Checkmate
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Introduction
Introduction
1 One day the members of the heavenly court came again to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. 2 “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” 3 Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause.” 4 Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life. 5 But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!” 6 “All right, do with him as you please,” the Lord said to Satan. “But spare his life.” 7 So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.
This particular scripture is a familiar passage that has been taught, praught, exegeted, and eisegeted in many different churches by many different men and women of God around the world. My job today isn’t to give you the same experience or view of this particular scripture or the story that’s associated with it. My job today is to challenge your entire belief system while expanding how you view the situations, trials, and tribulations that we all must encounter and endure for the sake of the cross.
What do we really know about the man named Job?
1 There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. 4 Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them. 5 When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
Now according to scripture Job was blameless and a man of complete integrity. Which means he NEVER lied, stole, or cheated. But most importantly nothing or no one came before his relationship with GOD. Now if Job was the type of man that he was and endured what he had to endure then why do we feel that we should be exempt from even being tested or tried at all?
Now I do realize that at this very point that I am already about 5 minutes into my sermon and I know you are itching to know what the title or topic of my sermon is and we will get there but at this moment I’d like to take this time tell you about an amazing game that has been around for over 1500 years by the worlds account but biblically this game has been around and played for over 6000 years.
Now I know you’re wondering exactly what game has been played for over 6000 years? Well I’m glad you asked beloved because the name of this game is Chess. Now chess is an abstract strategy two player game that involves no hidden information or elements of chance. That means this is a thinking man’s game. which means your mental state must be strong enough endure the barrage of attacks that the enemy is going to throw at you. A barrage of attacks is defined as: a large and sustained series of attacks or criticisms.
In other words anytime the enemy deploys a series of attacks you must be able to think three moves ahead. This is how you play chess. Now there are several pieces that are used when it comes to the game of chess. One of which is the King, the king is the most important piece in the game. Without a king the game is immediately lost. Which brings me to my first point.
You can only win by checkmating the opponent's king, i.e. threatening it with inescapable capture. That means that you must either force your opponent into a compromising position or force him to retreat and or concede defeat.
The devil thought that Job trusted God because of the things that he had been blessed with over the years and not out of respect for the relationship that they had. The Lord is so powerful that even the devil couldn’t lie in His presence. Now here is where I hope you realize the power that you possess. If the prince of the air couldn’t lie in the presence of the king then why are we having such a difficult time silencing him?
Now we’ve heard how the devil stripped job of everything that he owned and had been blessed with from his possessions to his children and yet in all of that he never sinned. Now when job lost everything he was content in the state that he found himself in. How do we know this?
20 Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. 21 He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” 22 In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.
Losing everything didn’t bother Job at all. What did bother job was the fact that he was being openly mocked by his wife and his so-called friends. As we continue through the book job we will see that the devils part was complete in the first two chapters the rest of the book we find job having to defend himself to those he considered to be his friends.
The devil is such a pawn and he doesn’t even realize it. Why do I say that? Because the devil can only bother you with permission from the God. The devil can’t even look your way without receiving the king’s blessing or seal of approval. The devil only bothers those whom God has chosen and anointed.
So in other words when the devil is deploying a barrage of attacks just know that the devil is just confirming the call of God that is on your life and enacting the will of God for your life.
Don’t get distracted or bothered by barrage of attacks that come your way from the enemy because he’s doing his job. The book of Job has 42 chapters he suffered from chapter 1 to chapter 41 and God showed up to restore him and give him double for his trouble in chapter 42. Now when I was studying and doing research and I saw that there were 42 books I immediately made a direct correlation to the children of Israel who had to wait 40 and 2 generations for Jesus to be born to not only restore you but also give you double for trouble. All you need to know and remember is be not dismayed whatever betide GOD Will take care of you!!! All you need to do is put the devil in CHECKMATE!
Every time he looks like he wanna get froggy look at him and say...CHECKMATE!
Every time he tries to open his mouth and spew lies and deceit about you, look at that joker and say...CHECKMATE!
Every time your husband or your wife, or your kids start acting crazy look at them rusty jokers and say...CHECKMATE!
CHECKMATE!
CHECKMATE!
CHECKMATE!