Rightly Dividing The Word - Part 4 - The Lord Giveth and The Lord Taketh Away

Hello, this is Mike Kennedy with the Living in Victory broadcast. We're going to continue our series today titled "Rightly Dividing the Word." This is part four of the series. I encourage you to go back and listen to part one, two, and three if you haven't joined us. If you would join your faith with me, Heavenly Father, we come to you. I ask you for grace and anointing to express your Word, to rightly divide your Word, to speak your oracles that you get, Glory Father. Thank you, Father. Open up our eyes, our ears of understanding that we may grow in revelation, that we would grow in understanding your Word that we can apply it to our lives in living victory. We thank you for our Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen. Well, today we're going to talk about a common statement in who said it. The Lord giveth and the Lord takeeth away. But let's back up and review what this series is about. It's vital to know the truth of the Word of God because there's a direct correlation between understanding Scripture properly and experiencing victory in our lives. If we believe the wrong thing, then we will live the wrong way. We will declare the wrong things. It creates confusion, half-truths. And the truth will set you free, not a half-truth, but the truth. Over decades, over millennia, subtle deviations of the Word of God have come into people's lives. So, we're on a venture to remove some of those subtle deviations. So, some of those things that have been passed down from generation to generation. They sound good, but we need to understand who said it. Who did they say it to? What were they truly saying, amen, to rightly divide the Word? Our series is based on Mark 7 in 2 Timothy 2, 15. Mark 7, verse 13 says, "Making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down, in many such things you do."

So, traditions of man, not the Word of God, but traditions of man, make the Word of God of no effect in our lives. It doesn't take away the power of the Word of God. There is power there, but it removes the power from operating in our lives. These subtle traditions, man ideas, they keep us out of victory, keep us out of protection, keep us out of peace, joy, prosperity, healing, amen. So, that's why we want to understand these traditions, and understand what the Word really says and how to apply it to our life, amen. The Word, no effect means no power, no results. I want results of the Word of God. 2 Timothy 2, 15 says, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth." As I previously said, the Word rightly divide means to cut straight. And how do we do that in light of other scriptures? It's written, it's also written. That's how Jesus defeated Satan. We need to understand the full context what the Word says. Amen, not twisting it, not manipulating it for what we want it to say, but what does it really say? If you can rightly divide the Word of God, you can divide it incorrectly or divide it wrong. So, three things we need to understand. You said it, who did they say it to? What is the context? What are they speaking about? Amen? Everything in the Bible was said, but not all of it is truth. Not all of it is what God said. We're going to get into one of those today in the book of Job. Amen? The Lord give us and the Lord give us.

It says, "Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell to the ground, and worshiped in," he said. Who said this? Notice, Job rose. "Tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, and worshiped God." And Job said, "This is not what God said. This is what Job said. "Naked, I came from my mother's womb." That's truth. "Naked shall I return." Yeah, when we die, we're going to turn back to dust. Amen. But Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Job said this. "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name." He had the right heart. I don't think Job even knew that there was an evil Satan. So, he thinks that everything was God's fault. God did not say this. Who actually still, stills, kills, and destroys the destroyer. Satan. John 10-10 says, "The enemy, Satan, comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy." So, if it's stealing, if it's killing, if it's destruction, Satan's involved in it. Let's continue on. Let's back up to verse 6 and break this down. Job chapter 1 verse 6, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them, and the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? So, Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it." Satan was, and still is today going back and forth, back and forth trying to find out who he can attack, who he can destroy. What kind of a being is always looking out for a way to kill and hurt people, an evil one. "Sainting is searching for whom he may destroy." 1 Peter 5, 8 says, "Be sober. Be vigilant." In other words, be aware, be alert because you're adversary. You're enemy. You're enemy. My enemy. God's enemy. The devil walks about like a roaring lion. Oh, he's not always cracked up to be. All he tries to make himself to be. He's a defeated foe. He's a big O-Zero brought to not a loser, the loser, but he walks about, sticking his chest out, acting like he's more than he is, acting like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That doesn't mean that he can devour everything and everybody. I'm a may not. He may not devour me because I am protected by the blood of the lamb, living in the goodness of God. Amen. "Sainting is out to get you. He's out to get me and he will get us if we're not doers of the word." Amen. "And we must resist him." James 4-7 says, "Therefore submit to God." 1st, you got to submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. If you don't submit to God, Satan's going to laugh at you. He doesn't have to do anything, but if you resist him in the name of Jesus as a child of the Most High God, he doesn't have a choice but to skedaddle. Amen. He is the loser. Capital L tattooed right on his

forehead. Job 1-8, "Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered?" What? Have you considered? That's not actually what the Word says in Hebrew. The King James Bible was translated by King James English a couple hundred years ago, right? So this is not the best translation for today's English language. It literally says, "Have you set your heart on Job?" So God said, "Have you set your heart on him? Are you focused on getting him? Do you have an intent to go take him out?" And that's what you're endeavoring to do. "Satan was searching for someone to destroy and he hated Job because Job was a righteous man and Job was a wealthy, prosperous man." So one thing Satan hates is a righteous man. What he hates more is a wealthy, righteous person. Amen? So it goes on to say, "Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered or set your heart on my servant Jo, that there is none Man, Satan did not like that. He wanted to take him out. So, Satan answered and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? If we are righteous, we should not fear." Hey, man, we should be in reverence of God. Oh, if you're not serving God, you think it's funny? I see in Hell, brother, you should be afraid of God because when you get to hell, it's a terrifying situation and that's eternal. The rest of eternity, that's a mighty long time. But if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your name's written in the books of heaven as a child of the Most High God and you've been made righteous by Jesus. Hallelujah, we should have no fear in us. Amen? We should say fear get out of here. I'm a child of God. If you have been received as a child of God and received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, you've been made right before Him, no fear. No fear here, amen? Verse 10, "Have you not made a hedge around him, a hedge of protection, around his household, around all that he has on every side?

You have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions and have increased in the land." Me too. What about you? God is blessing me. I'm not moved by things that I see. I'm moved by what the Word says. I have an expectancy of coming up. Hallelujah. Hm. God protects his children, but we must stay underneath his protection, underneath his wing. You know, it's like a chicken. A little chicken can stay real close to its mama, underneath the wings of protection. Or it can be a rebellious little chick and go out and the snake's going to get it, it's going to eat it. Amen? We need to stay close to the Father, amen? Not get off track. When I was drag racing on the Pro Circuit, on the Harley, and I had that major accident where I was lifelighted, it was because I knew in my heart God was saying, "Don't race today." But no, no, I might have it my way. I'm going to go have fun. I'm going to twist the throttle, take off, and hit the wall. That's what happened, because I did not stay under the protection. To stay under the protection of the Lord means you have to follow what the Lord puts in your heart. Being led by the Spirit of God. The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God, Romans 8, 14.

Amen? Well, turn over to Psalms 91, hold your place here in Job chapter 1. Let's review Psalms 91 just a little bit. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Show, buy it under the shadow of the Almighty. That's like standing in that place of protection we just talked about. I will say of the Lord, who's this speaking? This is the writer of Psalms 91. I will say of the Lord, what are you decreeing? What are you saying? Are you saying, "Oh man, I'm going down. I can't pay these bills. I'm going to lose my house." You're going to say, "No, I'm coming up and coming out. God is merciful. I've got seed in the ground. Hallelujah. He's helping me." I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress. My God and Him I will trust, or I will have faith in Him, faith in His goodness." So my question is, are you saying the same type of thing? Are you saying, "I never win." I'm not coming out of this one. I'm going to get fired. I'm going to lose my house. I'm going to get sick. It's flu season. What are you saying? The only thing man said in his verse is verse two is where it's in quotes. It says, "I will say of the Lord."

Quote, "He is my refuge and my fortress. My God and Him I will trust." That is what man said. Verse three, "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence." Who is he talking about? He's talking about me here because I declare he is my refuge, my fortress, my God and Him I will trust. He's talking about the person who decreed that statement. So you need to decree that. Amen. Repeat this after me. God is my refuge, God is my fortress, my God and Him I will trust. Amen. Then the rest of this will apply to you, but we must stay in faith into what God said. Amen. "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler." A snare is a trap. Sing has traps set to take you and me out to capture us, to get us off guard. Pestilence is disease. He will take us from it. Out of it, amen? He shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge. Right there, under his wings. Where are you hiding out? Where are you resting? Amen? Is it, or do you have an open door because of the lifestyle you're living? Are you living in righteousness, in protection, being a doer of the word of God, living in the goodness of God, the protection of God. His truth, the word of God, shall be your shield and your buckler. It's a place of protection, living by the word of God. That means you must be a doer of the word of God, which means you need to know what the word of God says, hence rightly divide the word. Amen? You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day. No fear, I'm not afraid of missiles, guns, biotech attacks, COVID, amen? Nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noon day, verse seven. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Why? Why can you make that statement? Because of what's written in

verse two, five, and nine. Now verse two, it says, I will say of the Lord. First, we said it. Second of all, we're not afraid. We're not living in fear. Fear opens up a door to the enemy. See, Job opened up the door to the enemy because he was offering sacrifices based on fear that his children were living in sin every day. We're not supposed to live in fear. Fear opens up the door to the enemy and then verse nine, which we'll get to in a second. Only your eyes, only with your eyes show you look and see the reward of the wicked. The reward of the wicked is death and death eternal. I want life and life eternal, amen? In verse nine, this is the reason, the third reason why a thousand will fall on one side and ten thousand at your right hand, because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the most high your dwelling place. Have you made the Lord God your Lord your Savior? If you have this applies to you, if you declare it, amen? Verse 10, "No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. My home is protected, hallelujah. Saint and may try to get you out of peaceful places, out of your dwelling place, end of fear and out of faith." That's what he endeavors to do. He endeavors to get thoughts into you that get you out of love, get you out of faith, get you into fear, into judging, amen? So that he can attack. He wants you judged, he wants you to have an open door for him to come in and take you out. Verse 11, "For he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways, always in your work, your home life, driving, while I'm flying when I'm on my Harley riding, he protects me. I have angels protecting me, amen? In their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone." We have angels of protection. I taught on angels in a recent series. I encourage you to get it. It's on our website. It's on social media. And find out that you have angels to protect you. You say, "Oh, a little baby has a guardian angel." No, you still have that guardian angel. Are you utilizing him? Ministering spirits, we're supposed to give them direction, amen? We're created above them as sons of God when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Ministering spirits or guardian angels are not just for little babies. We are all little children to God. He's been around for millennia, amen? You can be a hundred years old and in God's eyes, you're still a little one. My angel is still with me, helping me, protecting me, keeping me. Now, my wife thinks I do things that keep my angel busy at times, and that's probably true, but I'm thankful that I've got a good and angelic being helping me. Verse 13, "You shall tread upon the lion in the cobra." I'm going to step right on his head, tread on him, the lion nor the cobra. He ain't going to bite me.

He's not going to take me out because I have the victory in Jesus, amen? Ooh, they're under my feet, amen? "Because he has set his love upon me. "Therefore, I will deliver him. "I love my God. "I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. "Do you love him? "Hallelujah. "I will set him on high because he has known my name. "He shall call upon me and I will answer him. "I will be with him in trouble. "I will deliver him and honor him. "With a long life, I will satisfy him "and show him my salvation." How do you get to verse 16? You must go through the first 14, 15 verses to get there. You must trust the Lord. You must decree that he is your Lord, amen? That he is your Savior. You must stand firm resisting fear. Stand where you're supposed to be, where God put you. Under his wings of protection. I got out from underneath it when I was dry gracing. No question about it. I was bound determined. I was gonna go fast that day. I was gonna go race and ended up in the hospital. Hallelujah. Let's go back to Job chapter one. And let's look at Job chapter one, verse 11.

But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will surely curse you to your face. In other words, Satan says, "Hey, let me attack him, let me get him." And as soon as I get in a few sucker punches, he's gonna become unfaithful. He's gonna blame you. Never blame God, amen? It's either we've allowed Satan into our life by not serving him. We've got into rebellion, got into fear. Always stay on God's side. God is a good God who he sent his only son to die for us that we would have eternal life. My, my, my, is that a loving God? And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on his person." Don't touch him. You ain't touching my boy. So, Satan, who went out? God didn't do this. Satan went out from the presence of the Lord to do what? To do what Satan does to kill, still, and destroy. My, my, my, he, God did not take it away. Satan comes to still kill and destroy. Not, not, not God, amen? Satan was saying, "Jo, Job is only faithful to you, God, because of his benefits. What's in it for him?"

And God said, "Okay, you think that that's all the reason my faithful servant is serving me is because he's blessed? All right, here's a test. Job, you're gonna pass this test and I'm gonna bless you. Every test comes after every successful test comes from motion." See, the problem is, is in our schools today, if you fail, that'll give you a passing grade, go on. That's a problem. It's in God's world. No, you don't pass the test, you take it again. You keep going around in circles, rounding in circles, rounding in circles, until you pass the test. Pass the test, amen? We need to beat our flesh. Figure out if we aren't being promoted, if we aren't coming up, if we aren't prospering, why? What open door do we have? Amen? So, Satan went out to try to attacking. Job passed the test. The book of Job, you know, you hear a lot of people saying, "Oh, I'm just like Job." Well, glory to God, he had a bad year. According to a bunch of theologians and historians, the book of Job was nine months to a year long. Well, then, you've been living that life for decades now, and you haven't lived in the goodness of God,

something's not right. You're not being like poor old Job. He was a multi-billionaire after nine months. Oh, glory to God, he's my God, amen? Verse 13, "Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and a messenger came to Job and said, the oxen were plowing in the dock, donkeys feeding them, feeding beside them, when the Sabians raided them and took them away. Indeed, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep in the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels, took them away, yes, and killed the servants of the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you." eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and suddenly a great wind came across from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they were dead. Who did this? Satan, not God. I alone have escaped to tell you. Satan is the killer. In a few messages, we're going to go over a few things where God was in wind, God was in earthquakes, and in those where he was not, but Satan was behind it, and the differences between him. Satan is a killer. If there's any damage, it's not an

act of God. As insurance companies may declare, "Oh, that's an act of God." No, it's an act of Satan. That's just honor. Amen? It goes on to say in verse 20, "Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, and worshiped. He worshiped God and said, 'Naked have I come 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.'" He got it wrong. He got part of it right. Blessed be the name of the Lord, but he got the fact that the Lord is the one He's taking it away. And men have declared that as though God said it. No, it's a man who said it, who did not understand the Word of God. And so, it's incorrectly dividing the Word. No, the Lord is not the thief. He's not the killer. A man said this. Amen? "Job said these words after hearing that it lost all his wealth, all his livestock, his children, in a series of sudden tragedies." But notice, instead of cursing God or getting angry, he did not blame God. A lot of people have gotten off and got upset at God, blamed God and decided not to go back to church. Job being a wise man, he did not understand who did it. That's why he said, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord takeeth away." But he blessed the Lord. He stayed right with God there. Hallelujah. If that's you and you've allowed Satan to come in because you did not resist him, you got into sin. Or Satan got in a sucker punch just like he did here. Stand firm, trusting God. Don't blame God. Always stay on God's side. Amen? Hallelujah. You know, Jonah, he got off. But at the end, he decided to go back and do what he was called to do and many were saved. You may have a call of God on your life and you're resisting doing what God's called you to do. I encourage you to get right with God, turn towards Him and fulfill the call. Amen? Don't give place to the devil. Ephesians 4, 27 says, "Nor get place to the devil." The NIV says, "And do not give the devil a foothold." The new century says, "Do not give the devil away to defeat you." Resisting, resisting by standing on the word, living a righteous life, obeying God. Amen? Well, this is Mike Kennedy with Living in Victory. Remember, for whatever is born of God, overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. Have a blessed day. [Music] [Music]