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Welcome to Common Ground One 
book. 

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We are so glad you've joined us 
for today's message. 

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Whether you tuning in from home 
or catching up on another goal, 

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we pray that this word 
encourages you, strengthens your

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faith, and draws you closer to 
God. 

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If you'd like to learn more 
about our church, connect with 

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us or get involved, you will 
find all the details in the 

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description. 
Now let's dive into today's 

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message. 
So have any of you ever been in 

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a season of life where very 
little is making sense, where 

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you know things are going wrong,
where you seem to be wheel 

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spinning, You're trying as much 
as you you can to put things 

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right. 
You're making every effort, but 

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it's just it's just not working 
out. 

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I mean, even your sometimes your
prayers seem like they're just 

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hitting a ceiling. 
You know, nothing seems to be 

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kind of working and you might 
even feel, you know, when we 

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look around the city we're in, 
we look around our nation, we 

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look around at different 
circumstances that man, there's 

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a lot of injustice, there's a 
lot of suffering, there's a lot 

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of pain and it seems like evil 
is winning. 

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Seems like man, good is not back
foot and evil seems to be 

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winning. 
I've had an amazing year 

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actually, but I've I've still, 
there's certain areas and 

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certain struggles. 
And I think when you're in a, a 

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church community, you feel other
people's pain. 

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And I think we can all relate to
this thing that man sometimes 

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evil seems to be getting more 
traction and we can relate. 

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And we're in the middle of this 
series going through Habakkuk. 

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We've done the first two 
chapters. 

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We're going to go into chapter 3
today. 

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But the the great thing as we're
going through this book is you 

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see, Habakkuk is someone that 
can really relate to that sense 

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of man. 
What's happening? 

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The world is crumbling. 
Why is there all this struggle? 

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Why is there all this pain? 
Things are not going well and 

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Habakkuk, amazingly, we, we can 
watch his life. 

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We can see that he he teaches us
that faith isn't just pretending

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everything is going fine. 
You know, just keep going, keep 

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a stiff upper lip, just be 
resilient and, and keep going. 

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No, Habakkuk shows us something 
quite different. 

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He shows us that that faith is 
trusting in God even when things

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are not going our way, when we 
seem to be going backwards and 

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when life is incredibly tough 
and when things don't seem to be

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making sense. 
But before I go into chapter 3, 

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I have to do a quick reminder of
what happened in the 1st 2 

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chapters and maybe joining us 
for the first time today. 

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So a quick scan of those first 
two chapters will help. 

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So in chapter 1, we see we see 
the prophets confusion. 

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The great thing about Habakkuk 
is he's not a prophet where he 

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comes and he's like, thus says 
the Lord, you know, and this and

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he gives this whole message that
people have to receive. 

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Now we see this conversation 
between Habakkuk and God, God, 

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it's like this Q&A and this back
and forth and even his name 

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actually means to struggle, but 
not a struggle in like it's it's

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like an embrace also means to 
embrace. 

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And we see Habakkuk, he really 
struggles with God. 

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He's honest and he comes with 
this first cry, his first 

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complaint and he says how long 
Lord in verse 1 of chapter 1, 

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how long Lord, must I call for 
help? 

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But you do not listen or cry out
to you violence, but you do not 

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save. 
Why do you make me look at 

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injustice? 
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? 

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You see this cry of his heart, 
Maybe you can relate. 

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Is how long? 
How long, O Lord? 

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How long how? 
How long must we wait? 

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How long is this going to go on 
for? 

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And why? 
You are good, Holy God, why do 

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you tolerate wrong? 
Why don't you bring your justice

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Now he, he looks at the 
injustice, the, the violence, 

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the corruption, the oppression, 
and he asks God, where are you? 

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And by the way, when he's, when 
I talk about violence, 

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oppression, all these things, 
actually this was, he's talking 

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not about the world out there, 
but he's talking about his own 

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people, about God's own covenant
people. 

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There's wicked leaders, there's 
corruption, the righteous of 

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being crushed in a nation that 
should have known better. 

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It's a complete mess. 
And you can imagine for for a 

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prophet, this would be a huge 
problem. 

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And then God answers the answer 
to God. 

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What's going on here? 
What? 

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What's when are you going to 
bring your justice? 

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God answers him. 
I'm raising up the Babylonians. 

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This is terrifying. 
This is a wicked, evil nation 

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that's going to come and oppress
them. 

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This is, this is not good news. 
A wicked nation is going to come

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and is going to judge Judah and 
is the, the covenant people of 

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God are going to be oppressed by
this other nation. 

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God's going to use another 
nation to do this. 

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And Habakkuk is, is really 
stunned And it, it, it creates 

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his second complaint. 
He says to God, how can you use 

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that wicked nation for your 
purposes? 

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I mean, this is this is getting 
worse. 

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It's getting worse for Habakkuk.
He asks God that question and 

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then in chapter 2, he goes to 
the Watchtower to wait for God's

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explanation. 
And the answer that God gives 

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him is the righteous shall live 
by faith. 

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Eric unpacked this for us last 
week. 

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And I think again, this is a 
little bit a little bit of an 

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unexpected answer because in 
that context, you might have 

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expected God to say the 
righteous will live by the laws 

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of God, or the righteous will 
live by right living, or the 

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righteous will live by doing 
good works to other people and 

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treating other people how they 
expect to be. 

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You'd expect something a little 
bit more like that. 

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But God says, no, the righteous 
shall live by faith. 

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Habakkuk wants, he wants moral 
reform, He wants justice, He 

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wants punishment of the wicked. 
But God says to him, this, this 

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dividing line between life and 
death, it's it's not 

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performance, it's about trust. 
God's essentially saying that to

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Habakkuk that the world will not
be divided into good people and 

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to bad people, but into proud 
people and to humble people. 

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And the people that live that 
are humble are those that live 

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by faith. 
The righteous shall live by 

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faith. 
And this tiny sentence, it's a, 

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it's a, it's a, it's a seed of 
the gospel message. 

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It's a major truth that Paul 
kind of latches onto and he 

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quotes it in Romans and 
Galatians. 

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It's, it's hard to actually 
imagine a lot of the New 

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Testament without this sentence.
And Paul uses a sentence to show

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that the right, that 
righteousness is not achieved by

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the law, by the following of the
law, but righteousness is 

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received by faith in Christ. 
Habakkuk sees something dimly, A

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righteousness that comes from 
God, not a righteousness that 

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comes from us. 
And this becomes the blazing 

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centre of the New Testament and 
the and the doctrine of 

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justification by faith. 
If you're not familiar with this

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term, justification, if English 
isn't your first language, even 

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if it is your first language, 
it's, it's not a word we hear 

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every day. 
But I love the simple analogy. 

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Your clothes are dirty from head
to toe. 

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You cannot wash them. 
In fact, the more you wash them,

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the dirtier you make them, the 
more of a mess you make. 

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You're stuck. 
There's no ways you can clean 

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your clothes. 
And then Jesus takes off your 

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dirty clothes, dirty clothes, 
and he gives you perfect clean 

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white clothes, spotless. 
And now when God looks at you, 

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he doesn't see there's no dirt. 
He just sees the perfect clean 

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clothes of Jesus. 
This is justification. 

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Jesus takes your place and you 
receive his righteousness. 

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And so God sees you as clean, 
forgiven, right with him, not 

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because you perfect, not because
of what you've done, but because

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Jesus took your place. 
This is simple, but it's a, such

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a relief for me. 
I mean, I, I make a mess of it 

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if I try and sort out my own 
life. 

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I've spent years trying and I 
just love this beautiful truth. 

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And so when God says to 
Habakkuk, the righteous shall 

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live by faith, he is essentially
saying, Habakkuk, you will not 

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understand exactly how I'm 
working, but you can trust me. 

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You can trust who is working. 
You can put faith in me. 

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So let's get into chapter 3 and 
amazingly, after this back and 

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forth, this conversation between
the prophet and God, Habakkuk, 

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you'll see his whole tone and 
everything has changed. 

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It's no longer one of like 
confusion and complaint. 

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He doesn't have all the answers.
I'm sure he's still processing a

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lot, but something has shifted. 
His Q&A is over. 

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And chapter 3 is actually what 
we're going to read today is a 

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very passionate. 
It's a prayer, It's a, it's this

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powerful poem. 
It's actually a worship song in 

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the middle of the chaos. 
And Habakkuk, he's learned 

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something in this, in this, in 
this interaction with God that 

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gives birth to this very, very 
passionate song, this the Psalm.

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And he's learned that even when 
we don't understand God's ways 

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and when we don't understand 
God's timing, we can still trust

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the character of God, which is 
unchanging. 

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So if you want to turn in your 
Bibles to have a chapter 3, are 

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they already? 
It's a hard one to find. 

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And before we go into that, I 
just want to remind you that 

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nothing's actually changed in 
the circumstances of Habakkuk. 

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Judah is still a complete mess. 
The Babylonians are still 

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coming. 
God hasn't burst in and, you 

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know, saved the day. 
Everything is still the same, 

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but something has changed in 
Habakkuk's understanding about 

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God and he's able to write this 
amazing song. 

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Lord, I've heard of your fame. 
I stand in awe of your deeds, O 

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Lord. 
Renew them in our day, in our 

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time. 
Make them known in wrath. 

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Remember mercy. 
God came from Timon, the Holy 

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One, from Mount Paran. 
His glory covered the heavens 

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and his prey to fill the earth. 
His splendor was like the 

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sunrise. 
Rays flashed from his hand where

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his power was hidden. 
Plague went before him. 

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Pestilence followed his steps. 
He stood and shook the earth. 

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He looked and made the nations 
tremble. 

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The ancient mountains crumbled 
and the age-old hill collapsed 

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are eternal. 
I saw the tents of Cushion in 

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distress, and the dwellings of 
Midian in anguish. 

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Were you angry with the rivers, 
O Lord? 

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Was your wrath against the 
streams? 

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Did you Rage Against the sea 
when you rode with your horses 

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and your victorious Chariots? 
You uncovered your bow, you 

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called for many arrows, You 
split the earth with rivers. 

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The mountains saw you and 
writhed. 

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Torrents of water swept by. 
And deep, broad and lifted 

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sorry. 
And the deep broad and lifted 

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its waves on high sun and moon 
stood in the head, stood still 

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in the heavens. 
And the glints of your flying 

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arrows at the lightning of your 
flashing spear. 

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In Roth. 
You rode through the earth And 

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in anger you threshed the 
nations. 

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You came out to deliver your 
people to save your anointed 1. 

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You crushed the leader of the 
land of wickedness. 

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You stripped him from head to 
foot with his own spear. 

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You pierced his head when his 
warriors stormed out to scatter 

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us, gloating as though they were
about to devour the wretched who

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you who were in hiding. 
That's why it's quite AI think. 

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It's quite an interesting 
response actually, from 

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Habakkuk, and I'll tell you. 
I'll tell you why. 

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The first thing is that Habakkuk
prays. 

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It's a very honest and humble 
beginning. 

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He says, Lord, I've heard of 
your fame. 

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I stand in awe of your deeds, 
God, Habakkuk. 

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God said something to him on 
that watchtower and it's kind of

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jolted Habakkuk to remembering 
who exactly this God is. 

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He might he might have forgotten
his theology might have gone a 

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little bit dim. 
He might have been focusing too 

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much on the injustice and all 
the things that are going wrong.

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And something has jolted him. 
The way he opens up the song, 

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he's he remembers who God is. 
He starts to remember what God 

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has done. 
He says, God, I stand in awe of 

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your deeds, Lord. 
And he remembers that this the 

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God that I'm serving as a God 
that is always shown up for his 

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people. 
He starts to look at God's 

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amazing track record and he 
says, repeat them in our day. 

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The awesome things you've done, 
may they happen again in our 

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time. 
Make them known in wrath. 

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Remember mercy. 
This is a it's a prayer of 

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someone who's who's who knows 
and is understanding that God. 

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I may not understand, but I know
you and I trust you enough to 

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act again. 
And I think when life for us 

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today, when life makes no sense,
when things we can't explain 

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them, when we're struggling for 
the answers, we, we have to 

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remember who God is and what his
track record is and we have to 

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say, God, I don't understand. 
That doesn't make sense to me. 

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But I trust you enough and I 
know that you will act again. 

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You've done it time and time 
again. 

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If we read this book, that's 
what we see over and over and 

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over. 
He intervenes and he does it 

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again, and he does it his way 
and in his timing. 

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There's that saying that I love 
this quote. 

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When you don't know what 
tomorrow holds, remember who 

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holds tomorrow. 
This is a quote by an American 

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Southern gospel writer, Iris 
Stanfill. 

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When you don't know what 
tomorrow holds, remember who 

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holds tomorrow. 
That gives us a lot of 

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confidence, and that's exactly 
what Habakkuk is doing. 

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He knows who God is. 
He knows his track record of 

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coming through, and it's giving 
him the confidence that he needs

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for now, for now, and for 
tomorrow. 

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The second point I want to drag 
Art pull out of this song is 

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that God shows up in glory and 
power. 

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Verse 3 says God came from Timon
the Holy one from Mount Paran. 

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When I first read that, I didn't
get the references. 

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You know, it's one. 
Sometimes you read your Bible 

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and you're like, no, that must 
be just be what's actually 

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happening here is Habakkuk is 
remembering the Exodus. 

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These locations point back to 
Egypt. 

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They point back to the Exodus, 
the moment that God stepped into

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history, when he split the 
steam, when he shattered 

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Pharaoh's power and rescued his 
people. 

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And, and, and Habakkuk has to 
use these, these great deeds, 

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these things that God has done, 
he starts to use them as an 

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anchor for his faith. 
And for us, thousands of years 

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later, we we can do the same. 
But for us, there's an anchor 

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that Habakkuk didn't see, maybe 
saw a glimmer of it. 

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But for us, so many years later,
we can look back to a greater 

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anchor and that's Christ 
crucified on the cross. 

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And actually everything that 
Habakkuk describes here, 

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thousands of years ago, light, 
glory, God breaking into 

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history, all this dramatic, all 
these things that are happening,

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all of this points to an 
ultimate fulfilment of of Jesus,

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the one who is according to 
Hebrews one verse 3, the 

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radiance of God's glory, and 
John one verse 5, the light that

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shines in the darkness when God 
shows up. 

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That's the title of my message 
today. 

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We serve a God that shows up 
more than any other God. 

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We serve a God that came in the 
flesh. 

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This is not just a figurative 
idea. 

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You know, the God who shows up, 
the God who comes. 

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No, God literally showed up in 
flesh and bone to show his 

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commitment to us and to make a 
way. 

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And not not to free us from 
Pharaoh like the Exodus, but to 

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free us from sin and death. 
The Exodus was God showing up 

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for his people, and the 
Incarnation is God showing up as

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our Saviour, the one, the one we
needed. 

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Point #3 God fights for his 
people. 

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We can see amazing pictures in 
Habakkuk riding on Chariots of 

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salvation, splitting the earth 
with rivers, crushing mountains,

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drawing out his bow, shattering 
nations. 

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The God we serve is is not a 
weak God. 

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We serve a God that is not as 
super powerful, omnipotent. 

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He has all the power. 
So this is a God that fights for

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his people. 
And he's not weak, he's not 

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passive. 
He doesn't stay on the 

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sidelines. 
He's not like a maybe I'll give 

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you the strategy and you can do 
the work. 

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No, this is a God who fights for
his people. 

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This is a God who steps into the
battle on behalf of his people. 

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And again, you could look at the
cross. 

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The cross is the ultimate 
expression of that. 

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It's it's, it's God stepping in.
It's his ultimate commitment to 

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us as humanity. 
And I think maybe just a little 

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application there is, no matter 
how bad it gets, no matter how 

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much it looks like evil is 
winning, we have to remember 

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that God doesn't just observe 
the battle, He enters the 

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battle. 
And not only that, but he's 

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already secured the victory 
point #4 it mentions in verse 13

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to 15 that God saves his 
anointed and crushes evil. 

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And this is kind of the, the 
mountaintop, like the, the real 

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peak of the song could be the 
chorus. 

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It would be the, it's the, it's 
the high point, verse 13, as you

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came out to deliver your people 
to save your anointed one. 

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When it's talking about 
Habakkuk's probably talking 

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about the Davidic king, you 
know, God's chosen leader for 

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that time. 
But the scale of the salvation 

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in the song, what what he's 
talking about is, is far bigger 

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than than than any earthly king 
has ever achieved. 

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And on top of that, all the 
earthly kings, all these kings 

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that were supposed to lead 
Israel to glory, they've all 

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failed. 
They've all failed miserably. 

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This text, when it talks about 
the anointed one, it's talking 

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about someone far greater. 
Again, it's pointing to Jesus, 

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the anointed one, the the king, 
every other king failed to be. 

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And at the cross, he shows up 
and he, he stands on the 

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battlefield alone on our behalf,
and he takes the full weight of 

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sin, Satan, and death. 
And he crushes the serpent's 

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head once and all for us when he
is resurrected on the third day.

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So the main point of my message 
today is that when life does not

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make sense, when evil looks like
it might be winning, when you, 

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when you lost sight of God's 
plan, it's, it's in that moment 

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that we need to trust the God, 
the God who shows up time and 

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time again. 
He showed up for Israel. 

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He showed up for Habakkuk on 
that watchtower, He showed up in

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00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,360
Bethlehem, He showed up on 
Calvary. 

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He showed up not in the tomb but
by rising from it. 

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He showed up at Pentecost with 
power. 

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And one day he will show up 
again in glory, and he's going 

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to return to make all things 
new. 

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God may seem slow, but he's 
never late. 

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That's the proverb I was 
thinking of earlier. 

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God may seem slow, but he's 
never late. 

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00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,440
So how do we how do we trust 
when when we waiting? 

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00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:49,000
How do we trust when we just 
don't understand just A5 very 

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quick points. 
The first thing is we we must 

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remember what God has done. 
We tend we tend to consume 

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00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,600
ourselves in the problem. 
We tend to go into solving mode.

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00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:05,480
You know, who can I speak to? 
What's ChatGPT saying, You know,

348
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,920
we, we, we need a handle often 
when we, when we, when we don't 

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00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,960
understand things, but we, the, 
the, what Habakkuk did is we 

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need to remember what God has 
done in verse 2. 

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00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:19,640
We need to look back at God's 
faithfulness in Scripture and in

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our own life. 
We forget we're very forgetful. 

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00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,400
We need to look back and and 
thank God for what he's done in 

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00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,760
our lives and remind us that he 
can do it again. 

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Then we need to like Habakkuk, 
we need to pray that God will do

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00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:38,440
it again, that God will act 
again, even if we still don't 

357
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,000
know the answers, even if we 
still a bit confused. 

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I want to suggest to you that 
confused faith, having a faith 

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00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,440
that's sounds like, you know, 
these words don't go together, 

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but having a faith that doesn't 
know all the answers being but 

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is still trusting is much, much 
better than silent unbelief. 

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00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:01,560
You know, sometimes when things 
are not going right, we, we tend

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00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:06,280
to go silent and our hearts go 
cold and we kind of, we start to

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00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:08,920
drift away from God. 
No, it's much better to be 

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00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:12,120
honest with God. 
Like Habakkuk to wrestle, it 

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00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:16,400
means to wrestle and but to 
embrace God even if we don't 

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understand everything. 
Confused faith is better than 

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silent unbelief. 
Thirdly, we need to see God as 

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he truly is. 
We don't actually need big 

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faith. 
No, we just need a little bit of

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faith in a big God. 
Just the just the mustard seed 

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of faith that we can place in a 
God who's big. 

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The object of our faith is much 
more important than the size of 

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our faith. 
And God will grow our faith. 

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But we need to have faith in a 
big God. 

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We need to remember exactly who 
He is. 

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We need to look to Christ. 
We need to see what he has done.

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He, he didn't abandoned us at 
the cross. 

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That means he won't abandoned 
us. 

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Now if ever there was a time, if
ever that that he could have, 

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and maybe I mean I would have, 
but if ever there was a time 

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when he could have abandoned us,
it was before going to the 

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cross. 
He didn't abandoned us. 

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He endured the cross for us. 
He didn't abandoned us then, he 

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won't abandoned us now and then.
The fifth point is worship while

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00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:25,760
you wait. 
Even before the breakthrough, 

387
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nothing's changed. 
He's still in the same 

388
00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:30,160
situation. 
Babylon's coming. 

389
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,240
The people around him are a 
mess. 

390
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:35,720
He's a prophet. 
Hard to work with these people. 

391
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,240
You know where there's so much 
evil. 

392
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:43,560
But no, he worships while he 
waits, before Babylon falls, 

393
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,960
before the fig tree blossoms, 
which is a beautiful analogy 

394
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:50,240
we'll see in in next week's 
text. 

395
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A very vivid 1. 
And so in concluding Just to 

396
00:23:55,640 --> 00:24:00,880
Remember, Habakkuk begins with 
confusion and complaints. 

397
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But in chapter 3, we see him 
moving into confidence. 

398
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,080
He starts by saying, I, I don't 
understand. 

399
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,800
But his new posture Now in 
chapter 3, the the thing behind 

400
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:16,760
this whole song is I will trust.
I will trust God. 

401
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,480
I will trust him. 
He remembered who God is and 

402
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,200
what he's done. 
And he's understanding what it 

403
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,200
means to live by faith. 
And the God who showed up for 

404
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:29,320
Habakkuk, Habakkuk will show up 
for you. 

405
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:35,320
He'll show up for you if you 
trust him, if you live by faith 

406
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,080
and not by sight. 
He's there. 

407
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,280
He's there in your crisis. 
He's there in your confusion. 

408
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:43,040
He's there in your darkest 
night. 

409
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,320
He's there when the world feels 
unfair. 

410
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,240
He's there when the waiting 
feels endless. 

411
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,360
He's there when all hope seems 
lost. 

412
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,080
He, he, he, he. 
He probably won't show up in the

413
00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:02,000
way you expect, but he'll show 
up in the way that you need. 

414
00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:06,720
And I think the the greatest 
proof of this is Jesus Christ 

415
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,200
God. 
God didn't send him a message, 

416
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,000
just send a message. 
He didn't just send a miracle. 

417
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,680
God sent himself. 
He showed up. 

418
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,960
He showed up in Bethlehem, He 
showed up in Gethsemane, He 

419
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:25,480
showed up on the cross. 
He showed up in power when he 

420
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:30,200
walked out of that tune. 
And one day he will show up 

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00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:34,040
again in glory. 
So yeah, that's my 

422
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,080
encouragement. 
When life doesn't make sense, 

423
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,640
when it looks like evil is 
winning, when you can't trace 

424
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:44,280
his hand. 
Trust the God who always shows 

425
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,040
up. 
We can trust Him, He is 

426
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,200
faithful. 
Thank you for listening to 

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00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,840
today's message. 
We hope you are encouraged and 

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00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:53,960
challenged in your faith. 
If you're in the Southern 

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00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,280
Suburbs, would love to welcome 
you in person at one of our 

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00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,400
serves. 
Don't forget to subscribe, share

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00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,600
this message with a friend, and 
stay connected with us on social

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00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:04,760
media for more inspiration 
throughout the week. 

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Until next time, stay clear and 
keep shining your light.