HABAKKUK-LEARNING TO TRUST GOD, ALWAYS: This Dark World

HABAKKUK-LEARNING TO TRUST GOD, ALWAYS  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  57:35
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This Dark World Habakkuk 1:1-11 We trust God! We’ll need this faith that God will walk out in Habakkuk 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 Faith Sustains

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 This Dark World Habakkuk 1:1-11 Have you ever wondered if God cares? I think we know we should believe He cares - but this book, the book of Habakkuk pulls the covers off and doesn’t allow us to hide behind right answers - it gets to raw emotion and really life. Why are we a people not just separated by race but also opposed and against each other? Why are we so different than our loving unified God? I am thankful that God allows this story of Habakkuk’s to be here we need this reality check and balance for the world we live in, I think we’ve gotten too plastic as the church and Habakkuk doesn’t let that happen unless your eyes are closed. We are, in a world that is cold, and detached from God. Where 26 people are shot up in a church while worshipping - with children as a primary target. Yet we trust God, right? We’re in a world where we’re seeing a flood of people coming forward with claims of sexual abuses and violation where people in powerful places in culture, people who the world has pedestaled, have abused their power in life affecting spirit warping, dehumanizingly cruel ways. We trust God, right? We’re in a world where we can start to wonder - “why do we trust God”. Habakkuk questions God from the first seconds of this book - that is bold, what is it about these explosive prophets and their bold books? This book is here for your faith in the real world, the world that hates God, this one. We’re in a book considered a “minor prophet” and that’s because in the Latin language “minor” here really means shorter. This is a shorter prophet - and you see, we have a 6-day weekly reading plan for this book. It’s in the bulletin and I pray you’re reading through this book weekly together. If you didn’t last week will you start this week? These Minor Prophets are anything but of minor importance - they’re impactful, they carry a punch they're like Twitter was back when it was 140 characters ONLY. Did you know Twitter made that change oh, yeah; it’s a big deal. People complain about being constrained to 140 characters. Did you know when Twitter tested this change only 5% of users sent tweets longer than 140 characters and then only 2 percent were more than 190 characters? With brevity comes power, that’s Habakkuk and now power for powers sake, that’s the world like Weinstein and Spacey, the Olympic women's (the last team’s average age was 19 and the magnificent 7 in ‘96 had an average age of 17) gymnastics team Dr. I pray that this short impactful book, this book will be a freeing of our mind towards God, that it will give you confidence in the trust you have for God. I think that’s why it’s in your Bible; still today it gives us a base to grow our faith. We’re not new as a church to the minor prophets, no we’ve studied Hosea - this is my single favorite book I'm the Bible in it’s short 13 chapters it communicates more about God’s love for us even when we’re unfaithful towards Him than any other in the Bible - it tees up the love of God for us so that Christ’s sacrifice could even be believable. We just finished Jonah which shows God’s long term patience with us individually and His individual care for us in spite of what we’re doing - so church you cannot out run God no matter who you are, these books that God has chosen to include in the Bible make that glaringly clear we NEED to know this, because as you come to know God and live your life you’ll come to realize how distant your inclinations are from the will of His character - you’ll need this faith that God will walk out in Habakkuk. What we’ll see here is a conversation between God and His prophet - Habakkuk one you may not be comfortable having but that God gives you anyway. We’ll find Habakkuk surrounded by an arrogant, evil world. Sound familiar 2000 + years later? Is your world arrogant and evil? We’ll find him as a man who’ll experience renewed faith in God yet who was deeply frustrated, maybe even angered by God. Does your impatience and longing or the kingdom of God give you frustration and anger some times? “Why God, why is the world like this? Why is the culture celebratory of everything, not that you’re against - that implies a war, but why God is the culture celebratory of everything that is counter to you? Why is it bent against you” Why are 26 children, women and men callously mowed down in a place of worship? We’ll need this faith that God will walk out in Habakkuk From the moment we open Habakkuk 1:1, Habakkuk God’s prophet is I don’t think angry; I think it’s worse than anger. I find that anger is that surge of energy that we sometimes use to get through a bad time; no I think Habakkuk has used that up. I think Habakkuk is beyond the yelling out in anger and burst of energy; I think he’s worn out flattened out and begging God here - I think that is the tone. Habakkuk knew the king didn’t love God nor His character and didn’t desire to reflect God in his kingdom in the culture at large, leadership at large, God’s own character and principles were ignored - Church, is that different from today? 2000 + years later we need this faith that God will walk out in Habakkuk. Habakkuk 1:1–4 Habakkuk’s Complaint 2  O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Habakkuk was exhausted - but praying, why, lets stick with him? 3  Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Guys - these are NOT the prayers we’re supposed to pray, right? These are not the thoughts we’re supposed to have, right? Remember, this book don’t let us hide behind right answers it gets to raw emotion. It gets to the very point where faith breaks down and: Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4  So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. He’s in the midst of a world that gave injustice where justice was due. Corruption and bad government, so he’s crying out to God. Here is what I’m struck by in this, God created people who have a degree of freedom, and with that degree of freedom we’ve made all this: We jockey for power. We satisfy ourselves at others expense. We act out our anger on vulnerable others. We rage against the very nature and characteristics of God. And He graciously and patiently works to bring us back to Him? Why? I don’t know but I’m so glad and I’m so thankful for the trajectory of scripture that gives us an accurate picture of ourselves working against him and Him faithfully pursuing (like Hosea) and Him working in us as He works through us to get more people stuck in this world that works to grind us down and wear us out and make us exhausted - that’s where Habakkuk is, how about you? How will God answer? Habakkuk 1:1–4 The Lord’s Answer 5  “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. 6  For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. 7  They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. 8  Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. 9  They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. 10  At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. 11  Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!” God answers Habakkuk and demonstrates that He has purposes for all that’s occurring. I don't read this and say, oohhhhhh ok I see. But I can and should read this and realize that God has all the data and all the story (truthfully He’s its author) and this should cause my faith. Are you blown away by that? We need this faith that God will walk out in Habakkuk. Habakkuk is in the moment - God is in control. Does that encourage you? Habakkuk is in the moment and you’re in the moment - but God is in control. You may “feel” that things are spinning out of control, but they’re well within God’s ability - trust him. God is at work all around us - because He’s in control. There are times where he’ll let you struggle. Do you remember the book of Jonah - I love standing outside of the stories in scripture, with a God written perspective because we can see all that God is doing. Yet - the people experiencing the stories don’t have this same benefit. Similarly, as we experience life, we don't have that same perspective we get in scripture but we can know, and that’s why we have scripture to know God better, we can know that God is in total control. Here we’ll see that God shows not that he’ll take control, but that He is in control. We get to see that in fact he inserted His son Jesus into life fulfilling nearly impossible scriptures about His blood line, avoiding the most powerful, feared man on the planet at the time, Herod and despite near total infanticide of male children, raised up Jesus and overcame the world - to make a way to Himself so that His Gospel His power of salvation would be broadcasted through His living kingdom on earth, His church; we church need to live out the faith He’s fueling in us. He lets us see it in Habakkuk a man that didn’t feel it - but will live it, what about us? What if we weren’t so afraid to say the wrong thing- would we talk to God more would we reach out and would our faith be MORE encouraged like Habakkuk - guys I need faith more and more every day not less and less. I need the encouragement that God has for me in Scripture; I need to be reminded of His power and my need for faith. We sometimes lack rest because we’re leaning on our strength and not our faith, church if you’ve never cast everything on God in faith and trusted Him with your everything - I pray you will today. If you have, maybe this life has started to grind on you? See His pursing faith in spite of you in Hosea, His persistent getting of you, know from Jonah, that you cannot out run His love for you - and now in Habakkuk let your faith grow as you see that He is involved and He cares, and His plan transcends this moment in time, this slight affliction 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (ESV) 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. The Paul who wrote those words, had likely constant intense suffering physical, psychological, emotional, and relational - yet he had a picture of the Kingdom of God beyond this life that made all that suffering light and momentary in comparison to the Glory of future life without separation from God, without unfair government, where your not emotionally drained by a world fighting against God’s own character - but where all things are good because they’re aligned not opposed to God. Look here to Habakkuk, he’s saying all the wrong things. But we see God is gracious and patient with Him. We just studied the book of Jonah - we saw God being gracious to him. You see we start to think God likes us because we do something for Him, and we make our salvation be one of works. It is not works, it is grace and the grace of God gives you a freedom to simply be who you are - because your salvation is not predicated upon being someone your not, it’s predicated on the perfect righteousness of Jesus. And that’s perfect. More perfect than your weak faith. More perfect than your simple prayers. More perfect than your imperfect desire to be perfectly like Christ. Because you’re not those things - yet you attain to it. So lets spend a week with Habakkuk this week and be renewed that God knows, God is sometimes allowing, sometimes driving, and always with us - and the future that awaits those who are in Christ, who live by faith - makes this seem light and momentary - take a deep breath if you’ve raged in anger like Jonah and are now laid out on the floor like Habakkuk and if you’ve not been here - soak it all in because we all need the faith that God will walk out in Habakkuk. Faith Sustains HABAKKUK – LEARNING TO TRUST GOD, ALWAYS: This Dark World Pastor John Weathersby Transcend Church 6 of 6 Sunday11/12/2017
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