1. Job 1:20-22 (NKJV)
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

3. Faithfulness Faithfulness is our theme for 2017
We have taken several lessons so far and looked at the idea of faithfulness
Remember that faithfulness is more than just a mere loyalty to God, it’s putting our trust & confidence in Him

4. Faithfulness When is trusting & loyalty the easiest?
When things are going well
What happens when things go bad?
How easy is it to have faith then?

5. Faithfulness What happens when we… Lose a loved one Lose our job
Get news from the doctor that isn’t good
Our spouse leaves us
Are treated wrong by someone

6. Faithfulness You can almost liken it to a marriage
No one leaves the other when everything is going well
Relationships fail when things are going wrong (ex. #1 cause for divorce)

7. Faithfulness When things go wrong, people can lose their faith
We MUST keep our faith during the trials of life!
We look to Job, a man who shows us how to keep our faith in our darkest hours

8. Faithfulness 1. Be the right person now
If our faith is going to sustain us through the trials of life, then we must strengthen our faith now
In other words, don’t wait until the trial comes to try and grow your faith in God
Look who Job was in the beginning…

9. Faithfulness 1. Be the right person now Job 1:1, 5
Job was one who worked on his faith constantly
“Thus Job did regularly”
Are we working on our faith “regularly”?

10. Faithfulness 1. Be the right person now
One of the main reasons Job showed such great faith was because it already existed in him
It took an already great faith to fall down and worship God when tragedy struck (1:20-22)

11. Faithfulness 2. Love God for who He is Why do you love God?
Do you love Him because of who He is or because He has blessed you with a good job, a family, a nice house or nice car?
What’s the reason?

12. Faithfulness 2. Love God for who He is
If you only love God because of the blessings He provides, then what happens when those blessings are gone?
Obviously Job didn’t just love God for the blessings (Satan’s accusation)
Job 1:21; 2:10

13. Faithfulness 3. Don’t blame God
If there is one thing we learn from reading Job, it’s that God was not to blame
We can’t always know the reasons behind the trials in our lives
Some think they know (Job’s 3 friends)

14. Faithfulness 3. Don’t blame God
“In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (1:22)
There are some who lose their faith during trials because they blame God for their circumstances
We should always look first in the mirror

15. Faithfulness 4. Cling to God, don’t run from Him
The worst thing we can do is to run away from the One who should be our source of strength in the midst of trials
Job did not run from God, instead he stayed right there with Him
Job 9:1-15

16. Faithfulness 4. Cling to God, don’t run from Him
Job was still struggling for answers, but this did not cause him to “curse God and die”, nor to disown his God
Job 19:25-26
Job 13:15