Era Two, God's Chosen Family - In this overview we will learn about what will be covered in the second era of the greatest story ever told. Era Two will cover two books of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, and the Book of Job.

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Voiceover

You are listening to the Bible breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. In this study, we will break down the Bible from B.C to A.D. chronologically while offering historical context and real life application for today. This series is brought to you by the Breakthrough Media Network.

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Pastor Dave

Hi, my name is Pastor Dave Engman, and I want to welcome you to the Bible Breakthrough, and I want to take the opportunity here just to thank you for tuning in. At the start of every era and whenever a new book of Scripture is being introduced, I'm going to produce an episode similar to this one. Really, the goal is three fold.

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Pastor Dave

Number one, I want to help you understand how to support this vital ministry, this work. Number two, to provide an overview at the start of each era. And to, number three, provide context of what we're going to be studying during the era that we're going to be focusing on. So let's get started with how you can support the Bible Breakthrough.

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Pastor Dave

The Bible Breakthrough is a production of the Breakthrough Media Network which is completely funded by Breakthrough Ministries. Breakthrough Ministries is a nonprofit, faith-funded Christian outreach organization committed to reaching the lost. Jesus left all of his followers with the charge to make him known to all nations working together as the body of Christ, those who take the message of Christ where it's needed, and those who send the messengers. Well, they both receive the blessings of joining God in His work around the world.

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Pastor Dave

Simply click on the donation link in the description of this episode or go directly to breakthroughmn.org to support the work of the vital ministry of Breakthrough. Of course, all donations are tax deductible, and one time gifts are needed and appreciated. But what I'm asking for is that you consider becoming a committed monthly supporter by clicking the box.

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Pastor Dave

Again, simply click the donation box in the description of this episode or go directly to Breakthroughmn.org. The second era is called God's Chosen Family, and it focuses on the books of Genesis and Job. And at this point, I'd encourage you if you haven't already, to go back and watch or review the first era overview of Beginnings, which will provide a more complete Genesis overview.

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Pastor Dave

Today I will set up and I'll discuss this era called God's Chosen Family and follow this outline: I'll provide an overview of this era, bring clarity through context, discuss the mega themes, and finally discuss what we can expect to glean from the Book of Job. So here's an overview… God's perfect creation had been marred by sin, even with a new beginning after the flood, humanity continued to rebel against God.

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Pastor Dave

The incident with the Tower of Babel is just one example of how people were following other gods and pursuing their own glory. God broke into his creation once again, and he spoke to one man asking him to leave the things of the world and leave the things he had behind and go to a new place, with complete reliance on God.

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Pastor Dave

God promised Abram, Abraham, that He would make him into a great nation, and that he would use him to bless the entire world. Abraham heard the voice of God, and he responded in faith. He left the city where he had grown up, and he traveled across the known world, really, to settle in the land that God showed him.

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Pastor Dave

Abram received a new name. It was Abraham. And in this story we discovered the beginning of God's covenant people in the in the broad strokes of his salvation plan, we learn that salvation comes by faith and that Abraham's descendants will be God's people and the Savior of the world will come through this chosen nation. We read the stories of Isaac and Jacob and Joseph that follow.

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Pastor Dave

And we recognize that they’re more than just interesting biographies. They emphasize the promises of God and the proof that he is faithful. The people we meet in Genesis are simple, ordinary people. Yet through them, God did great things. These are vivid pictures of how God can and does use all kinds of people to accomplish His good purpose, even people like you.

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Pastor Dave

So let's provide some context. The era of God's Chosen Family focuses on the books of Genesis and Job, though we've already covered this in the first Era, Beginnings, I'm going to offer a brief overview of the Book of Genesis before diving in to Job. Genesis was written by Moses and his audience were the people of Israel. He wrote this book to record God's creation of the world and his desire to have people worship him.

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Pastor Dave

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Pastor Dave

If you can muster enough faith to simply believe that is truth, God will do the rest. Fortunately, those who reject that, and reject God and his authority pay a horrible price! Now, the Book of Job is the first of the poetic books in the Hebrew Bible. The author of Job is unknown, although Job may have written it, some have suggested it was written by Moses or Solomon or even Elihu. The purpose of the book is to demonstrate God's sovereignty and the true meaning of faith.

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Pastor Dave

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Pastor Dave

For any building, the foundation as we know, is critical, and it must be deep enough and solid enough to withstand the weight of a building and other stresses. Well, lives are like buildings and the quality of each one's foundation will actually determine the quality of the whole life. Too often, inferior materials are used, and when tests come, lives crumble. Now, Job was tested with a life full of prestige, possessions and people.

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Pastor Dave

He was suddenly assaulted on every side, devastated, stripped down to his foundation. But his life had been built on God and he endured. Job, the book tells the story of Job, the man of God. It is gripping drama riches to rags to riches, a systemic theological work about suffering and divine sovereignty. And it's a picture of faith that endures.

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Pastor Dave

As you read Job, analyze your life and check your foundation, may you be able to say that when all is gone, but God, that God is enough! Job was prosperous, a prosperous farmer living in the land of Uz. He had thousands of sheep, camel and other livestock. He had a large family, many servants. Suddenly Satan, the accuser came before God claiming that Job was trusting God only because he was wealthy and everything was going well for him.

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Pastor Dave

And thus the testing of Job's faith began. Satan was allowed to destroy Job’s children, his servants, livestock, herdsmen and his home. But, Job continued to trust in God. Next, Satan attacked Job physically, covering him with painful sores; Job’s wife even told him to curse God and simply die. But Job suffered in silence. We learn about the three of jobs friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar as they came to him, at first, silently, they greived with him.

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Pastor Dave

But then they began to talk about the reason for his tragedies. They told him that sin had caused his suffering. They told him to confess his sins and to turn back to God. But Job maintained his innocence, unable to convince Job of his sin. Three men fell silent. At this point, another voice, the young Elihu, entered the debate.

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Pastor Dave

Although his arguments also failed to convince Job, it did prepare the way for God to speak. Finally, God spoke out of a mighty storm. Confronted with the greater power and majesty of God, Job fell in humble reverence before him, speechless, God rebuked Job's friends and Job and the drama ended with Job being restored to happiness and wealth.

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Pastor Dave

It's easy to think that we have all the answers. In reality, only God knows exactly why events unfold as they do. And we must submit to him as our sovereign Lord. As you read the book, emulate Job and decide to trust God no matter what happens. The era of God's Chosen Family contains five mega themes. The first theme is Promises God makes promises to help and to protect people.

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Pastor Dave

This kind of promise is called a covenant. God kept His promises then, and He keeps them now. And He promises to love us, accept us, and forgive us. The second theme that we run into is obedience, disobedience. Disobedience, actually, separates us from God, but obeying him restores our relationship with Him. God uses sinful people in His plan, but the only way to enjoy the benefits of God's promises is to turn away from sin and to obey God.

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Pastor Dave

The third theme is Israel. Now, God started the nation of Israel to have a dedicated people who would keep His ways alive in the world, proclaim to the world what He's really like and prepare the world for the birth of Jesus, God is looking for people today to follow Him. We are to proclaim God's truth and love to all nations, not just our own.

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Pastor Dave

We must be faithful to carry out the mission God has given us. The fourth theme is suffering. Through no fault of His own, Job lost his wealth, children and health. Even his friends were convinced that Job had brought this suffering upon himself. For Job, the greatest trial was not the pain of the loss. Rather, it was not being able to understand why God allowed Him to suffer.

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Pastor Dave

Those who love God are not exempt from trouble, although we may not be able to understand fully the reasons for the pain that we experience, it can lead us to rediscover God. The fifth theme is God's goodness. God is all wise, all powerful, and all loving. His will as perfect, yet He doesn't always act in ways that we understand.

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Pastor Dave

Abraham and Sarah didn't understand why they weren't able to have children when they were of normal childbearing age. But they trusted God's promise, and they were blessed with a son. Job’s suffering didn't make sense to him, but when God spoke to him, He saw God's power in His wisdom. God is never insensitive to our suffering.

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Pastor Dave

Even if it feels like we're all alone and he's far away because God is sufficient, we must hold on to Him. So what can we expect to glean from this book? There's a lot of things that we could discuss, but I've included a couple of topics to consider. The first one that we can glean is that Satan has a plan against us.

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Pastor Dave

Now, unlike God, he can't read your mind, but quite frankly, he doesn't have to because if allowed, he wields a tremendous amount of influence over it. For instance, if he can create doubt, he will cause you to question God's Word and God's goodness. If he can discourage you, it will cause you to look at your problems rather than to look to God.

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Pastor Dave

If he can divert your attention, well, it will cause the wrong things to seem attractive so that you're going to want them more than the right things. If he can make you feel defeated, well, it will cause you to feel like a failure so that you don't even try. And finally, if he can make you delay, it may cause you to put off doing something so that it never actually gets done.

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Pastor Dave

We must learn to recognize but not fear Satan's attacks, because Satan cannot exceed the limits that God sets. Don’t let any experience drive a wedge between you and God. Although you can't control how Satan may attack, you can always choose how you're going to respond when it does happen. The second thing that we can glean is that God is sovereign, and because of that, all things really, truly are under His control.

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Pastor Dave

What about you? Do you struggle with the idea of why bad things happen to good people? Look, only God understands why the good are allowed to suffer. This only becomes clear to us when we see God for who He is. We must courageously accept what God allows to happen in our lives and remain firmly committed to Him.

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Pastor Dave

Sometimes people wrongly assume that suffering comes as a result of our sin. With this in mind, people have tried to persuade others to repent of their sin. Like Job, there, the three friends were wrong. Suffering is not always a direct result of personal sin. When we experience severe suffering, it may not be our fault. So we don't have to add to our pain by feeling guilty or you know that there's some hidden sin that caused our trouble.

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Pastor Dave

Job finally learned that when nothing else was left, he had God and that was enough. Through suffering, we learn that God is enough for our lives and for our future. We must love God regardless of whether He allows blessing or suffering to come to us. Now, testing is difficult, but the result is often a deeper relationship with God.

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Pastor Dave

And those who suffer the testing of their faith will experience God's great rewards in the end. Finally, it's our desire to connect with you and to pray for you. If you would like that, you can find our contact information along with an invitation to our insider's club. What's the insider's club? To find out more about it and its benefits, click on the link in the episode notes.

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Pastor Dave

And please don't forget to support Breakthrough Ministries as they make the Bible breakthrough a reality. Again, you can do that by going to breakthroughmn.org to support them. Thanks for tuning in. May God continue to bless you as we move through the greatest story ever told here in the Bible Breakthrough, God bless!

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Voiceover

Thank you for tuning in to the Bible Breakthrough with Pastor David Engman and Scott Brekke. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and will join us again for more of the Bible from B.C. to A.D. We are a volunteer driven ministry and rely on you to help us get the word out to the world. Please, like this podcast on Facebook. Share it to your page and continue to listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. This has been a broadcast of the Breakthrough Media Network.