SPEAKER_00: Hey, I want to bless the food, pray, and then we're just going to dive in.
SPEAKER_00: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Dear God, thank you for your many blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your love.
SPEAKER_00: Just thank you today that we can dive into your word.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I ask you just to use your word just to challenge us today, to continue to mold us into the men you want us to be.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, just as uh as we sit at the table and get to fellowship with each other, Lord, I ask you just to just encourage us.
SPEAKER_00: Um life's tough, and Lord, it's just easier to go with someone.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, help us be a group that can go through life together with you in the mix.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, just thank you for the food.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for those that prepared it.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I am grateful to be here today to share with you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're in the Bible recap, finding things in between.
SPEAKER_00: Uh pastor came in yesterday afternoon and said, Hey, I'm gonna be gone.
SPEAKER_00: Can you cover?
SPEAKER_00: And uh, this is kind of a rough week.
SPEAKER_00: So uh when I say this, you're gonna laugh, but we're gonna be, if you have your Bibles, open them to Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna be in Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: I guess I'm saying that right.
SPEAKER_00: I'm adding a little bit to it.
SPEAKER_00: But actually, I'm excited to be in there because it's a prophet, and one thing we see Habakkuk do different than all the other prophets, instead of speaking the people to the people from God, he's actually speaking to God for the people.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, a little different.
SPEAKER_00: The other ones God told them what to go tell, and they went and told the people.
SPEAKER_00: This moment here that we're gonna read today, he's actually going before God for the people.
SPEAKER_00: And so the title today is From Questioning God to Standing in Faith.
SPEAKER_00: From questioning God to standing in faith.
SPEAKER_00: So let's just dive in.
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk, I've found five big points.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna jump through Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you, there's only three chapters.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to impress your Sunday school class and tell them that you read a chapter in a day, Habakkuk is your book.
SPEAKER_00: You can read it in about probably eight to ten minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So it's it, but it's a it's a good read, and let me just when we're gonna just dive in.
SPEAKER_00: The first point in Habakkuk that I think is big, it's okay to bring your honest doubts to God.
SPEAKER_00: We see in Habakkuk 1, 2, O Lord, how long should I cry for help and you not hear me?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, cry to you violence and you not save me.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been there?
SPEAKER_00: To the point in your life where you're crying out to the Lord and you're almost like, Lord, are you here?
SPEAKER_00: Can you are you even listening to me?
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear me?
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me, now this is real childish, but it reminds me when I was playing college baseball.
SPEAKER_00: All the guys would go out and have a jolly old time and then show up to play baseball.
SPEAKER_00: On Sunday mornings, the coach allowed me to go to early church, and then I would come do baton practice, and we'd play the game when we play a Sunday afternoon game when we were at home.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget one Sunday afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Mind you, now I'm this is shallow, I get it, but mind you, this is where I was at.
SPEAKER_00: This Sunday, I showed up and I'm kind of battling with this kid.
SPEAKER_00: I'm playing some, and then one of us would not get any hits, and the next one we were we were going back and forth.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's one of those frustrating deals.
SPEAKER_00: This guy that I'm kind of going against, we're trying to earn this spot and battling through it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this guy was the guy that the team was having the party at his house.
SPEAKER_00: Do you get what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: And this particular day, you know, I'd went to early church, come in to start playing, and I started the game.
SPEAKER_00: I went 0 for 2, my last at bat with a strikeout.
SPEAKER_00: So my third at bat, I'm headed to the get ready to bat, and I hear pass more, and I knew it.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even need to turn around because it had happened.
SPEAKER_00: The other guy was coming in to hit for me.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember taking my bat, going back to the dugout, sitting down.
SPEAKER_00: The guy comes up to bat and hits a home run.
SPEAKER_00: This is a guy I'm competing with.
SPEAKER_00: And I should be a team player that I'm excited about this.
SPEAKER_00: And I on the outside I was doing a pretty good job with that, but the inside I was hurt.
SPEAKER_00: I got in the car.
SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget I got in the car and I was angry.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, God, seriously?
SPEAKER_00: I went to church.
SPEAKER_00: You get where I'm going, but the frustration of why am I God not getting what I'm asking for?
SPEAKER_00: You've been there.
SPEAKER_00: God, do you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm praying to you.
SPEAKER_00: It says you want to hear me, and it's frustrating.
SPEAKER_00: And we see here, Habakkuk's prayer, I mean, can you just see it?
SPEAKER_00: The evil is around him.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
SPEAKER_00: Judah, God's people, were living in sin, led by a king that was living in sin.
SPEAKER_00: At this point, they had not been taken into captivity, but they're getting close.
SPEAKER_00: So he winds out, he calls.
SPEAKER_00: So it's asking God why or how long isn't a sign of weak faith.
SPEAKER_00: It's an act of worship that brings your pain directly to the one who can handle it.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Dale always said this it's okay to question God, but it matters the way we question God.
SPEAKER_00: We're not questioning God like this.
SPEAKER_00: We're questioning God like this.
SPEAKER_00: There's a huge difference.
SPEAKER_00: It's a heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see here crying out, well, I don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's okay to ask that.
SPEAKER_00: And it's okay to cry out to that.
SPEAKER_00: Then number two, woo, two.
SPEAKER_00: God is always at work, even when his method surprises us.
SPEAKER_00: I like that statement, even when his method surprises us.
SPEAKER_00: Look what Habakkuk 1, 5 and 6 says.
SPEAKER_00: Look among the nations and see, wonder, and be astonished, for I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if I told you.
SPEAKER_00: For behold, I am rising, raising up the uh kildowns?
SPEAKER_00: Caldowns, Chaldines.
SPEAKER_00: And that is Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Peace of Babylon, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That bitter and hasty nation who marches through the breadths of the earth to seize dwelling, not their own.
SPEAKER_00: He said this.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the crazy thing.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk's crying out to the Lord, Lord, there is just evil around.
SPEAKER_00: I don't get it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not fair.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you at?
SPEAKER_00: And God says, This I'm about to show you something that you're not gonna believe.
SPEAKER_00: You remember we talked about it, it says up here, the method that surprises you?
SPEAKER_00: At the time he cried out, Habakkuk is talking about Judah, how evil they are and the things that are going on.
SPEAKER_00: God skips from Judah to the Babylonians, they're even worse than that.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing, if we look at it, God's methods are always right.
SPEAKER_00: And so look here, God's actions rarely fit into a human's box.
SPEAKER_00: You know what so many times I think me and God are about the same, and he should think a lot like me.
SPEAKER_00: You ever been there, too?
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of times I think I'm pretty smart.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, God, you don't see it my way?
SPEAKER_00: And then years later I'll look back and say, thank you, God, that you are way smarter than me because my way wasn't very good.
SPEAKER_00: So if we look, God's action really fits into a human box.
SPEAKER_00: Even when world events or personal circumstances seem chaotic, God is sovereignly orchestrating his ultimate plan.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he owes an explanation to us in his plan.
SPEAKER_00: However, how grateful it is to know that he's in charge and he does have a plan.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so then that takes us to number three as we were looking through.
SPEAKER_00: Take your posture in the watchtower.
SPEAKER_00: This is Habakkuk 2.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm just kind of giving you a summary of Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: This is Habakkuk 2, 1.
SPEAKER_00: I will take my stand at the watchtower and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the picture of what's happened so far in Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: He starts off asking God where he's at because of the sinful people of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: And then God says, Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm about to let the Babylonians take over.
SPEAKER_00: And then Habakkuk comes back and goes, They're even more evil than.
SPEAKER_00: And so Habakkuk then says, Okay, I'm gonna sit back and see what you got, God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when we first read this, we can see it as, is it kind of arrogance of, I'm gonna set back?
SPEAKER_00: But think about this.
SPEAKER_00: How many times do we ask God something?
SPEAKER_00: We pray to God and say, God, I'm struggling in this, and we get so busy manipulating the things we want that we make a bigger mistake or bigger problem.
SPEAKER_00: What I mean by this is there's a time when I'm calling and I'm crying out to God that I need to set back and be still and be quiet.
SPEAKER_00: I need to just be in God's word and say, God, I get it, you're God, you go be God, and let me get out of your way.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to watch it.
SPEAKER_00: You see where I'm I mean, there's a picture of this.
SPEAKER_00: He's basically saying, I'm gonna be in the watchtower, which is a picture, I can see all this, and Lord, I'm wanting to see what you got for us.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: That's hard to do.
SPEAKER_00: Me as a man, man, I did just this last week I was having problems.
SPEAKER_00: My family, there's just different things, and man, I'll just tell you what, it didn't take me long, and I had five plans that I thought would work.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, I instantly like, I'm gonna figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll just tell you this, it wasn't until I finally realized, God, I gotta sit back and let you be God.
SPEAKER_00: That He did something miraculous in my family.
SPEAKER_00: And for two weeks, I tried everything under my own power.
SPEAKER_00: When I finally said, Lord, I don't know what else to do, you're gonna have to show yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And me and my wife started praying at night about it and just stepped back and said, God, you be God and let me watch you.
SPEAKER_00: Not in an arrogant, not in a passive, but an idea of I serve a God that knows all things, that He changed that circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: When you're waiting for answers, positioning yourself to listen, quiet your mind through prayer, scripture, and stillness so you can hear God speak.
SPEAKER_00: Then that takes us to number four.
SPEAKER_00: The righteous shall live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: We see right here in Habakkuk 2.4, behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him.
SPEAKER_00: That's talking about Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: So he comes back to address it.
SPEAKER_00: I get why you worried about Babylon being in control.
SPEAKER_00: They are puffed up, they think they have a lot, but then what's he say about Habakkuk?
SPEAKER_00: He says, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
SPEAKER_00: We see that.
SPEAKER_00: It's quoted three times in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk is quoted three times in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 1:17, for the right uh for in the righteousness of God is revealed for faith, for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: We see in Galatians 3.11, now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And then we see in Hebrews, but my righteous one shall live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It takes us to the point of realizing that my I'm only righteous because of who Christ is and my faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: I love right here in Galatians 3.11, it says, it is not evident that no one is justified before God by the law.
SPEAKER_00: Man, if I was having to be justified by the law, I'd be in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: I think I could do good for about 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: But the standard of it's just.
SPEAKER_00: But when we look, the righteous shall live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: What is what our faith is in what?
SPEAKER_00: That Christ did what he said he did, and what's that?
SPEAKER_00: Died on the cross for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: And when I get to the point of realizing that no matter what Matt Passmore does, it takes me further away from God that I've got to say, you know what, God, you're right.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for dying for me and saving me.
SPEAKER_00: And it's through my faith that I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Faith isn't a temporary filling, it is a lifestyle of daily persistence, trusting God's character, regardless of what eyes see.
SPEAKER_00: It's a typical what is faith.
SPEAKER_00: My faith, sometimes I just struggle in it.
SPEAKER_00: I had a lady the other day say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: There's no way I can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, and I mean she was defending why, she was defending why she was not saved.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't really have a great answer for.
SPEAKER_00: Because she was defending it well.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, she was prepared to say she has no faith.
SPEAKER_00: She does not.
SPEAKER_00: And all I could say was, all I could say to her is all I can do is trust that his word is right.
SPEAKER_00: And then what he says in God's word, in his word to me, I just all I can do is have faith that he says he'll do what he says he'll do.
SPEAKER_00: And I that and I mean I had no way to help her.
SPEAKER_00: All I can say is all you can do is have faith that God's word is what it is.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what our when we think about that, that is what our that brings about righteousness is Him working in our lives, which takes us to the last.
SPEAKER_00: Choose to rejoice in God regardless of the circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what this says in Habakkuk 3:17.
SPEAKER_00: Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the product of the olive fail, and the field yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the story again.
SPEAKER_00: He starts off, God is just evil around.
SPEAKER_00: When are you gonna show yourself?
SPEAKER_00: God speaks to him, watch this.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Babylonians come in, take him cap or gonna take him captive.
SPEAKER_00: He sees no good in it.
SPEAKER_00: He's struggling.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, show yourself God, and then what's he say at the end?
SPEAKER_00: As bad as it can be, as bad as it can be, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Circumstantial joy depends on what happens around you.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical joy depends on what God is to you.
SPEAKER_00: You can choose to rejoice because God is your strength.
SPEAKER_00: So, in closing, here I got a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: Is there an area in your life right now where you need to move from asking God why to choosing just to trust Him?
SPEAKER_00: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Dear God, I come before you now, just again, just grateful for your word.
SPEAKER_00: I know as just as so many times in my own life, I can just be just wanting what Matt Passmore wants.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, just even in our tough times, Lord, help me be able to step back and just be in joy be or have joy because of who you are and your faithfulness to the things that I don't deserve, but you keep giving me your mercy and your grace.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us never take that for granted.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, just thank you again, just that your word can challenge us.
SPEAKER_00: If someone needs you today, needs prayer, to let them have the courage to come ask.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the rest of your day.