2023 Women's Conference with Lisa Hughes Session 3 | Special Event

Kootenai Church

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All right, everyone have their third sheet. Join us this one last time in worship.

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His mercy is strong, stronger than darkness, new every morn.

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Our sins, they are many, his mercy is more. What riches of kindness he lavished on us.

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His blood was the payment, his life was the cost. We stood, we thought that we could never.

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Our sins, they are many, his mercy is more. Praise the

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Lord, his mercy is more.

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Stronger, new every morn. Our sins, they are many, his mercy is more.

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Praise the Lord, his mercy is more.

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Stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins, they are many, his mercy is more.

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Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Our taste of glory divine.

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Air of salvation, purchase of God. Born of the

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Spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story, this is my song.

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Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song.

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Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight.

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Visions of rapture now burst on my sight.

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Angels descending, whispers of love.

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This is my story, this is my song. Praising my

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Savior. This is my story, this is my song.

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Praising my Savior all the day long.

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Perfect submission, all is at rest.

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I and my Savior, watching and waiting.

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Looking above with his goodness, lost in his love.

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This is my story, this is my song. Praising my

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Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song.

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Praising my Savior all the day long. That's not in what

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I own, the strength of flesh and bone.

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Costly wealth is not in scale or name, in wed or shame.

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But as I rejoice in my

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Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul.

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I will trust in him, no other. My soul is satisfied in him.

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Eternal calls to us. At the boast and wealth for now.

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Wisdom's fleeting vow. Boast and now we cry.

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Rejoice in my Redeemer. Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul.

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I will trust in him, no other. Satisfied in him.

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Fixed my ransom pay. Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul.

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I will trust in him, no other. Satisfied in him.

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I rejoice in my Redeemer. Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul.

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I will trust in him, no other.

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Satisfied in him. Well, that was a really lovely break.

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We had so much fun, good discussions. It was great to be able to talk with a few of you. My big regret is the days gone by and I haven't been able to talk to everybody, which that's always disappointing.

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That's what heaven is for, where we won't run out of time and we won't be tired, which is the other good thing, where you can just sit and visit and you never get tired.

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I love that. Lunch was fabulous and music again was wonderful.

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So thank you and thank you for being so flexible and letting me change things up on you.

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I don't know if you're gonna, I think you will be encouraged, but you never know.

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I personally am encouraged from this text. How about that? So our text is gonna be

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Habakkuk. So you can start finding your way there and you can go over from, if you go backwards, it's easier.

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Find Habakkuk, it's so little. And I've got my, this is my travel Bible, which belonged to one of our sons and it's so precious to me because it's nice and little, fits in my suitcase, but it says, this

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Bible was presented to Mark Hughes on the 18th day of January in the year 2003 by my mom.

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Is that just totally wonderful? And so every time I open it, it's like, oh, there he is.

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And of course now he's 29, but there it is. All right.

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Well, when Jack and I were first married, he's a fly fisherman and he was at the time quite avid, quite avid fly fisherman.

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And so when we were first married, you know how Idaho summers, the sun comes up early and stays light until late.

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And so my hubby would get up while it was still dark, they would drive to go fishing or he would go by himself and then he would tell me,

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I'll be home at dark 30. Well, you know what dark 30 is like in the summertime. Sometimes it's 10 .30

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or 11 before they get home. And so here I was, this brand new little wifey and I'm missing my hubby.

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He's been gone forever and it's 4 .30 in the afternoon and I'm waiting for dark 30.

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And I would grow increasingly more fidgety and freddy because in those days, there were no cell phones.

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You had no idea if they were alive or dead. And I was very good at imagining trouble, which is why so much of everything that I deal with, my default sin is fear.

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I'll just tell you right now. So if I'm going to sin, it's going to start from fear and you go from there.

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And so I would stand at the window as it started getting dark and I would imagine that something had happened to him or he'd stepped on a rattlesnake or went off the road, fell into the river, all those kinds of things.

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And before I knew it, I was imagining life as a widow and I would live the rest of my days in black, brokenhearted.

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I knew that what I was thinking was just in my imagination, but I had no skills necessarily in those early years.

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I hadn't been trained yet in God's word to really navigate and to bring my feelings in line with God's word.

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And so I was all over the map. And it's kind of funny to laugh about, but there have been other times when trouble has been on the horizon and it had nothing to do with my imagination.

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It was real and I knew it was real. And yet even in that moment, we can still even imagine it worse than it really is.

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There have been times though, and I'm sure some of you have experienced it, where the worst, even worse than you ever imagined has come upon you.

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And I have lived through that as well. And it's difficult. You know it's going to be difficult.

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You see it coming. You see that kind of black wave coming towards you.

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And you know it's going to take everything for you to get through that and that there's no escaping it.

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And it's what the Lord allows. It's what he gives us. And you know we have a choice though.

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Again, in those moments, how am I going to respond in this situation? And no matter what our situation, there will be times when we see or even when we think we see dark clouds gathering.

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And when that time comes, we do have choices that we need to make about how am

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I going to respond in this situation. When fear grips our hearts.

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And we started the morning you know talking about there's stuff going on.

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Our world is making life hard. There are things that make us fearful out there.

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But then there's things that make us fearful even from in here. And so what we need to do is discuss in this session how we can respond well when fear grips our hearts.

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When it's just got a vice on us. And Habakkuk wrote his little book during a time that was very much like what we see in our world.

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Only his was worse. The circumstances that he was going through were grim.

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And it was so grim that it made even the stoutest of hearts fearful.

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And the Babylonians were on their way toward Israel is what he knew.

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And the Babylonians were everyone knew. They were fierce.

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They were cruel. They had conquered all the lands in between. They had conquered the

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Syrians, the Egyptians, and they were headed to Israel. And they were going to demolish everything.

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And everybody knew that that was what they did. Now the problem was it's one thing if you've got a strong military and you've got a good leader and you're feeling like things are good.

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But that wasn't the case in Israel at this time. Israel was unstable. The king

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Jehoiakim was a wicked and selfish king and he had no thought whatsoever of caring for his people.

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So the people were feeling very defenseless. They weren't feeling protected. Life was hard.

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And then it was going to get worse. And they felt doomed. It was scary for them.

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And it's within this backdrop that Habakkuk prophesied the

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Lord's message to the fearful, to the hurting, to the weak and defenseless.

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And it's that same message that has the power to minister to us today. God has preserved his words to strengthen and encourage us so that today in this time in our world we can gain a foothold over fear and worry and to grow strong in faith.

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The Bible knowledge commentary says that the book of Habakkuk though the outlook may elicit terror the uplook elicits trust.

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I love that. The outlook makes us fearful but the uplook makes us trust.

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And it goes on to say the prophet's complaints and fears were resolved in confidence and faith.

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This is the heart of the message of Habakkuk. The righteous will live by his faith. Though the outlook may elicit terror the uplook elicits trust.

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And so it's with that in mind that we're going to look at our text. And so Habakkuk 3 in verse 16 starting there we read this and Habakkuk says

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I heard and my inward parts trembled at the sound my lips quivered decay enters my bones and in my place

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I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress for the people to arise who will invade us.

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Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines though the yield of the olives should fail and the fields produce no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls yet I will exult in the

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Lord I will rejoice in the God of my salvation the Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet like hinds feet and he makes me walk on my high places.

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So our first point is facing your fearful future. Now different Bible translations have different strengths and weaknesses as you know and sometimes in certain passages how a translation team chooses to translate certain words can have a big impact upon our understanding of a passage.

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And one of those places is found here in verse 16 where the translators have a difficult time with verse 16 because the

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Hebrew is somewhat obscure. The New American Standard says in verse 16

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I heard and my inward parts trembled and at the sound my lips quivered decay enters my bones and in my place

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I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress for the people who will arise who will invade us.

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And the way that NASB translates the end of verse 16 puts an emphasis on waiting quietly for the trial that it's on its way even when you're feeling fearful which sounds really great and then we have also these translations the

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NIV, the New King James and the ESV all translate verse 16 close is similar but the emphasis is on waiting quietly for God's justice his judgment to come upon those who are coming to invade

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Israel. The ESV puts it this way yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.

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And as I said the Hebrew is really obscure there and so the translators have had a difficult time making that judgment but I think according to the context the

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ESV, the New King James and the NIV have the better translation for verse 16

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I always teach on the NAS but verse 16 in the other versions

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I think works better with the context the emphasis with these versions is on the emphasis that God is going to judge the wicked

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Babylonians and I think that fits better with the rest of the context of the passage what's been going on and everything that has happened from chapters 1, 2, and 3 leading into it better than how the

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NASB ended up translating it it also begins to shift by that translating choice that the

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ESV, the NIV and the New King James used is that it shifts the focus from complete terror at the thought of the

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Babylonians invading Israel to trusting trusting that God who oversees every single detail will take care of His people in the land even though they're king the army they're not necessarily going to take care of the people there's that shift in trust to see that God will do it yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who will invade us so all that to say

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I think that's a better translation and Habakkuk what he's doing here in verse 16 is he's trusting that the wickedly cruel

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Babylonians will face judgment and this is an encouragement for us when we are facing injustice in our world that God when we know that God sees it is super encouraging isn't it when we look at some of the things that are going on and when we see the injustice and we see judgments coming and decisions being made and people being put in jail for things for things that this is a righteous situation and this person was put in jail or all those kinds of things we can trust that God sees it when somebody loses their job simply because they were obeying the

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Lord we can trust that God sees it it's encouraging to us now in the book of Habakkuk what

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God is also doing so not only is he going to judge these wicked Babylonians but he is also using them as a judgment for Israel because Israel needed a spanking

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Israel had not been faithful to the Lord and so in Habakkuk chapter 1 in verses 5 and 6 we read this look among the nations observe be astonished wonder because I am doing something in your days you would not believe if you were told for behold

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I am raising up the Chaldeans the Babylonians that fierce and impetuous people who march through the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs so what

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God is telling Habakkuk so that he can tell the nation of Israel you need to understand

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I am using the Babylonians as my tool they are my spanky spoon for you

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Israel because you have not obeyed and you need to be brought back in line and so that's what he tells him at the beginning of the book then in verse 12 of chapter 1

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God explains further his reasons for raising up the Chaldeans the

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Babylonians are you not from everlasting O Lord my God my Holy One we will not die you

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O Lord have appointed them to judge and you O Rock have established them to correct so Habakkuk comes back and just fully affirms

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God's righteous rule and judgment here and he says we will not die

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Lord when we put our trust in you but we want to affirm that you have appointed them to judge and the way that you have established them is correct that you are going to do that to correct us

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Habakkuk knew even as he was reading just even those couple verses that trouble was coming and that he was called to tell the nation of Israel that trouble was on its way and he knew that God also fully intended to keep his word to bring that trouble trouble was coming there was no escape so Habakkuk as he is seeing this black cloud of judgment coming he knows there's no escape and it makes him feel fearful that's what we see in our text he knew the

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Chaldeans were on their way they were going to be the unique tools that God had appointed to judge

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Israel and like I've said they were

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Israel's spanky spoon when you know a spanking is coming and maybe you've known that you've experienced

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God's chastisement in your life and you've seen I deserve the consequences for my sin in this sometimes it's a little scary like Lord how hard is it going to be that kind of thing and that's where Habakkuk found himself and we it's similar to us today our nation deserves

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God to do this very thing to us we have not been faithful to the

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Lord he has been so kind to us we are not in the same situation we are not a covenant nation like Israel was but we deserve

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God's judgment don't we we have been as a people people who have rebelled against the

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Lord and yet even knowing that we deserve judgment I mean it's still really hard to wait for and to be to not be afraid

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Habakkuk was dealing with a very real and very fearful future and it was one that would not be averted and it's way worse than anything that we're undergoing at this time and in chapter 2 verse 3 it says this for the vision is yet for the appointed time it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail it though it tarries wait for it it will certainly come it will not delay so Habakkuk knew even though it's not happening yet he'd received the vision he knew the prophecy he knew the promises that God was going to send judgment to Israel it was on its way and so there was nothing that was going to change

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God's mind Habakkuk knew the prophecy that God had given him would come true and so it's no wonder that he was feeling fearful you know

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I like we sometimes we just get fearful when we think trouble is coming but to know this is happening for sure and that you're basically going to be wiped out as a nation that's kind of scary and yet for us when we are faced with fearful things or even things that we think might come to pass it's encouraging to know that whether our fear is real or it's imagined the key to overcoming it is still the same and that process is given to us in our text

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Habakkuk teaches us how to overcome fear by putting our hope and trust in the

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Lord the Lord had a purpose in bringing fear devastation and trials to Israel and Habakkuk tells us it was for the purpose of putting

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God on display in chapter 2 verse 14 of Habakkuk he writes for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the

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Lord as the waters cover the sea people watching would see and understand that the

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God of Israel was working with his people that God was making them holy that he was being faithful to them that they could watch and see and tremble as God's righteous judgment works for good in the nation of Israel and against the

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Babylonians it's very similar to our process of church discipline it's a way to put

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God on display to say this sin must be dealt with and we must bring it before the church so that all will know and then the rest of us what do we do when we see that it makes us fearful of sinning we don't want to do that anymore we want to make sure that we are giving

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God glory well it's very similar it's the same kind of thing Habakkuk 3 in verse 2 says this

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Habakkuk is praying and he says Lord I have heard the report about you and I fear oh

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Lord revive your work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make it known and in wrath remember mercy so Habakkuk then knowing that judgment is coming he prays

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Lord in the midst of in the midst of your wrath have mercy and isn't that often times what we pray

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Lord I deserve your judgment I deserve the consequences for this this act and yet you have shown me mercy because of Jesus I deserve hell but because of Jesus I'm not receiving that and so Habakkuk is that's what he's appealing to the

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Lord for mercy and it's helpful

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I think to even remember how and why God is dealing with Israel and the way he's doing that you know often times we kind of forget that the situation that Israel was in with the

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Lord so as we study and learn from Habakkuk we need to remember that the Israelites were in a covenant relationship with God they had entered into this very close relationship with the

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Lord now God had reached out to Abraham and he said I am making you into a great nation and so God had given a promise to Abraham that he would establish his line his descendants as a nation and this is called

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God's unilateral covenant and Israel didn't do anything

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Abraham didn't do anything God just said Abraham here's what I'm going to do and so that was the beginning of that unilateral relationship that God established then when we have

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Israel when God rescued them out of Egypt and they wander in the wilderness of Sinai and they're at the mountain and they receive the ten commandments they enter into a bilateral relationship with God so there's the

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Israelites said okay we will enter into this relationship and so God said here's what it's going to take and so they were already so it's the way to rethink of these two covenants is the unilateral covenant is

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God saying I am bringing you into my family you are now my children and then when they entered into the bilateral relationship at Mount Sinai then that is when

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God said okay kiddos this is how we live well in the family these are the family rules and you probably had these conversations with your kiddos okay we're sitting you down do you all remember these are the family rules and this is how we all live well in the family well that's what

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God was doing at Mount Sinai with establishing of the law the ten commandments and all the other the guidance that God gave them so that they could live well within the relationship with God and then the

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Israelites their part because it's a bilateral one God said here's the family rules and the

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Israelites said we'll do the family rules those are great we love those family rules thanks for taking care of us

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God and so they entered into that relationship those two covenants were still at work by Habakkuk's time so Israel was still living under the unilateral covenant of God he was still watching over his nation but the

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Israelites had not been faithful to their bilateral promises to God so that that bilateral covenant between God and Israel had not been kept he had said here's the family rules and then

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Israel said nah I'm done they had done the whole I'm rebelling against that so that's where we are in Habakkuk with them and as believers today we are not under the law we are not at Sinai we are not in the book of Deuteronomy but we live under the law of grace and the law of grace propels us into a new relationship with God which is the relationship of family our

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God is our father and when we come to know him as father through the

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Lord Jesus Christ when he rescues us from our sin then our father is faithful to train us and teach us his ways so that we will walk in that relationship of grace and what that means is that at times

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God will allow things in our lives that are stretching to us things that make us fearful or anxious and sometimes there's little spanks all because children need need training we need all the parts of training and it's

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Hebrews chapter 12 it's where you're living in your sermon series isn't it and it's all so that we would grow in grace and so that we will run to the

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Lord and help that we will be holy and during times of trial and difficulty it's important to remember some of the truths that Habakkuk knew and that we've talked about already so you know when we are in times of trial and difficulty like when your husband loses the job or you lose your job when your little one has a serious disease or a learning disability that just throws you for a loop when your relationships are strained when you learn that your family is moving when your teenager seems to be growing more and more ambivalent toward the

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Lord and there's more and more rebellion when your doctor calls you up and says well you need to come in for more tests when one of your co -workers makes up lies about you any of those times when we have that physical reaction of fear that life is going to get hard it's helpful to remember that God has a plan

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He knows what He's doing God said in chapter 1 in verses 5 and 6 look among the nations observe be astonished wonder because I am doing something in your days and you would not believe it if you were told

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I am raising up the Chaldeans that fierce and impetuous people who march through the earth to seize the dwelling places

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I mentioned it before but it's good to be reminded that God has a plan and that's what

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He tells us in chapter 1 there can be such comfort for our hearts when everything else fills out of control and God says

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I have a plan my husband has said if God isn't sovereign then what is the point of living if God is sovereign then what is the point of worrying and when he tells me that it's like you're right but isn't it wonderful God has a plan so number 1 it's helpful to remember

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God has a plan number 2 it's helpful to remember that whatever God has planned

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He is going to bring it to pass it will happen it's going to happen and no amount of fretting no amount of me trying to change plans no amount of me doing the little let's make a deal

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God what about if none of that's going to change God's plan

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Isaiah 55 11 God says so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth it will not return to me empty without accomplishing what

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I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it when God determines and He has a plan that He has set in motion before time began

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He's not going to change it He will bring it to pass so He has a plan

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He's going to bring His plan to pass Charles Spurgeon said remember this had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are divine love would have put you there

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I mean I'm sure many of you have seen that quote it is such a blessing God is going to do all that He has intended all that is wisest and good and perfect and holy and right and just and loving and kind and all of this is contained in the plans that God intends to bring to pass and we see it in Habakkuk but it's true for your life and for mine and number three so it's good to remember

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God has a plan He will bring that plan to pass and it's also helpful to remember every detail that intersects with your life has been purposely ordained by your heavenly

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Father who loves you completely and infinitely and unconditionally as we just saw in Habakkuk 112

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God corrects His children Hebrews 12 6 says for those whom the Lord loves

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He disciplines and He scourges every son whom He receives it's good to be reminded that the

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Lord purposely trains His children and He does it not because He's just mean

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Hebrews 12 6 says He does it because He loves us and so again sometimes we have to reorient our thinking and rename the road that we're on this is

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God's love me road this is He loves me He loves me this discouraging is part of His love for me

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He is my best most faithful most kind wise

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Father number four not only does He have a plan that He will bring to pass and He purposely ordains it but number four every detail that intersects your life has been wisely judged as the very best thing for you

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Hebrews 13 21 tells us that the God of peace equips us in every good thing to do

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His will working in us that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever every detail that comes to us has been wisely judged

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God has considered every everything in His power and might and wisdom and there is no better way so whatever you are experiencing in your life is the very best way to produce

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His likeness in you so that you will walk in holiness and be a blessing to the world and give

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Him glory and He will equip you to do everything every good thing to do

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His will He will help you He will prepare you He will help you to move wisely through the circumstances in your life okay so our next point point two imagining your worst case scenario verse 16 says

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I heard in my inward parts trembled and at the sound my lips quivered decay enters my bones and in my place

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I tremble while I wait quietly for the day of distress to come upon the people who will invade us for the

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Lord to judge those who will invade us verse 17 begins with though it's the best word ever isn't it verse 17 though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines though the yield of the olives should fail and the fields produce no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls though tells us that there's more to this thought than what is contained in this verse this is just the beginning and it's it's that shifting point here's where we are scary scary scary and then the next verse though even before we learn what else is coming we know that there are treasures already here waiting for us

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Habakkuk knows in verse 17 that trouble is coming life is going to change like crazy and not for the better it's not going to be easy and he realizes the devastation and destruction are on the way and yet in the midst of his fear

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Habakkuk responds though though the fig tree and then he begins to outline worst case scenarios so he goes to the very worst things and what is that I mean well really it's sustenance what he's describing is there's not going to be anything nothing to eat in the land of Israel that they would die of starvation from famine it would be terrible though the fig tree doesn't blossom the yield of the olive there's no flocks those things though life looks bad though we may face starvation though we may suffer tremendous loss though but there's a pause there isn't there there's a pause in thought though what come on tell us what else it communicates that one word communicates hope that one word tells us there's more there's more to the story and that's what

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Habakkuk knew because he knew God Habakkuk was able to face his fears and imagine the worst case scenarios and he was able to say though because he knew

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God David in Psalm 23 4 says even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

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I fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me

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David imagined his worst case scenario and yet he knew

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God and so that was a comfort to him David did the same thing in Psalm 27 3 though a host encamp against me my heart will not fear though war arise against me in spite of this

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I shall be confident Maurice Roberts in his wonderful book the thought of God in chapter 1 said this the art of good thinking is to carry thought to its logical conclusion the mere thought of God should end all anxiety but he says more because I mean wouldn't it be terrible if I just left you right there the mere thought of God should end all anxiety oh that's so lovely but then he says then why in my case does it not because I fail to carry thought to its proper conclusion that's what happens with us we don't go as far as we need to we imagine worst case scenario but we don't carry the thought to the proper conclusion in facing our fears we need to get to survival mode thinking when faced with the worst case scenario what things can we still rely upon we can trust that God is with us in our trial

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Hebrews 13 5 and 6 I mentioned it in I think the last session where God reminds us and the

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Lord Jesus is talking about if you're struggling with contentment but really it's if you're struggling with anything what is his answer

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I will never leave you I will never forsake you and with our response the

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Lord is my helper I will not be afraid what can man do to me if the

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Lord is with me for me Hebrews 13 5 and 6 has been so powerful in helping me to overcome fear since it's my default sin and it's always popping up all the time it has been a huge comfort to be reminded

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I'm not by myself the Lord is going to help me and who is helping me the

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God of the universe that's super encouraging to me so not only do we have when we're facing the worst case scenario we can rely on the fact that God is with us in our trial he holds us

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John 10 28 through 29 Jesus says I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand you can't if you know the

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Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior then you can't sin so much that you are going to fall out of his hand he will make sure that you deal with your sin and you may face consequences but no one can snatch you out of the father's hand

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God holds us and he will also hold you in his hands so no matter what's going on in your life you can rest there and we also need to remember that heaven is waiting

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Romans 8 18 for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits us you may be living in a time of suffering in this present time and yet even this suffering right now it's not worthy to be compared with the glory that waits

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Lord I'm looking for that future time and I'm looking there so that we can be thinking rightly in the midst of our circumstances though leads us to our third point which is your determination to trust the

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Lord at verse 18 though leads to yet yet I will exult in the

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Lord I will rejoice in the God of my salvation though these terrible things are going to happen yet I will exult in the

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Lord yet I will rejoice in the God of my salvation this is the very same thing that Job said in Job 13 15 though he slay me yet I will hope in him

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David said the same thing in Psalm 31 7 I will rejoice and be glad in your loving kindness because you have seen my affliction you have known the troubles of my soul

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David is just talking about you've seen my troubles you've seen my affliction yet I'm still going to rejoice and though the translation doesn't have though or yet in it is still the same isn't it

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David experienced those trials but he chose to trust in the Lord and because he knew

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God's character so what do we see here we see that Habakkuk David Job the rest of the writers in the scriptures they are communicating each one their their choice

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I'm going to choose to trust the Lord over fear in spite of my fear in spite of what's going on around me they're choosing faith over their feelings they're choosing to believe

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God over the dark whispers of their own unbelief you know that really well known verse that we all will have read many many a time because it's quoted throughout the

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Bible the righteous will live by faith well it's found in Habakkuk did you know that that's the first place it was mentioned

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Habakkuk 2 4 behold as for the proud one his soul is not right within him but the righteous will live by his faith 2

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Corinthians 5 7 says that we walk by faith not by sight so living by faith is what believers do the righteous will live by his faith that's what

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Habakkuk says in verse 4 of chapter 2 the righteous lives by his faith he acts by his faith he rests in his faith he responds with his faith he walks he runs he thinks he speaks by his faith throughout life in all the ups and all the downs in the times of ease and plenty and times of hardship and sorrow the righteous will live by his faith that's what we're called to do you are called when you come to know the

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Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and we are called to walk by faith not by sight then we are living by our faith every single day

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I get up in the morning by faith I'm trusting the Lord I am going to spend time with the

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Lord by faith I am going to speak a kind word by faith we everything we do we live by our faith why because God has rescued us our lives are different so who or what we run to in our times of fear tells everything important about us it tells us whether or not we have faith our being afraid and worried and paralyzed by anxiety tells less about us then it does then how we respond tells about us how we respond when we find ourselves afraid what do we do next that tells volumes

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I mean being afraid that's normal everybody's afraid what do we do next only the righteous lives by his faith

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I love that see sometimes we get all stuck over here on well

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I'm afraid I'm afraid I'm afraid well what are you going to do next the righteous does the next that's what's exciting about this text isn't it believers always run to Jesus now sometimes it takes us a little bit sometimes we're not we don't get our act together right away and we certainly don't do it perfectly but believers run to Jesus you will if you know the

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Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior you're going to run to him but if you don't that tells you you don't know the

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Lord Jesus as your Savior because we will only run to Jesus because he is our

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Savior the human heart runs away from God it's only when we come to know him that we run toward him 2nd

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Timothy 2 12 tells us if we are faithless he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself

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God has given us his Holy Spirit who resides in us and he makes us long for the

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Lord so that nothing else will satisfy us we run to Jesus Hebrews 12 1 through 2 says therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross he despised the shame and he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God Jesus is the perfecter of our faith and that's why we are able to live by faith because he fixes it so that we can so despite of our fear and our failures and our weaknesses we put our trust in the

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Lord where else can we go there is no other refuge there is no other place he alone is our hope and that's at the heart of verse 18 that's what we get to in verse 18 of Habakkuk 3 yet I will exult in the

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Lord I will rejoice in the God of my salvation no matter what happens

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Lord I'm going to run to you and that brings us to our last point the foundation of your hope which we see in verse 19

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Habakkuk will rejoice and exult in the Lord because the Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet like Heinz feet and makes me walk in my high places just reminding ourselves as Habakkuk does here is helpful when we're feeling fearful and weak and worried and it's helpful to consider what our options would be if the

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Lord wasn't our strength just like the psalmist does in Psalm 121 in Psalm 121 the psalmist says

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I lift up my eyes to the mountains from where can my help come he's looking on the mountains like well that's where all the idols and the false worshipers the pagan worship took place on the mountains and so the psalmist says there's no help there why would

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I look there but we see this in the world so what else does everybody look to they look to themselves they look to oh all the mantras they look to yoga breathing they look you know

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I mean all the stuff that's out there in the world and there's no help there my help comes from the

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Lord the psalmist says in Psalm 21 who made heaven and earth Peter's response to Jesus when

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Jesus asked if the disciples were going to walk away just like so many others who had been following him and Peter replied in John 668

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Lord to whom would we go where would we go you have the words of eternal life there's been a number of times when

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I have prayed that Lord I do not want to run anywhere else you have the words of eternal life you are my only refuge and hope why would

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I ever go anywhere else will you have my heart in so I will only run to you it's so important to tell ourselves this one truth that no one else nothing else has any ability or any strength or any power to be a refuge for us no matter how much we want them to or how much we might think that they do nothing else does

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Psalm 46 1 through 3 God is our refuge and strength he is a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear and here's the worst case scenarios though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the mountains quake at its swelling pride even if the worst happens that's not it doesn't matter why because God is our refuge and strength he is a very present help in trouble it's the same cycle that God wants us to learn and apply in our lives trials may be coming they may be here but God desires that his children trust him that his children love him that his children believe him enough to rejoice in him knowing that he will strengthen his children to bear whatever he gives them to go through 2

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Peter 1 3 says that God's divine power has granted to us everything we need for life everything we need for getting through the day everything we need for going through the trial everything we need for godliness everything we need to respond in faith and hope so that we won't go through the trial screaming in a ball on the floor in our closet you know all those kinds of responses

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God gives strength for every trial 2 Peter 1 3 is the promise that he will

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God gives patience for every trial he gives hope for every trial he always supplies what we need there's not a checklist for this though it's not a push button kind of Christianity do this and God will do this

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I've been trusting you Lord and so you need to make sure that I am responding rightly and then out comes the you know like out of the chips or whatever that come out of the little push button thingy what are those called vending machines thank you

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I was like what are those things God is not a vending machine we don't get to push the button and expect that God is going to just do

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I've done this Lord and so you need to do it this way that's not how this works but God equips his children he strengthens his children he hears our prayers

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Psalm 9 10 those who know your name will put their trust in you and for you oh

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Lord they have not forsaken you have not forsaken those who seek you

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Ron Blue in the Bible knowledge commentary just wonderfully writes

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Habakkuk's book begins with an interrogation of God but it ends with an intercession to God worry is transformed into worship fear turns to faith terror becomes trust hang ups are resolved with hope and anguish melts into adoration so what do we learn from Habakkuk chapter 3 we learn that fear the unknown our anxieties whether those things are real or imagined can be the vehicles that lead us into a deeper walk with the

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Lord worry can be transformed into worship fear can turn into faith terror can become trust when we make the

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Lord our focus let's pray Father we thank you for this lesson it is so incredible Lord when we see your word and when we pull all these things together we see you your kindness

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Lord in just preserving your word in giving us everything we need so that we can trust you well

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Lord we ask that you would help us to learn to rely on you better to give you glory

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Lord we thank you for the privilege that it is to know you the

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God of the universe thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins so that we could through faith live life differently thank you

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Lord help us to love you better we pray this in your precious and holy name amen so we started today just talking on how do we prepare our hearts how do we move forward how can we grow and Acts 17 11 was one of the texts that I was going to teach and I just want to mention it now in Berea there were those who were more noble minded than the believers in Thessalonica for they received the word with great eagerness examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so and this is the key isn't it

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Acts 17 11 are we going to be like the Bereans the Thessalonian believers were fabulous believers but the

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Bereans stepped it up and we're at the step it up stage this is where we need to be living are we going to receive the word with great eagerness we're coming to God's word and if you don't have eagerness for God's word ask him

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God loves to answer those prayers you know that it's his will that we love his word right and so if you're struggling in your quiet time if you're bored if you're not having fun first of all ask somebody else say

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I'm kind of bored with my quiet time what do you do and how can we make this more exciting but do not stay the same it's only going to get worse you have to make changes and what the

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Bereans did is they said they received the word with great eagerness there was an anticipation on their hearts it's like what the

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Psalm in Psalm 119 165 that where the Psalmist says Lord I behold wonderful things in your law there's that anticipation that comes from beholding wonderful things and so we want to come to the word of God saying

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Lord let me behold wonderful things in your word and we want to be like the

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Bereans to examine the scriptures to look to see what is there to study

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God's word it's in the study of the scriptures that we are changed so then we will be women who smile at the future so that it can be said of each of us strength and dignity are her clothing and she smiles at the future

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Elizabeth Elliot's father told her a Christian who is saturated with the word is likely to have a calm wholesome outlook on life to be kept steady in the path of God's will in either joy or sorrow wealth or poverty he is likely to be a pleasant companion not valuable and aimless talk and he will not be overly disturbed by world conditions a