The Park Road Pres Podcast

The End

Today, after all these chapters of poetic speeches, the charges and accusations of Job's little satans and Job's desperate attempts to answer the charges… AND most important, after Job's meeting with God, when Job is interviewed by God and comes away changed: "I've heard of You with the ear but NOW my eye sees You" (42.5) – as if what Job knew as facts, as information is now become sensation, feeling, a sense and experience of God's presence – THEN/today the restoration, the aim or end toward which the whole book is moving.
Let's look at:
Concluding Restorations
Lingering Questions
Ongoing Applications

The Interview

The Presbyterians have answered the question of human purpose – "Man's chief end (or purpose) is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever" (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q:1) But, what about God's chief end/goal – what is God up to on this often tragic, confusing, wonderful, wounded and wounding world? And what is God's purpose for YOU as you travel through this beautiful but badly battered biosphere. What is God's doing in YOU?Today, the climax of the book. We'll look at it using three phrases you might've heard in our culture:1) I Want to Speak to the Manager2) Let's Get Ready to Rumble3) I Can See Clearly Now

I Believe - Help My Unbelief

Fresh Oil and Palm Trees

Fatherly Discipline: The Elihu Speech

What Elihu says about God's providence or complete control is mainly in keeping with the rest of the Bible but there are some bugs in his presentation. He's kind of a comic figure… he makes us wonder if telling a man in extreme pain and suffering unimaginable loss, we wonder if telling that person that God is in control of everything – including this misery – IS that approach going to help a suffering person? Should YOU, for instance, use this approach in counseling or comforting people in deep agony or pain, "Hey, God's in control!"
Today, the doctrine of providence in the poems of Elihu:
Providence
Benevolent Providence
Benevolent, Mysterious Providence

Where Can We Find Wisdom

There are THREE rounds of this – each rival friend speaks and then Job replies THREE times… A LOT of words and at this point, there's an incursion, a hymn about wisdom. Job may be starting to "get it" though he'll waver in the coming section… He's saying, "Only God knows what's happening. I don't and you guys sure don't and I'm not sure we're ever going to find out WHY…we need wisdom!"
Today, we'll look at WISDOM in this wisdom book for adults and see what is the big deal about wisdom? Why should we want it… where do we get it…what do we do with it? Let's look at:
The Struggle for Wisdom
The Song and Source of Wisdom
The Secret, the Seeing, the Service of Wisdom

I Know that My Redeemer Lives (Cycle 2)

oday, in the Second Cycle of arguments, Job reflects on one aspect of his suffering that's been of great interest to 20th C writers, philosophers, social scientists and artists and we ought to recognize this feature of life and suffering as being more painful and perplexing than we sometimes understand. The feature I have in mind is ALIENATION.It's the sense that I'm out of touch or disconnected or separated from others, from myself, from my purpose, from nature and from God. An alienated person feels like he/she doesn't belong, is out of place and strange for reasons he can't diagnose or change.I'd like to explore this condition from Job Ch 19 and see, in the passage, in perhaps the most beloved and famous words in the book, the remedy to this trauma. Let's look at:1) The Pain of Alienation2) The Hope of Redemption3) The Space Between Alienation and Redemption

The Standard Formula (Cycle One)

I need someone to listen to me and check my ideology, my core assumptions about life that I may not even know I have and hold… AND THAT is what we have here in the Book of Jōb. It's a long-form discussion and from it emerge the beliefs, the intellectual commitments and ideologies of the participants.In the course of this poetic conversation, stretching over some 40 chapters, the assumptions of the speakers and listeners emerge. I'd like to look at ONE such assumption I'm going to call the "Standard Formula". Let's look at:1) The Standard Stated2) The Standard Fulfilled3) The Standard Re-Stated

Job's Friends - Job's Lament

Today, some reinforcements show up – three friends from afar – and come to "sit shiva" with Job (that Jewish tradition actually COMES from this passage!) – come to mourn with him … and… eventually, after Job says how he's feeling, they offer him some advice. That's our topic today: mourning our losses and how friends can help in the process (or not). Let's look at:1) Friends, Fiends and Foreshadowing2) Breaking the Silence3) Deepest Regrets and Truest Friends

The Set Up

This year in the first part of the "Season of the Spirit," we look at how God's Spirit took an ancient man (and his friends!) on a journey into depth and maturity, growth, sanctification, and wisdom (all the work of the Spirit!)This will be our approach to The Book of Job. For the next nine weeks we plan to take a journey into our own motives to discover what kind of wisdom governs our own lives.Today we want to set up the book… so important that we get the original story that will be dissected and mused on and analyzed ad nauseum through-out the book by "the commentariat," the pundits, the "friends" of the suffering man.So, let's set it up:1. Set-Up for Wisdom2. Set-Up of the Book3. Set-Up for Our Own Journey