WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.580 Good morning. 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:02.200 I'm glad to see everyone here today. 00:00:02.400 --> 00:00:07.520 I'm going to invite you to turn to the book of Habakkuk, chapter three, as we conclude our series on this book together. 00:00:08.180 --> 00:00:11.500 if you're wondering where Habakkuk is, you've never been in that book. 00:00:11.860 --> 00:00:13.210 We're just looking at the last four verses. 00:00:13.700 --> 00:00:16.410 If you start in the book of Matthew and go back. 00:00:16.980 --> 00:00:19.780 well, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah five books. 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:20.080 There we go. 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:21.040 There you go. 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:21.720 You've got it right. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:22.510 I've said that enough times. 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:23.290 I should remember that. 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:26.440 But if you go back from Matthew five books, you'll be there. 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:33.540 The book of Habakkuk is a very interesting book as it relates to understanding God and discovering God in the midst of adversity. 00:00:33.820 --> 00:00:41.080 We said in the beginning as we started this book, everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face and then whatever sticks at that point, 00:00:41.760 --> 00:00:42.660 God be with you, right? 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:50.600 And Habakkuk is one who's experienced adversity in his walk with God, not not on behalf of just himself, but for the nation of 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:51.050 Israel. 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:58.620 And so he writes this book wrestling in a very personal way on discovering where God is in the midst of adversity and what 00:00:58.620 --> 00:01:01.270 makes this book so unique is that it's found in the prophetic books. 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:07.420 And by nature, the purpose and function of a prophet is to represent God before the people. 00:01:07.460 --> 00:01:12.720 He would declare it messages of the Lord to God's people, relay messages from God. 00:01:12.740 --> 00:01:14.720 He would represent God to people. 00:01:14.720 --> 00:01:16.950 But in the book of Habakkuk it's taken the opposite role. 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:22.760 Habakkuk is now wrestling in his relationship with the Lord, coming before God in the midst of adversity. 00:01:24.620 --> 00:01:27.800 And so we've looked at a very difficult book over the last three weeks on. 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:29.770 It's a book on wrath, a book on discipline. 00:01:30.380 --> 00:01:31.100 It is not easy. 00:01:31.220 --> 00:01:38.240 We saw in the beginning that Habakkuk is in a place of desperation, a place of pain, a place of sorrow, a place of writing 00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:39.120 country music. 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:40.960 And by the end of the book he is. 00:01:41.220 --> 00:01:45.490 He is in a place of joy, a place of celebration, a place of worship. 00:01:45.820 --> 00:01:50.440 He finds maturity through opposition, hope and adversity, and joy in difficulty. 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:59.280 And this morning, as we look at these last four verses, these verses are sort of the conclusion statement that walks throughout the 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:00.980 theme of what this book was about. 00:02:01.360 --> 00:02:08.460 He goes through this emotional experience for us, exercising his spirituality to demonstrate how he finds 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:11.630 maturity and growth in the midst of his opposition. 00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:19.720 This last four verses that we're about to look at together is the outworking of what the theme of Habakkuk is, was, is found 00:02:19.720 --> 00:02:21.450 in chapter two and verse four. 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:25.290 We said when we got to that point, it is the pinnacle of what Habakkuk is about. 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:29.300 It is a verse that's quoted throughout the New Testament by authors. 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:32.580 And then the theme is this the just shall live by faith. 00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:35.270 God hasn't given up on his people. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:42.560 In fact, he's using the experience of what Israel is about to go through to draw Israel back to him, to experience maturity in those moments, 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:44.270 and to walk with God again. 00:02:45.700 --> 00:02:52.860 When Habakkuk starts these four verses, it says to us in the opening verse in verse 16, Habakkuk 00:02:53.040 --> 00:02:55.200 describing what he's experiencing inwardly. 00:02:55.460 --> 00:02:58.540 This is the place that he was apart from God. 00:02:58.540 --> 00:03:03.960 And in looking in himself and depending upon himself and the adversity he's about to face. 00:03:04.040 --> 00:03:09.100 And this is what he says I heard in my inward parts, trembled at the sound of my. 00:03:09.260 --> 00:03:10.040 And the sound. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:10.740 My lips quivered. 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:13.560 Decay entered my bones. 00:03:14.880 --> 00:03:16.500 And in my place I tremble. 00:03:17.660 --> 00:03:19.480 Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress. 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:23.980 For the people to arise who will invade us? 00:03:26.200 --> 00:03:28.740 Habakkuk calls this verse weak in the knees. 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:29.320 Theology. 00:03:30.920 --> 00:03:32.860 I tend to call this verse trash can theology. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:38.160 It's one of those things where you realize in front of you is something that's resting, that's difficult. 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:39.670 And you say to yourself, I'm about to be sick. 00:03:39.880 --> 00:03:40.820 Grab the can, right? 00:03:42.440 --> 00:03:49.700 Habakkuk understands that the circumstances in which he is in, as he's looking inwardly, inwardly, that the challenge is 00:03:49.700 --> 00:03:53.820 beyond him so much that it begins to affect him physiologically. 00:03:55.540 --> 00:04:02.760 He begins to feel weak in the knees and lose his strength and quiver at the circumstance, knowing 00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:04.720 that things aren't going to be easy. 00:04:06.980 --> 00:04:09.210 Habakkuk wrestles with this. 00:04:10.600 --> 00:04:14.920 You know, in our society today, we tend to look at obstacles in which we are facing. 00:04:15.660 --> 00:04:18.950 And the immediate response within our mind is, how do I find pleasure again? 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:19.519 How do I be happy again? 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:27.200 And we sort of try to shelf or push aside things that bring distress in our lives and immediately look for the quick 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:28.640 fix that brings happiness. 00:04:28.700 --> 00:04:30.510 Again, let's just get that homeostasis back. 00:04:30.640 --> 00:04:32.500 Let's feel good about it and move forward. 00:04:33.460 --> 00:04:39.960 And I think Habakkuk in this text is ultimately moving forward in what will bring him hope, what will bring him joy. 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:47.120 But I just don't want to reflect so quickly upon the coming verses and how Habakkuk feels that to miss what he's expressing 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:54.280 in verse 16, I think it's important that God can use circumstances of weakness, circumstances of distress in 00:04:54.280 --> 00:04:57.760 our lives to drive us towards what ultimately matters. 00:04:59.960 --> 00:05:00.340 Meaning. 00:05:01.760 --> 00:05:03.310 God can redeem pain. 00:05:06.640 --> 00:05:08.710 God can use it for his glory. 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:13.680 And I'm not saying now go seek pain. 00:05:15.840 --> 00:05:17.760 But God ultimately uses that. 00:05:19.060 --> 00:05:22.300 To drive us towards what does matter. 00:05:23.900 --> 00:05:26.360 And as Habakkuk looks within himself inwardly. 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:30.680 He then dives a little further to look outwardly. 00:05:32.820 --> 00:05:35.790 He says, though the fig tree should not blossom and there would be no fruit on the vines. 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:43.500 And though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:48.900 there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exalt in the Lord. 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:57.440 So when Habakkuk describes his outward circumstances, he's saying this not only not only is the garden not 00:05:57.440 --> 00:06:04.640 giving us the crops, and not only are the vines not producing the fruit, but when you plant a garden and it does not grow, not 00:06:04.640 --> 00:06:09.620 only do you not have food for that year, but you have no seed from the plant that will produce food for next year. 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:17.060 Not only is there no animals in the stall, but there's no animals in the field because the animals are gone. 00:06:17.200 --> 00:06:22.620 So Habakkuk is saying, not only do we not have food for this year, but we don't have things to provide for ourselves for the foreseeable future. 00:06:24.080 --> 00:06:29.880 And so when we look inwardly, he finds he does not find the strength in which he needs to depend on through his circumstance. 00:06:30.100 --> 00:06:35.100 And he looks outwardly, he again does not find the strength to depend on through the circumstance. 00:06:35.460 --> 00:06:36.660 But when he looks upwardly. 00:06:38.640 --> 00:06:39.910 Thou exalt in the Lord? 00:06:41.520 --> 00:06:43.400 I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 00:06:44.980 --> 00:06:48.850 The Lord God is my strength, and he has made my feet like hinds feet. 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:51.640 And makes me walk on my high places. 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:58.840 I'm going to tell you, Habakkuk, when he when he's looking upwardly, he finds a place to rejoice in God. 00:06:58.840 --> 00:07:00.560 And we'll talk about how that happens in a minute. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:08.060 But to describe that everything I could pick, Heinz feet's probably not the top on my priority list. 00:07:08.080 --> 00:07:10.000 You know, you ask a hunter where you where you're going? 00:07:10.280 --> 00:07:10.730 Where are you going? 00:07:10.780 --> 00:07:11.120 Where are you going? 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:11.560 Hunting today? 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:11.700 I'm. 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:13.340 I'm going Heinz hunting. 00:07:13.340 --> 00:07:14.190 I mean, what is a hind? 00:07:14.340 --> 00:07:15.200 It's in this passage. 00:07:15.860 --> 00:07:22.980 It's talking about a deer and Habakkuk maybe reflecting and thinking about hunters during his time, that they would 00:07:23.280 --> 00:07:27.640 chase animals through the mountains and just be in awe of these animals they couldn't catch. 00:07:27.840 --> 00:07:34.900 They would navigate through these hills just so incredible on terrain in which no one else could stand, these deers could stand. 00:07:34.900 --> 00:07:36.400 I got to say, I'm not a hunter. 00:07:36.820 --> 00:07:38.070 I don't chase deer. 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:39.820 And this to me, okay, whatever. 00:07:40.260 --> 00:07:40.920 Right. 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:41.100 But. 00:07:41.200 --> 00:07:42.490 But when it warms up outside. 00:07:44.080 --> 00:07:49.960 I love to hike in the mountains, and every year when it's summertime, I've got two things on my priority list. 00:07:50.140 --> 00:07:50.800 I want to see a moose. 00:07:51.960 --> 00:07:53.040 I don't want to see a white mountain goat. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:57.080 I don't know if you've ever had the luxury of seeing a white mountain goat, but. 00:07:57.400 --> 00:08:04.720 But when you when you go to the top of Mount Temp or Thunder Mountain and behind us, or on the east of our church here, these white mountain 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.900 goat, they stand on the world's smallest rock. 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:13.340 And they jump over a cliff of impending doom. 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:15.820 And it's like they don't even care. 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:16.980 They don't even think about it. 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:20.900 They'll just jump ten feet across this precipice of everlasting death. 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:25.840 And they leap from the world's smallest rock only to find the new world's smallest rock. 00:08:26.440 --> 00:08:28.740 And they just stand there like, just stuck that. 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:30.950 Everyone look at this. 00:08:31.460 --> 00:08:35.559 And when you see them in the mountains, they have no concern for anything else in life. 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:40.380 And they're walking so, sure, sure footed, there's not a predator that's going to touch them. 00:08:40.380 --> 00:08:46.480 They're so high up on such small rocks that they just confidently just move around like, this is me and I am better than everything. 00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:56.340 And what Habakkuk is trying to express in this verse is that there is this sure footing in which he has discovered. 00:08:56.400 --> 00:08:57.930 Now some of you are like, man, I am not outdoors. 00:08:58.180 --> 00:08:59.220 I don't get the goat thing. 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:00.550 I mean, the goats or goats are weird. 00:09:00.900 --> 00:09:01.860 They're more weird than dear Nathaniel. 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:03.460 So you're on your own in that. 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:06.300 So let me just let me maybe break it down in a way that relates to you today. 00:09:06.700 --> 00:09:09.340 You ever you ever go outside to check your mail during this time of year. 00:09:09.700 --> 00:09:16.880 And you're thinking, I'm not properly dressed for this, but I think I can make it to the box and you step outside and as soon as you step outside, that cold breeze hits 00:09:16.880 --> 00:09:20.500 you and you're like, I, I was not ready for that. 00:09:20.540 --> 00:09:26.080 And immediately your mind goes to the place of that guy who's on the beach somewhere in shorts, just soaking in the rays and the perfect temperature. 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:28.740 You're like, I want to be him. 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:30.840 I want I want the security of that right now. 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:32.700 This is when your mind goes there. 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:33.360 I mean, that's that. 00:09:33.380 --> 00:09:35.400 That is what Habakkuk is saying in the midst of winter. 00:09:35.660 --> 00:09:37.530 He has found the beach. 00:09:37.540 --> 00:09:39.800 I mean, he is in San Diego in these moments, right? 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:43.960 How in the world do you be that the deer on that beach? 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:44.120 Right. 00:09:44.900 --> 00:09:51.960 I mean, how does Habakkuk come through all of these challenges, recognizing that in verse 16, he doesn't have the strength in 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:59.220 verse 17, outwardly, there isn't this substance to sustain him, but upwardly. 00:10:02.060 --> 00:10:02.600 He's sure footed. 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:05.360 Mean he stuck it. 00:10:07.060 --> 00:10:11.550 Impending doom all around, and with confidence he rests there. 00:10:13.230 --> 00:10:14.450 How do you be that? 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:22.140 The context of chapters one through three just illustrates this throughout Habakkuk. 00:10:22.180 --> 00:10:25.210 And I just want to give a summary of what we found in these chapters. 00:10:25.640 --> 00:10:33.100 And what I would say this is when Habakkuk begins this experience, he discovers that God uses 00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:40.380 adversity to help us depend on what endures, to help us 00:10:40.380 --> 00:10:44.110 depend on what ultimately matters. 00:10:45.780 --> 00:10:52.900 You recognize in the life of Habakkuk, what he's discovering in these points is that every other joy in life can be taken from 00:10:52.900 --> 00:10:53.800 you. 00:10:54.620 --> 00:10:56.520 But one. 00:10:57.140 --> 00:11:02.440 Everything in the drop of a hat and the blink of an eye. 00:11:04.040 --> 00:11:06.900 The things in which you place joy in life. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:08.320 It can be ripped from you. 00:11:08.540 --> 00:11:15.740 But one thing that can't, and that is your place in Christ and God is bringing Habakkuk 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:22.920 to this place of recognizing that he is the Redeemer that we found in chapter two and verses four 00:11:22.920 --> 00:11:29.920 and verses 20, and chapter three, and verses two and verse 13, that the 00:11:29.920 --> 00:11:35.380 Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 49, when God talks about the restoration of Israel, he says this. 00:11:35.880 --> 00:11:39.740 Those who hope in me will not be disappointed. 00:11:42.300 --> 00:11:45.940 Everything that Habakkuk has learned above all else. 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:50.110 That there is one thing he needs. 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:52.360 And that is Christ. 00:11:54.840 --> 00:12:02.120 In the Bible tells us in first Thessalonians chapter five and verse 16 and everything give thanks. 00:12:03.480 --> 00:12:05.740 What this passage doesn't say is for everything. 00:12:06.640 --> 00:12:07.560 If things. 00:12:08.920 --> 00:12:13.920 In everything give thanks is much different than saying for everything, give thanks. 00:12:13.940 --> 00:12:18.740 And what I mean is this like when something bad happens in your life, you don't have to be like, man, that was awesome. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:20.620 I'm thankful for that bad thing. 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:21.600 That was way great. 00:12:21.920 --> 00:12:22.680 Let's do it again. 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:25.480 Rather. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:34.470 What Habakkuk is saying is rather than being thankful for it, or what Thessalonians is saying is that rather than be thankful for it. 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:37.060 In it. 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:39.510 He finds a place to discover thankfulness. 00:12:42.510 --> 00:12:43.260 I. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:44.080 Because his hope. 00:12:45.560 --> 00:12:46.580 His hope was resting. 00:12:47.040 --> 00:12:49.580 And everything inwardly, everything outwardly. 00:12:51.180 --> 00:12:53.570 But the people of Israel were no longer looking upwardly. 00:12:55.220 --> 00:13:02.380 And the God who was capable and able, and restoring and sustaining in him a place to wrap their 00:13:02.380 --> 00:13:06.740 hope in something that would never be taken away from them. 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:13.210 And when you read in the New Testament and individuals like the Apostle Paul, you can see it in the, in the book of acts. 00:13:13.920 --> 00:13:17.520 He's in the dungeons singing hymns to God. 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:23.060 How in the world, in adversity does Paul sing praise to God? 00:13:25.380 --> 00:13:26.120 Because his hope. 00:13:27.920 --> 00:13:29.280 Wasn't the circumstantial. 00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:32.960 His hope was in the eternal. 00:13:35.260 --> 00:13:40.060 And a God who ultimately sustains beyond this world. 00:13:42.680 --> 00:13:43.680 Second thing Habakkuk learned. 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:46.680 Is that God's power? 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.350 Meets me in my weakness. 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:53.790 You know, if I'm being honest with you. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:01.960 If I knew everything life would throw at me or was going to throw at me, if I 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:05.640 knew the challenges of church planting before I planted churches. 00:14:08.800 --> 00:14:10.440 I don't know if I'd have the strength to get up. 00:14:12.420 --> 00:14:14.810 To endure the day, let alone the year. 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:17.600 Of all the ups and downs life had. 00:14:19.760 --> 00:14:26.800 I don't know that I would have it within me to even face what needed to be faced with the strength it took to overcome. 00:14:27.400 --> 00:14:31.640 I think in many cases when it comes to our lives, ignorance is bliss in that way. 00:14:33.180 --> 00:14:37.940 But what Habakkuk learns is that God's power meets him in my weakness. 00:14:38.060 --> 00:14:43.620 I mean, you think in yourself, if that ever happened to me, I have no idea how I would get through that. 00:14:46.400 --> 00:14:49.350 Bible tells us Philippians chapter four. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:51.600 My God. 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:55.050 We'll meet all your needs. 00:14:55.980 --> 00:14:57.670 According to the riches of his glory. 00:14:58.880 --> 00:15:00.030 And Christ Jesus. 00:15:02.180 --> 00:15:04.160 God doesn't call us to worry about tomorrow. 00:15:06.880 --> 00:15:09.510 God calls us to find strength in him today. 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:17.680 Sufficient for today are the burdens at hand, right? 00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:18.380 As people. 00:15:18.380 --> 00:15:21.740 We don't have the ability to carry the weight of the past and the way of the future. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:23.760 But our God does. 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:30.300 And sometimes we look at the challenges that life may bring and wonder, how in the world would I ever work through this? 00:15:30.300 --> 00:15:37.620 But Habakkuk discovers, and in the book of Philippians echoes this, that God in the midst of our adversity, gives 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:42.260 us the strength to endure as he leads us in this world. 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:49.600 And I would say for believers, for Habakkuk, a mark of maturity he shares with us is that I 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:50.900 can't do it. 00:15:52.340 --> 00:15:53.300 It's trash can theology. 00:15:55.100 --> 00:15:55.710 But God can. 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:04.260 The reality is Habakkuk finds within these chapters is that God may not change the circumstance. 00:16:06.640 --> 00:16:09.250 But he can change us to meet the circumstances. 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:18.310 And Habakkuk begins to learn this lesson not not by thinking less of himself, but really by becoming selfless. 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:27.060 And what I mean is we don't you don't have to beat up the image of who you are apart from God. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.660 I know that we're sinful creatures, but God still made you beautiful. 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:32.780 God still created you in his image. 00:16:32.780 --> 00:16:34.910 God made you for a purpose. 00:16:35.160 --> 00:16:39.540 God sees value in who you are because he's ultimately given his life for you. 00:16:39.560 --> 00:16:41.680 And so you don't have to think less of yourself. 00:16:42.300 --> 00:16:49.360 But what Habakkuk learns to do is to think selfless, because as he's challenging himself in the strength to overcome, he says 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:51.460 in verse 16, I'm quivering. 00:16:51.460 --> 00:16:52.640 I'm weak in the knees. 00:16:52.640 --> 00:16:58.800 But what he discovers is that the strength doesn't rest within him, but his strength rests in the Lord. 00:17:00.880 --> 00:17:03.930 God meets us in our time of need. 00:17:06.520 --> 00:17:08.630 Third is this. 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:12.319 I think this last one I'm going to share with you is easy to say. 00:17:12.339 --> 00:17:13.300 It's so easy to say. 00:17:15.040 --> 00:17:17.030 But it's hard to do. 00:17:18.500 --> 00:17:21.599 And what I mean is resting in God. 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:28.160 You know, sometimes when you go outside in the wintery day, sometimes you want to be the guy on the beach. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:31.020 But I tell you, to be honest, I've been the guy on the beach. 00:17:31.560 --> 00:17:33.080 I lived on the beach for a while and. 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:35.930 It's not all it's cracked up to be. 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:39.180 I mean, you get sand in every crevice of your body. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:40.380 It is disgusting. 00:17:40.820 --> 00:17:41.710 Looks great on photos. 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:43.300 Feels horrible when you walk away. 00:17:44.120 --> 00:17:46.840 Not to mention tourists and birds constantly over your head. 00:17:47.340 --> 00:17:49.080 You know what happens when you're around seagulls for so long? 00:17:49.120 --> 00:17:50.620 You start wearing what they're dropping. 00:17:50.620 --> 00:17:50.900 You know what I mean? 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:56.320 But you know what makes I think sometimes the beach such an appealing thing to people. 00:17:58.100 --> 00:18:00.430 As you make it a priority to go there to relax. 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:10.640 When you picture someone on the beach, one of the things that makes it such a joy is that they've just dropped the stress of the world to take some time to 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:10.920 rest. 00:18:15.040 --> 00:18:16.870 Resting in God, though. 00:18:18.860 --> 00:18:23.000 Recognizing that the beach isn't always what it's cracked up to be, but the priority to rest. 00:18:23.820 --> 00:18:24.260 I mean, that is. 00:18:25.620 --> 00:18:27.920 And not just in the substances of the world. 00:18:29.300 --> 00:18:30.680 But in the one who made it right. 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:33.180 Rest in God. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:37.100 And we carry our stresses. 00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:41.610 In some cases, like it's up to us. 00:18:43.340 --> 00:18:45.040 You remember Habakkuk's complaint in the beginning? 00:18:45.760 --> 00:18:47.020 Like God, what are you going to do about all these people? 00:18:47.340 --> 00:18:48.560 He's stressing out about his people. 00:18:48.580 --> 00:18:49.900 God, what are you going to do about all these people? 00:18:50.120 --> 00:18:51.520 What do you even care about these people? 00:18:51.520 --> 00:18:52.860 And you can just see him wearing it. 00:18:53.080 --> 00:18:59.820 And the concern and the reality is the changing of the hearts of people weren't up to him. 00:19:00.120 --> 00:19:01.240 It's up to God. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:09.080 When it comes to resting in God. 00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:15.400 I think one of the important truths that we as people need to just recognize is. 00:19:19.060 --> 00:19:22.580 We aren't better parents than God. 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:24.010 Let me tell you what I mean. 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:33.940 When you think of as a parent, if you think of a child, or maybe if you're not in, don't relate in that 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:34.340 way. 00:19:34.420 --> 00:19:41.700 If you've served in some sort of capacity in life where you're married to someone or you are involved in some sort of service 00:19:41.700 --> 00:19:48.520 that's around protecting people, the general thought is, when it comes to children, when it comes to protecting people, you just care about people. 00:19:48.520 --> 00:19:51.300 When it comes to your own kids, parents the way that you would love them. 00:19:51.340 --> 00:19:54.900 If I'd say, what would you do just to help your child provide for your child? 00:19:54.900 --> 00:20:00.660 If your child was in danger, how far would you go to preserve their life and to help them in their time of need? 00:20:01.380 --> 00:20:08.380 And parents would respond, I mean, I would risk my life if a building was burning and my kid is there, I'm running in, I'm risking 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:10.610 I want to help them. 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:17.860 I want to save them, I love them, I care about them. 00:20:17.860 --> 00:20:19.200 When it comes to your relationship. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:21.650 With your child. 00:20:24.120 --> 00:20:25.650 And the love that you have for them. 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:29.700 I think it's important just to stop and say. 00:20:30.780 --> 00:20:31.620 And even in that love. 00:20:34.140 --> 00:20:37.240 You're still not a better mother or father than God. 00:20:39.800 --> 00:20:46.960 And what I mean is, however crazy obsessive you might become in making sure that the provision for your child is taken 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:52.120 care of and your love for them is expressed, and they're protected and they're safe. 00:20:52.540 --> 00:20:58.860 Whatever the extent that you would go, however crazy you may describe for me, you would be in those moments where you knew you needed to provide a rescue. 00:21:00.580 --> 00:21:02.980 God's more. 00:21:03.700 --> 00:21:05.580 God loves you that much more. 00:21:07.860 --> 00:21:14.900 So much so that his own life, his own life, risked so much so that in the book of Habakkuk, the song 00:21:14.900 --> 00:21:21.960 of praise in which Habakkuk sings is centered upon a God who redeems that the just live by faith, that God rescues his 00:21:21.960 --> 00:21:25.500 people, that God loves his children. 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:28.680 In fact. 00:21:30.600 --> 00:21:32.650 When you read in the book of First John. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:39.220 I mean, it's the theme to how John expresses our relationship to God. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:45.720 He starts in chapter four and verse four he says this, dear children. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:49.740 Dear. 00:21:50.840 --> 00:21:53.280 Children. 00:21:53.600 --> 00:22:00.740 I mean, his words in this moment are just expressing the intimacy and love that 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:02.180 God has for you. 00:22:02.360 --> 00:22:04.820 You are dear children. 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:11.000 In fact, within this chapter in verse 16, I'm going to read the rest of this verse in a minute. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:18.430 But in verse 16, this is what he says we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. 00:22:19.620 --> 00:22:20.340 That God is love. 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:26.320 And the one who abides in love abides in God. 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:32.770 In the first part of this verse says to us, we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:41.400 There's a there is a challenge within us where we actually think that we might be better parents than God in the sense like this. 00:22:41.460 --> 00:22:44.320 We'll describe the way that we'll love our children, love our children, love our children. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.040 And then when it comes to God, we're like, ah, does he? 00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:47.990 Does he really care? 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:50.600 But does he really love me? 00:22:52.580 --> 00:22:59.580 And what first John is saying in this is that, listen, this is so important, guys, that we have come to know and 00:22:59.580 --> 00:23:02.700 believe the love which God has for us. 00:23:04.580 --> 00:23:11.740 That there is a place in the midst of life, when inwardly there is weakness, and when outwardly things are falling apart, that 00:23:11.740 --> 00:23:18.740 you in yourself can find strength in resting in God, that God meets you in the hour of your need, that you don't have to be 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:25.200 concerned with how you overcome because it's not resting in your power to overcome, but it's resting in the God who overcomes. 00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:28.280 He loves you like that. 00:23:29.900 --> 00:23:32.000 He cares for you like that. 00:23:32.520 --> 00:23:39.600 And John is saying in this chapter, I've come to know it and I've come to believe it, and I'm sharing this with you, that God, God loves 00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:44.760 us in this way as his children, because God is love. 00:23:44.820 --> 00:23:51.880 And who abides in love abides in God because God wants to wrap you in this, to find in your life that everything else 00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:53.140 can be taken away. 00:23:53.140 --> 00:23:58.300 But the thing that sustains the thing that matters is what the Lord can do in you. 00:23:58.360 --> 00:24:05.700 That while circumstances around you may be chaotic, that God shows up in you to demonstrate his love because 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:09.080 he loves you far more than you carry a love for your own children. 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:12.560 Rest. 00:24:15.300 --> 00:24:16.880 Rest in that. 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:20.680 Don't carry the weight of that. 00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:26.160 Bring it to a God who cares for you. 00:24:27.620 --> 00:24:32.760 And in first John four four as he writes this passage, it's what he says. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:35.840 Precious children. 00:24:38.080 --> 00:24:38.760 Dear children. 00:24:40.420 --> 00:24:47.060 You are from God and have overcome them, talking about the darkness of this world and spiritual forces. 00:24:48.800 --> 00:24:50.360 Because the one who is in you. 00:24:51.820 --> 00:24:55.860 Is greater than the one who is in the world. 00:24:58.440 --> 00:24:59.260 Reality is for us. 00:25:01.980 --> 00:25:04.320 Seasons of life are always changing. 00:25:10.740 --> 00:25:10.740 But the Lord does not. 00:25:10.740 --> 00:25:18.040 I mean, if you go through different aspects of what it's like to walk with God, you can you can ask yourself, when 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:20.410 you get married, how do you how do you walk with God? 00:25:20.760 --> 00:25:22.080 Or how do you do that? 00:25:22.080 --> 00:25:24.500 I don't know, or when it's when you're single, how do you do that? 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:26.420 Well, I don't know when you have kids. 00:25:26.580 --> 00:25:27.870 I mean, how do you how do you do that? 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:28.140 Right. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:30.110 I don't know, what's it like when you move to college? 00:25:30.360 --> 00:25:31.300 I mean, life's always changing. 00:25:31.840 --> 00:25:33.560 Different seasons when you move, when. 00:25:33.780 --> 00:25:35.000 When your kids move, when you. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:43.240 When you change jobs, when you retire, when sickness comes your way, when death comes your way and riches and poor and wealth 00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:45.740 and strength and weakness. 00:25:45.740 --> 00:25:51.680 How do you how do you walk with God in those seasons? 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:55.020 Hello. 00:25:55.560 --> 00:25:59.660 In every season of life about the time you feel like you master it. 00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:03.600 It changes. 00:26:04.340 --> 00:26:04.980 And no one. 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:07.640 No one's an expert at it. 00:26:09.620 --> 00:26:14.130 I mean, we're learning on the fly as that season of life comes along. 00:26:15.210 --> 00:26:15.960 Expectedly or unexpectedly. 00:26:18.600 --> 00:26:19.540 What does it mean? 00:26:20.820 --> 00:26:27.900 You know, when we go through those seasons of life, I think the greatest lesson that we can learn is not how awesome we are at defeating 00:26:27.900 --> 00:26:33.440 those seasons, but how great our God is in walking with us through them. 00:26:35.180 --> 00:26:42.420 In fact, in the book of Ephesians in chapter three, it says this, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened 00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:44.660 with power through his Spirit in the inner man. 00:26:46.700 --> 00:26:52.620 That it's not about you taking that season of life and just owning it, about how amazing you are at conquering things. 00:26:54.860 --> 00:26:56.180 But how great your God is. 00:26:57.940 --> 00:26:59.640 That's showing up in your time of need. 00:27:01.640 --> 00:27:08.640 At a point of brokenness when you look within yourself and said, I don't have the strength that at that moment you meet with your God who does, 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:10.800 and you find that he supplies. 00:27:12.940 --> 00:27:19.100 He gives you the ability to overcome and to walk with him. 00:27:21.520 --> 00:27:22.630 I'm going to close with this story. 00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:30.620 When I, I love I love outdoors, so you know that already, right? 00:27:31.760 --> 00:27:31.980 Goats. 00:27:32.220 --> 00:27:35.040 For some reason, no one drop a goat off at my house, please. 00:27:36.020 --> 00:27:39.720 but I love every year my wife and I will try to make one trip to one of two locations. 00:27:39.960 --> 00:27:42.720 Whether they go to Zion or we'll go to Yellowstone, I love it. 00:27:43.080 --> 00:27:43.320 Zion. 00:27:43.360 --> 00:27:43.700 Yellowstone. 00:27:43.800 --> 00:27:50.800 We went to Yellowstone for the first time five years ago when she was, or six years ago, when she was 8 or 9 months pregnant with our first 00:27:50.800 --> 00:27:53.420 child, and we went up to Yellowstone. 00:27:53.600 --> 00:28:01.140 We're thinking, man, we had planned this year we were going to go to Yellowstone and walk around, do all the hikes, and now she was about ready to pop and we could have had 00:28:01.140 --> 00:28:01.820 the kid there. 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:02.760 She was so close. 00:28:03.060 --> 00:28:05.050 But we were like, I don't know, this is even going to be a good trip. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:06.840 And we went up there and she loved it. 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:09.520 We would drive down the road and Buffalo would walk in the trench. 00:28:09.560 --> 00:28:12.470 I mean, we get so close to Buffalo, you could smack them in the head from our vehicle. 00:28:12.680 --> 00:28:13.090 It was safe. 00:28:13.320 --> 00:28:13.540 Right. 00:28:13.540 --> 00:28:14.760 So but we're that close. 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:15.840 She thought it was amazing. 00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:17.450 We're just eye to eye with these animals. 00:28:18.020 --> 00:28:19.160 And Yellowstone is beautiful. 00:28:19.620 --> 00:28:26.760 But, one of the things that was just a shocking when we first got there to the park, when we entered from the South zone or the east gate 00:28:26.760 --> 00:28:31.960 of Yellowstone, you can see the effects of a forest fire that just ravaged Yellowstone. 00:28:33.300 --> 00:28:35.940 I mean, you look at acres, thousands of acres just destroyed. 00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:40.960 I wonder, man, how would this ever recover? 00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:50.740 You learn something while you're there about if you ask the forest rangers at least about the beauty of your creator. 00:28:53.300 --> 00:29:00.320 In Yellowstone, you'll see that there are lots of pine trees growing around, and one of the pine trees that grows there is the lodgepole. 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:03.520 Lodgepole. 00:29:03.520 --> 00:29:10.260 When it grows, its cones on the edge of the limbs will hold on to those cones for years. 00:29:12.320 --> 00:29:13.380 And nothing cracks them. 00:29:15.760 --> 00:29:18.980 Eventually they'll fall to the ground in a heavy breeze or a windy day. 00:29:19.060 --> 00:29:22.940 But even when they land on the ground, nothing, nothing cracks them. 00:29:25.460 --> 00:29:26.460 Until intense heat comes. 00:29:29.120 --> 00:29:36.620 And when intense heat comes, finally the reason for those cones becomes a 00:29:36.620 --> 00:29:37.620 reality. 00:29:38.260 --> 00:29:38.560 They open. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:40.940 The seed comes out. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:44.060 And again, gross life. 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:46.600 And a place that's broken. 00:29:49.600 --> 00:29:50.800 And that's the book of Habakkuk. 00:29:53.760 --> 00:29:55.900 Sometimes in our lives. 00:29:57.900 --> 00:30:01.800 Before we can see the hand of God working the way that God desires to work in our heart. 00:30:04.060 --> 00:30:05.940 It requires intense heat. 00:30:08.100 --> 00:30:15.160 To acknowledge within ourselves that we have taken from God the place our soul was created to 00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:22.240 rest, and we have fought hard to hold on to things that don't 00:30:22.360 --> 00:30:26.520 matter because we have made ourselves the kings of our own kingdom. 00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:35.620 But it's not until the intensity of that heat comes along that we realize how vulnerable we are, and 00:30:35.620 --> 00:30:39.920 the things that we have built our life upon are just shaking sand. 00:30:42.510 --> 00:30:44.190 But when that heat comes. 00:30:46.060 --> 00:30:53.260 Finally, and even in desperation, we're searching for something to sustain us, something to hold on 00:30:53.260 --> 00:30:55.580 to, something that endures. 00:30:55.760 --> 00:31:01.740 Something that would crack open this guarded heart and let the goodness of God flow in. 00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:04.180 And sometimes we are afraid to do that. 00:31:05.620 --> 00:31:09.060 Because we wonder on the other end, will it be filled with love? 00:31:10.820 --> 00:31:12.560 Does someone care? 00:31:13.780 --> 00:31:17.950 Am I out here on my own in this fire that I will never recover from? 00:31:18.060 --> 00:31:21.140 Or can my heart find something to uphold me? 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:26.440 And I want to tell you this morning, you are not a better father or mother than God. 00:31:27.820 --> 00:31:34.880 He loves you with such intensity that in that intensity, he wants to meet you in the midst of that fire and take that heart 00:31:35.060 --> 00:31:37.820 and lavish his love on you. 00:31:37.840 --> 00:31:44.700 That in the midst of brokenness, in the midst of fire, he restores within you the beauty for which he has created. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:49.420 Encouragement. 00:31:51.780 --> 00:31:54.320 Stop fighting. 00:31:55.140 --> 00:31:57.350 Take off the tough outer shell. 00:31:58.600 --> 00:31:59.260 And just cling. 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:01.080 Cling to Christ. 00:32:02.840 --> 00:32:04.840 What Habakkuk found. 00:32:05.360 --> 00:32:08.680 In the midst of his cracking open in the midst of his desperation. 00:32:09.620 --> 00:32:12.740 He just wanted to know, God, do you love me in all of this? 00:32:12.740 --> 00:32:14.220 And God says back to Habakkuk. 00:32:15.140 --> 00:32:16.680 Live by faith. 00:32:16.860 --> 00:32:18.070 I am your Savior. 00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:19.720 I am your Redeemer. 00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:20.780 I care about you. 00:32:20.780 --> 00:32:27.920 These circumstances, they aren't to punish you, but God will use them to draw you to him. 00:32:29.280 --> 00:32:33.980 Let go of the shell and trust in your God.