The God Of What’s Left

Daniel 4:14-15
14 The messenger shouted, “Cut down the tree and lop off its branches! Shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit! Chase the wild animals from its shade and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the wild animals among the plants of the field.

I. GOD GAVE SATAN PERMISSION TO ATTACK JOB

Job 1:9-10
9 Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. 10 You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! 11 But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

Job 1:18-22
18 While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. 19 Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” 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.

Job 2:4-6
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.

IT’S WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT THATS GOING TO FRUSTRATE THE DEVIL’S PLAN!

THE LOSS IS PAINFUL, BUT WHAT’S LEFT IS POWERFUL!

II. GIDEON

Judges 7:7a
7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand.

III. SAMSON

Judges 16:21-22
21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.

Judges 16:28-30

28 Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. 30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

IV. MOSES

Exodus 9:8
*8 So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. *

Exodus 9:10
10 Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven. And they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast.

V. KING DAVID

1 Samuel 30:13
13 “To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?” David asked him. “I am an Egyptian—the slave of an Amalekite,” he replied. “My master abandoned me three days ago because I was sick.

VI. THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD

Mark 5:26
26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.

Mark 5:28

28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”

VII. THE POOR WIDOW

2 Kings 4:1
One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”

VIII. EZEKIEL AND THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES

Ezekiel 37:3
*3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” *

CONCLUSION:

Job 8:7(NLT); 7 And though you started with little,you will end with much.

Job 8:7(NASB); 7 Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.

Job 8:7(NLV); 7 And even if your beginning was small, your end will be very great.

Job 8:7(NET); 7 Your beginning will seem so small, since your future will flourish.

Job 8:7(HCSB); 7 Then, even if your beginnings were modest, your final days will be full of prosperity.