn't know why God would let so many bad things come to pass, and his faith was tested. But despite his sorrow and questions, he didn't turn his back on God, and he was eventually rewarded for his faithfulness.
Sometimes when the trials and tribulations come in life, there's no end in sight. Life can be overwhelming from sin, to responsibilities, to mental health; but through it all, God is there. Today, as you'll hear from Pastor Malcolm, God will bring about the hard times in your life for good. Just stay faithful to doing God's will. Don't turn your back on Him. It might seem like God has abandoned you or left you to deal with life on your own, but he's still there. You'll come out on the other side stronger and wiser.
Be careful who you consult for your spiritual guidance. Even the most well meaning people can tell you something that fundamentally is against Christian doctrine. So what do you do? Learn God's Word, and study it, Know it more and more. Spend time with God in prayer, seeking to know will for you. Today, Pastor Malcolm is going to show you good and bad examples of counsel in the life of Job when he was going through the hardest time of his life. God's ways are always superior to man's.
Haman, consumed by ambition and a desire for the throne, devises a plan to honor Mordecai, the Jew, in a humiliating manner. However, the king, unaware of Haman's true intentions, orders Haman to carry out the honor himself, leading to a shocking turn of events. Haman's downfall is foreshadowed as his wife and wise men warn him of his impending defeat against Mordecai, highlighting the power of God's providence and the futility of worldly ambition.
Esther, after fasting for three days, invites the king and Haman to a banquet. Haman, initially delighted by the invitation, becomes enraged when he sees Mordecai refusing to bow to him. Meanwhile, the king, unable to sleep, has the royal records read to him, leading to a series of events that will ultimately change Haman's fate.
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