A Revelation For Generations | Doug Sauder | Habakkuk 2

It will certainly come to pass. And so this encouragement, in Galatians 6, 9 says this. So let us not become weary in doing what is good for at the proper time. We will reap a harvest if we don't give up. If it seems like being a Christian is not helping you to win, ever since I became a Christian, I'm not making this much money, I don't have as many friends, I'm not succeeding in life like I thought I would, don't give up, keep walking by faith and watch God will in the end give you a harvest of righteousness and peace. As you sow to the Spirit. And so Habakkuk is getting this vision of Babylon coming on. "Good morning Calvary Chapel, would you stand to your feet if you're able? Come on, put your hands together. I hope you can't wait to have fun in church today. Is anybody grateful for Jesus this morning? Come on, sing it if you know it, goes like this. Hallelujah, hallelujah, you get all the praise we say. Hallelujah, hallelujah, you get all the praise always. Hallelujah, you get all the praise we say. Hallelujah, hallelujah, you get all the praise always. I've got a gun who is for me and he's gone for making the way. And he fought the battle so I wouldn't have to, for glory belongs to his name. And I've got a gun who's been faithful far more than I could explain. And through every season, in spite of my weakness, he gave me a song I could sing. ♪ I came to praise ♪ ♪ I came to praise ♪ ♪ That's why I woke up today ♪ ♪ That's why I woke up today ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I came to praise ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ We sing ♪ ♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise we sing ♪ ♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise always ♪ ♪ Hey, I've got a king who is raising ♪ ♪ He put my fame in the grave ♪ ♪ Went to hell and beckoned ♪ ♪ Now I never have to ♪ ♪ And he did it all in three days ♪ ♪ So I came to praise ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ ♪ I came to praise ♪ ♪ That's why I woke up today ♪ ♪ That's why I woke up today ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, yeah ♪ ♪ I came to praise ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise we sing ♪ ♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise always ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the morning ♪ ♪ I've seen you tonight ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the battle ♪ ♪ That's how I thought ♪ ♪ I've seen you slowly ♪ ♪ I've seen you twice ♪

♪ I've seen you slowly ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the morning ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the morning ♪ ♪ I've seen you tonight ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the battle ♪ ♪ That's how I thought ♪ ♪ I've seen you slowly ♪ ♪ I've seen you twice ♪ ♪ I've seen you slowly ♪ ♪ The rest of my life ♪ ♪ I've seen you slowly ♪ ♪ I've seen you slowly ♪ ♪ The rest of my life ♪ ♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise we sing ♪ ♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise ♪ ♪ Always, I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise we sing ♪ ♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise ♪ ♪ Oh, I've seen you in the morning ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the morning ♪ ♪ I've seen you tonight ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the battle ♪ ♪ That's how I thought ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the morning ♪ ♪ I've seen you twice ♪ ♪ I've seen you in the morning ♪ ♪ The rest of my life ♪

♪ I lay, I lay, I lay, you hear ♪ ♪ You get all the praise we sing ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I can't you break ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I can't you break ♪ ♪ Never get out of my way ♪ ♪ Never get out of my way ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I came to grace ♪ Would you just lift up a shot of praise to Jesus if he has redeemed you, if he has set you free? ♪ And I know a name ♪ ♪ That can silence roaring waves ♪ ♪ I know a name ♪ ♪ That can empty out a grave ♪ ♪ I know a name ♪ ♪ It's the only name that saves ♪ ♪ And it's worthy of, come on we sing ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ Resin and reigning in ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory for ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ I have a key ♪ ♪ With dominion over death ♪

♪ He holds the keys ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ In his holy nails, scarheads ♪ ♪ He is the key ♪ ♪ This is ♪ ♪ That has crushed the serpent's head ♪ ♪ Our resurrecting great eye ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Resin and reigning in crowd ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory for ever ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Shades break ♪ ♪ Tribals break ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The gates of hell ♪ ♪ Shades break ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Shades break ♪ ♪ Tribals break ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The gates of hell ♪ ♪ Say every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Oh yes, we call on the name Jesus ♪ ♪ All the wonderful powers will name me Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh ♪

♪ Oh we sing together world death ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, oh death ♪ ♪ It's now your sting ♪ ♪ And we're oh grave ♪ ♪ You're victory ♪ Come on. ♪ We're oh death ♪ ♪ It's now your sting ♪ ♪ And we're oh grave ♪ ♪ You're victory ♪ ♪ We're oh death ♪ ♪ It's now your sting ♪ ♪ And we're oh grave ♪ ♪ You're victory ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive in the name of ♪ ♪ Oh we sing together ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive in the name of ♪ ♪ Jesus come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive ♪ ♪ Death things come alive in the name of ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you I call you healer ♪

♪ Resident waiting in town ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory ♪ Every time I call your name She's bright to cry Oh to work every time I call your name The days of hell sing Every time I call you Death things come alive Death things come alive Death things come alive To the name of Jesus Death things come alive Death things come alive Death things come alive To the name of Jesus Come on, if Jesus has made you alive Would you just give him a shot of praise this morning? I want to read for us Isaiah chapter 43 Before we enter into our next song This is what the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah He says, but now this is what the Lord says He who created you Jacob, He who formed you Israel Do not fear for I ever deemed you I have summoned you by name And you are mine, aren't you grateful for the Lord? He says, when you pass through the waters I will be with you And when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you

When you walk through the fire you will not be burned The flames will not set you ablaze For I am the Lord your God The holy one of Israel Your Savior This is good news because what Isaiah prophesied Jesus fulfilled What Isaiah prophesied Jesus fulfilled Because of the finished work of Jesus We don't worship from a place of fear We worship from a place of victory Because we belong to Him The blood of Jesus speaks a better word It declares that you and I are healed That you and I are forgiven That you and I are set free and delivered and restored So as we continue to sing lift up the name of Jesus Pay all of your attention sing to Him and say I pray into the atmosphere Spirit of God your year You have all authority I pray over my heart and my I am healed by your stripes Your blood declares that I am free In the mighty name of Jesus I pray calling on the power of heaven I proclaim every weapon formed against me It must reign in the mighty name of Jesus I sing this together I draw a firm and then boundary line The enemy has no right to come near my family

No scene could ever run to God's place No matter the circumstance the cross Has healed my destiny In the mighty name of Jesus Now come on I pray Calling on the power of heaven I proclaim every weapon formed against me It must reign in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus I know all the power of spirit darkness It must go every key to everything to me Our hope is in the mighty name of Jesus I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the door frame of my life It's the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here Unprotected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the door frame of my life I will not fear, I will not fear There's a moment of angels fear I'm protected on our side By the blood of Jesus Christ In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, in every weapon formed against Him

It was great, in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus My love, all the power of fear and darkness My soul, heaven gives you every victory Our hope, in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus Amen, let's pray together Lord, thank You for Your presence here this morning Thank You Holy Spirit for the ways in which You are moving already in our service We are so grateful for Your love and for Your presence here with us Lord, thank You for the reminders that we have this morning as we read Your Word and as we sing these songs that You are so powerful You hold all the power, there's no name greater than the name of Jesus And that's the name that we look to this morning Lord, Lord, You are so worthy of our praise and our worship and that's why we woke up today, it's to come and to praise You It's only because of Your mercies and Your grace that we are here this morning And thank You Lord for all that You have done in our lives Thank You for Your love, for the way that You have been so faithful, so good to us And today we choose to worship You in return And so be exalted in this place Lord, as we open Your Word I ask that You would speak to us, that You would convict us That You would do a word that only You can do And we love You, we praise You and it's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray Amen, you may be seated Good morning Calvary, happy Sunday, how are you doing today? Do you have a vision for your life? Now for a few people here, you're like, yeah, I know what it is, I know what I'm called to do, but for most people that's a super intimidating question Do I have a vision for my life? Like how do I find that out? How do I know for sure it's God and not me and how do I run with the vision if I'm not exactly sure? And so because it's such an intimidating question, most Christians sort of just go like, well, my church has a vision and I know some few exceptional people have a vision for their life,

but sort of like I'm just going to watch them, I'm going to be a spectator And Habakkuk is one of those small books that might seem irrelevant to the modern mind, but it's strangely relevant because today we're going to watch how God gives vision to a person and how that vision and that revelation last beyond His lifetime and goes to generations Because I know in life when you look at something that's broken and wrong and you're like, God, are you going to do something about that? Well, you need a way to go forward, you can't just stay stuck and Habakkuk doesn't stuff His feelings, He doesn't like the way that God is running the world, He doesn't think that God's character and what's happening in the world line up and so He approaches God with the complaint and we see Him coming to God, I'm going to wait on you, I'm going to pray and I'm going to trust you, but I'm going to climb up into this tower and I'm going to wait until you answer me and there's this spiritual tenacity that Habakkuk is going to pursue God with and we're going to watch today God answer with a revelation and a revelation is simply an unveiling, something that's hidden from your immediate sight that God's going to pull back the veil and you're going to go, oh, that's what that is and Habakkuk is going to find out He has a role in that vision being fulfilled and I hope that if you're here and you're like, man, I want to envision from my life that you will have this expectancy that Habakkuk had because, again, what we read about here 2,600 years ago is so So are you ready to hear what God has to say about speaking vision? Oh man, that was so enthusiastic. Are you ready to hear what God has to say about vision? Okay, okay. Your Bibles are open, Habakkuk chapter two, verse one. Here we go, Habakkuk, I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts. I will look to see what he that is God will say to me and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Habakkuk approaches God with this problem. I'm coming to this tower. I'm gonna sit in this tower until he answers me.

And I plan to be wrong. I'm okay to be corrected. I just want to know. And then verse two, we don't know how long he was there, but the Lord replies. The Lord replied right down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time. It speaks at the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it, it will certainly come and will not delay. Okay, so the first part that we see Habakkuk sort of listening for the vision of God is he's gonna change his perspective. Right now in the valley, he can only see the frustration, the unanswered questions. The truth of what God is speaking is not disclosed and it's hidden and God's gonna open the veil for him to see. But notice he changes his perspective. He climbs up to a tower, a washed tower where he can see from a totally different perspective. And then in that tower, he waits. I'm gonna sit here in this tower. I'm gonna quiet the noise. I'm gonna quiet my heart. And I expect God will answer me. Do you have a quiet place like that? Where you can get away from all the noise? You know, all the voices in your life,

all the noise all the time. I mean, even if you wanna read the Bible like a new version, you're reading all of a sudden you get a text or a notification all of a sudden you're stressed and you're thinking about this or thinking about that. There's so much noise in our world. And the back of models for us, if we're gonna hear the voice of God speak to us, we have to get quiet, we have to quiet the voices. And we should be prepared to write down what he speaks. So one of the ways you know that you expect God to speak is that you have a journal and a pen as you spend quiet time. That you have a place to write down the things that you have somewhere to underline the scripture that he illuminates to your mind. And Habakkuk has this tenacity, this expectation and a change of perspective. And he is waiting for God to speak. And so God says to him in verse two, I want you to write down the revelation what I'm about to speak to you. Now, that word revelation in your version of the Bible might be translated the vision. And the reason why revelation in one version, vision in another version is because it's the Hebrew word kazone, everyone say kazone. Or if you wanna say it like a real Hebrew, you gotta go kazone. If you just spit on your neighbor, just apologize,

I'm so sorry. Kazone, this is the vision or revelation of God where God says to his people, I wanna show you something that you haven't known yet. I wanna reveal something to you that will help you to walk by faith and have the right perspective as you trust me in life. And this vision is born of our burden. Now, when I think of God opening the eyes of people to see something that they couldn't see before, I can't help but think of a story of a prophet named Elisha. Elisha is in a town that is surrounded by the Syrian army because the Syrian king finds out Elisha's in this town and he sends this massive army just to arrest or kill one person. And when Elisha and his servant wake up the next morning, they see this army surrounding in Second Kings chapter six. Here's the description of what happens. Second Kings chapter six, verse 15. "When the servant of the man of God, that's Elisha, "God, up and went out early the next morning, "an army with horses and chariots "that surrounded the city. "Oh no, my Lord, what shall we do?" The servant asks, "Don't be afraid." The prophet answered, "Those who are with us "are more than those who are with them." Now, just stop for a second. Servant wakes up in the morning, everything was fine the night before, he wake up the next morning,

they're surrounded by this massive army and the servant's like, "Oh man, we're dead men." And Elisha's like, "Don't worry. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And he's like, "One, two, there's two of us. "There's hundreds of them." And this is when Elisha invites God to give his servant revelation, open his eyes. Look what Elisha says next. And Elisha prayed, "Open his eyes, Lord, "so that he may see of fire around all of Elisha. What does God show the servant? Not we're surrounded, but our enemy is surrounded. How many of you does that encourage when you think about the obstacles, the enemies, maybe the challenges of your life? Man, I'm surrounded by a whole bunch of non-Christians. I'm surrounded by people in my neighborhood who make fun of me and mock me. I'm surrounded by this people in my family, these people who do these things, and here's what God says. No weapon formed against us will prosper, and even your enemy is surrounded by the power and presence of God's power in His army. It just changes your perspective, and now Elisha's servant has nothing to fear. In the same way that God gives Habakkuk a revelation, he's also going to give him this deep sense of meaning and hope, because some bad things are going to happen as this vision is shared. He says, "I want you to write down this vision, I want you to make it clear or make it plain so that someone can run with it. Someone can hear this message and take it to the next place." There's going to be a spiritual battle, an element that's involved in this, because what

we see is not all that there is. We see this in this revelation Elisha, serving against. We also see it in the New Testament. When you think about what's happened in your life and some of the areas that are difficult to your challenge, there's also a spiritual battle going on, and Ephesians 6 describes it this way, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." What you see is not all that there is, and the New Testament writers remind us there is a battle going on that sometimes God will give us glimpses in to you, "Oh, wait a second. My boss is not the enemy. There's something else going on. My husband, my wife, my kids, they're not the enemy. My neighbor is not the enemy. That group of people is not the enemy. There's a spiritual thing happening. God opened my eyes to see so I can pray and live the right way in the middle of the chaos." So in verse 4, now that God says, "I'm going to give you this revelation, which should write it down, make it plain so the herald can run with it." Now he's going to give him the revelation, and he's going to talk about how Babylon is going to come and be his instrument of correction for our God's people, and then he's going to give a clue on how he wants his people to live in this moment of history, verse 4. See the enemy is puffed up. That's Babylon. His desires are not upright, but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. Indeed, wine betrays him. That's Babylon. He is arrogant. Never it rests because he's greedy as the grave, and like death is never satisfied. He gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the people.

God offers this contrast. He says, "Babylon is coming, Babylon is proud and loud and strong, and they consume everything around them. They're going to take over all the nations in the surrounding area, and they're going to eat their fill, and they're never going to be satisfied, just like the grave is never satisfied. Imagine the more you have, the emptier you feel, the law of diminishing returns. If I just had more money, if I just had more property, more clothes, more technology, if I just had more, more, more, more, I'll always be happy, and God says, "That's not how it works." God will give you maybe more, but you'll have this leanness of soul, and so you can be full and be empty at the same time, and he describes Babylon this way. The enemy is puffed up and never satisfied, but my people aren't going to live by power. They're going to live by faith. My people are not going to live in idolatry, they're going to trust in me. Babylon's all about who they are, but my people are going to be all about who they trust. The just will live by faith. In the middle of this vision, God gives Habakkuk, just what it means to walk in tension, because the next part of this chapter, in fact, the rest of the chapter is really a lot of just the chaos of what's going to happen next, and sometimes we can get lost in the chaos. Have you ever gotten lost in the chaos at your job, or get lost in the chaos of family or friends or drama, and you're like, "This is crazy right now, I don't even know what to do. And God says to back in the middle of that, you're going to Babylon lives in power. Babylon trusts himself. But you're gonna live in a different kind of way. And so we're gonna watch Habakkuk pursue this vision that God's given and he's gonna write it down. And he's gonna live in the tension between the burden of all the brokenness

but the belief that God's gonna work it out in the end. He's gonna live in this tension between originally wanting God to work in his life and in his country and in his family but also patiently going, it's not gonna happen right away. That vision's gonna have to wait. It's gonna be longer than I think and I'm gonna walk by faith in that tension. And this single line, the just will live by faith. The righteous will live by their faith. Is a thread that single sentence is a thread that goes throughout the New Testament and is actually affecting the way that we are doing church today as New Testament Christians. What do you mean? Let me show you. Three times this simple phrase, the just will live by faith is repeated in the New Testament. Once in Hebrews 10, once in Romans 1, once in Galatians chapter three. And this is why this message is a title of revelation for generations. This simple thing that Habakkuk wrote down has affected the history of not just the New Testament church but of what we are experiencing to this day. And so we see this in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 38 where this vision that Habakkuk writes down

is cited by the author of Hebrews to new Christians who are thinking about walking away from their faith 'cause it's gotten hard. And he says, "But my righteous one will live by faith. "And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back." God's saying to again, these early Christians in the first century, "Hey, you're following Jesus and it's harder than you thought. "You're no longer welcome to the synagogue. "You're no longer welcome to family gatherings. "You're experiencing difficulty in your community "because you're following Jesus." But you know what? You're gonna live by faith. It's too early to quit. Don't give up, keep on following because at the end of it all, he's worth it. Because without faith, it's impossible to what? Please God. That faith is the currency of eternity. You think about what is God most interested in in your life? It's not your personal comfort. And it's not even the fulfillment of all your desires. God is after your faith. He wants your faith to be tried, like a gold is refined by fire and that when you see him face to face, you become a man or woman of faith.

And sometimes we don't think about that because we think, God, if I just pray, all these things will go good. And then I'll live my life. And God's like, no, no, no. I'm interested in something much deeper than that in my people as they walk through life. And so this is the first time we see this verse in the New Testament. And then we see it in Romans chapter one, where Paul says it this way. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. A righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, and he cites it back. The righteous will live by faith. And what is Paul saying here? In the first example of this, it's talking about not giving up. And now in this example, Paul said, hey, when Habakkuk said the righteous will live by faith, they're gonna be justified by their faith before God. In other words, it's not what you do that pleases God. You don't earn or deserve his favor. It's given to you as a gift of faith. You are saved by faith through grace. It is the gift of God. And in the book of Romans, he shares this idea. Now, this single line, Habakkuk wrote 2,600 years ago, the just will live by faith. He's repeated three times in the New Testament,

but I wanna share with you one more place that it really impacted the way that we do church today. And this is how we see this revelation that affects generations. There was a German monk named Martin Luther. And he was a Catholic priest. And in 1517, he felt this tension of like, there's all these abuses in the church. They're selling forgiveness, indulgences. And they're making money off people who can't read and don't understand the good news of the gospel. People don't have the Bible in their own language to understand, so they look at the popes and the councils to explain to them what the Bible says. And there's just a lot of corruption in the church. And Martin Luther was sort of struck with, I can never do enough. I can never be enough to be in favor of God. I can't do enough good works. I can't pray enough. I can't repent enough 'cause I'm a sinner and I can feel all the angst of that. And in all of this angst, he writes this about this phrase. He said, "Before those words, the just will of my faith "broke upon my mind, I hated God and I was angry with him. the just shall live by faith. Then I felt born again like a new man, and I entered through the open doors into the very paradise of God." Something clicked, an aha moment.

Martin was like, I don't have to get on my knees and whip my back and live in penance to try to earn God's favor for the sinful thought I had or the bad thing that I did. I can live in freedom that I am forgiven by the grace of God. I don't have to have a guy in a building somewhere tell me how I can relate with God. I can go directly to God through Jesus Christ and experiences forgiveness and his grace. And you see, a lot of us take for granted that we can pray to God whenever we want, that we can read a Bible in our own language, and that we don't have to live in this fear that we never did enough, and maybe we won't make it to heaven because we did more bad than good. But in the time of Martin Luther, that was a lot of the general sentiment. And so this revelation, he wrote it down. He wrote down what he saw. He wrote that and what was wrong. And in October 31st, the 1517, he wrote his 95 theses, and he nailed it to the door, the church in Wittenberg, Germany. And this began what is called the Reformation. And this Reformation, it rippled into not just Germany, but all across Europe. And it's affected the way that we as modern day Christians think about our faith in God. And it led to what are called the five solas

of the Reformation. So here they are. Think about this, write it down, make it plain so people can run with it. Sola Scriptura, that we believe that scripture is the authority of our lives. We don't look to a council, a church council, or a person to tell us what God says. We went to God's Word to see what it says. For hundreds of years, that wasn't the case. Now we just take it for granted. This is God's inspired word, breathe by heaven. This is the authority that's over me, over our life, over our leaders. Aren't you grateful for God's Word, right? It doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. And with the Gutenberg press, Bibles, and these ideas were put in the hands of regular people. In a sense, Martin Luther went viral in 1517, as well. Second, Sola Fide, we live by faith alone. We are saved by faith alone through grace alone. It's not our good works. We can't buy forgiveness, we can't earn forgiveness, we don't deserve forgiveness. We are given forgiveness by God, and we receive that through faith by grace. It's the gift of God. Are you grateful for that, right? That wasn't always how people

viewed their relationship with God. And so, Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Grazia, Solas Christus, in Christ alone. We don't need another mediator, there is one mediator between God and us, his name is Jesus Christ, our Savior. You can pray to Jesus anytime you want, anytime of the day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He's always ready, he's always open. Heaven's always available. (congregation applauding) And so, La Dada, glory, glory is to God alone. And so, these simple ideas, when the church started to drift, we were able to be brought back partly because Habakkuk did his job and wrote down this revelation that the just will live by faith. Now, what we're gonna read next in verses six to 19 are really kind of the rough underbelly of how bad Babylon was. Babylon was really one of the first great empires of the ancient world, and they were some of the most ruthless people who ever lived as far as the military goes. Let's read a little bit of the description. We're gonna see five woes in these next verses. And woes are just like the, this is really broken about these people. And we're gonna see the woes of greed,

the woes of violence, the woes of idolatry, the woes of drunkenness and lusts and idolatry. Verse six. Will not all of them taunt him and ridicule and scorn him, saying woe to him who piles up, stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion. How long was this go on? Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you become their prey because you have plundered many nations. The peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed human blood. You have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin. You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house, The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice. Has not the Lord determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? In verse 15, he talks about woe to those who get people drunk and watch their naked bodies and exploit them. He talks about idolized people who make idols and worship them.

He talks about people who shed innocent blood. He goes to describe the Babylonian mindset. Now, the Babylonian mindset was filled with idols, but this sort of demon idol that was discovered in archeological, they kind of shows you kind of how Babylon sees itself. Babylon would say of itself, we are the most powerful military in the history of the world. Babylon would say, we are the most powerful economy in the history of the world. Babylon would say we have more pleasures than any other civilization in the history of the world. And because of our military and our economic power and all that we can have, we don't trust in anyone except us. And we can do whatever we want because no one can stop us. And so if we have to build a town by injustice or bloodshed, we do it because we can. If we can use drugs and alcohol to expose people and make them vulnerable, we do it because we can. And who can stop us? Do you hear that? Level of pride, not in God we trust, in us we trust. And God says to the Babylonian mind, you know, if you trust in your own military mind in your own economic power and your own pleasure and you exploit people in the process, all those things that you did to other people, we'll come back to you, which is a caution for us,

a modern day caution that we shouldn't put our trust in our nation's military or economy or prosperity, but we should put our trust in God. He's the only one we should trust in, right? And because here's the crazy thing. The crazy thing is this massive, powerful empire that didn't just come in and destroy Jerusalem but destroyed and subjugated all of the civilizations all around them, you know where that civilization is today? I'll show you a picture. It's an Iraq, a city that still hasn't been rebuilt, a civilization that lasted less than a hundred years at its height under Nebuchadnezzar, a hundred years, and you know how it fell? It fell in 539 BC on an October evening described in Daniel chapter five where Belshazzar throws a feast and there's drunkenness and there's idolatry and they take the instruments of the Jewish temple and the gold gobs and they drink wine and they worship their gods and they celebrate. Meanwhile, on the outside, the entire Persian military is surrounding Babylon. Belshazzar knows they're surrounded but he feels invincible. There's an army outside, no big deal, let's get drunk, let's have fun. And you know in Daniel chapter five, he's partying hard and a finger begins to write on the wall. Meaning, meaning, tackle a farce

and your kingdom has been found wanting. You've been waiting the balances and now your kingdom is gonna end and you're gonna die. That's what Daniel describes to Belshazzar. While that's happening in Daniel chapter five, Zenefin, the bographer of Cyrus, the Persian says the Persians diverted the Euphrates River, climbed up into the city while everyone was drinking and drunk and took over the city without a battle and the entire Babylonian empire, this mighty empire disappeared in a day. Crazy, right? How the Bible aligns up perfectly with what historians say happened in that moment. Historians just say it was a military strategy. God said it was his judgment. Everything we see is not all there is. And so here's what God said about Babylon that was gonna come in and destroy Jerusalem. Here's what he said. Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one will live. And again, we see great Babylonian empire is just a pile of rocks to this day. Because of that sense of pride. We're in control and we can do whatever we want. And God watches it for a time, but then his hand of justice works. Hosea would describe it this way.

They sow the wind and they... and it doesn't matter how I treat people, well ultimately there will be a reckoning. This is not karma. This is what the Bible calls the law of sowing and reaping. Galatians describes it this way, "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever sows to please the Spirit from the Spirit will reap eternal life." This is sort of a choice that we have. Do I walk by faith and trust God and do what's right or do I do what works for me? You see, if you think about the Babylonian way, it's about power and pride and sexual fulfillment and the ends justifies the means. But if you look at the opposite of that way, God s way, it's not greed, it's generosity, it's not violence, it's gentleness, peacemaking. It's not lust, it's self-control, it's not being drunk, it's being filled with the Spirit of God. It's not exploiting people with your power, it's about serving people with your power and we all have a choice. Do I live the Babylonian way, me, myself and I? Or do I walk by faith knowing faith is the currency of eternity, the thing that God is interested in? You see, in the world we live in all the noise, it says this doesn't work. Kindness, gentleness, servant, leadership, that doesn't work. Come on, get in the real world. But when you actually pan back and look at history, you realize God's way will win in the end. God will bring ultimate justice. He says, "Even if this vision waits, wait for it, it will certainly come to pass." And so this encouragement, in Galatians 6, nice is this. So let us not become weary in doing what is good for at the proper time. We will reap a harvest if we don't give up. If it seems like being a Christian is not helping you to win, ever since I became a Christian, I'm not making this much money. I don't have as many friends. I'm not succeeding in life like I thought I would. Don't give up. Keep walking by faith and watch God will in the end give you a harvest of righteousness and peace as you sow to the Spirit. And so, Habakkuk is getting this vision of Babylon coming in and all the things they're doing and how it's ultimately going to be paid back and it's all chaos and I got to walk by faith and trust and be a different type of person in the middle of all this. And in verse 14, in the middle of all this chaos, Habakkuk gets a vision of the future. It's in verse 14. In the middle of the mess, God says, "For one day, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Hey, Habakkuk, I'm just going to give you a glimpse. As you walk by faith and as you wait and as it takes longer than you think and as it's harder than you think and as people around you, quick,

keep on going because eventually what's going to happen? This chaos is not going to go on indefinitely. Justice will have its day. Truth will one day reign in the streets because God is the God of redemption. So you can trust me as you wait on me and how in the world could a Babylonian army coming into Jerusalem, destroying the temple, how could that be good in any way? As soon as you look at what goes on in the world, how could God use that? So let's talk about this for a moment. Babylon's going to come in. They're going to destroy the temple, burn Jerusalem to the ground. They're going to separate families. They're going to take young teenage boys and teenage girls from noble families and they're going to bring them hundreds of miles away. They're never going to see their families again and what good could happen with that? Well, if that teenage boy's name is Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, if that young girl's name is Esther, well, then you pan back and you're like, wait, Daniel, it's going to be taken kidnapped from his family never to see them again hundreds of miles away be placed into the pagan court of Nebuchadnezzar, the king or leader of this Babylonian empire. And God's going to use Daniel to influence this man, Nebuchadnezzar, to eventually worship the God of the Bible, Yahweh, and send a letter to the entire known world that Yahweh is the one and only God worthy of worship. What? Yeah, right? The God's going to use this diaspora, this everywhere so that when Jesus is crucified and comes back from the dead and the church has launched and the missionary journeys begin, where do all those missionaries go to all those synagogues that were established during that dispersion of Jewish people? And this is the road map for how the gospel of Christianity would spread throughout the entire region of the world at that time. What is God doing? He's playing the long game. He's patient. He has a plan, not just for world history, but for your life and your history. And so we look at this and we're like, wait, but I still don't understand. How could God use something so bad, so evil, to do something good? Sometimes we struggle with this. Is that really right? Can God use evil for a good purpose? And I want us to think about this because this is important for us. Can God use evil for a greater purpose? A lift for Christians, then this is going to be a familiar sight. Can God use evil for a great purpose? How did Jesus, an innocent man, end up on a cross? Well, you could say because Jewish religious leaders wanted to keep their power in control. Or the Roman Empire wanted to exert its influence. Or the demons of hell and Satan himself wanted

to eliminate a threat to their kingdom. For whatever you want to describe that conversion of evil, can God use something horrible for something beautiful? We know the answer is yes, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are free. Check this out. Because Jesus died on the cross, death has lost its sting, sin has lost its power over us. The enemy has no dominion over us. The worst thing in the world has become the best thing in the world. Once we see that, we are like, "Oh, wow." If that was true with the cross of Christ, then God knows what he is doing, and he knows what he is doing in my life. I can live with this great sense of meaning and hope in the middle of the cast, knowing that ultimately God's plan is good, which brings us to the last part of God's revelation, verse 20. "As God unloads all this on the back and his scribbles it all down." God ends with this. "The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent before him." I love this line. Habakkuk's trying to make sense of it all, and God's like, "I just want you to know I'm in my holy temple and all the earth." So, Habakkuk, if you don't know or trust my plan, I want you to know you and you can know or trust me. I remember a couple of years ago, I was with my wife in Colorado, and it was in the middle of when the world had gone crazy with the wars and COVID and the political issues and the cultural issues and everything, every day, something else was happening. I had disaster fatigue. I was just waiting for the next bad thing to happen to go, "Oh, great." And anybody remember those years, like, 21, 20? Yeah. Sometimes it feels like we're still in it. So, my wife and I, we climbed this mountain in Colorado and got to the very top, and it was so quiet. All we care is like the sound of wind in the trees, maybe an occasional bird or animal, and this verse came to my mind, "I can hold this chaos of this world." The whole earth is silent before God. He's in his holy temple. He's presiding over history, and over the earth, and over the universe, and he is in control, and I am not, which is such a relief. It's such a relief not to try to be in control. I can't even control myself. How am I going to control my family and the world? I mean, God's the one who's in control. And there's that moment where when you get really quiet, hey, I'm back. I know you don't understand. And I know this vision you're writing down is not even going to happen in your lifetime. You're not going to see most of it, but will you write it down and will you trust me that this is a revelation for you and for the generations to come. And so, in this, you're going to live by faith. Now I want to I want to bring this to us in 2020.

we can have meaning, hope no matter what's happening, that we know that even our suffering can turn to glory in the gospel and that God can use whatever has happened in our life for our good and for His glory. But I want to bring us back to the opening question. Do you know the vision that you have for your life or the vision that God has for your life? Because we see Habakkuk modeled, walking toward God with a question, changing his perspective, sitting and waiting, writing down what God said, making it clear so that someone else could run with it. And we see how he did that in his life and how it affected generations. But how could that be true of you? And so I want us to take a moment to talk about how God might give you a vision. See, what I don't want is that you come to this church and you're like, I love our church's vision. I love Pastor Doug's vision. It's a great vision. And every time I hear about it, I'm like, I'm so proud to be part of the church. That's amazing. But God has something for you, for you to run with. So let's go back to that original word, cause zone when God gives Habakkuk a vision or revelation, opens his eyes. That sort of vision or opening, we can look at it in a couple ways. How does God give that to a particular person? Why don't you look at these circles? The convergence of how God takes your experiences, the things you've been through in your life and the gifts that you have and the passions that you have. And the intersection of all those things is where you will often find this revelation that God has for your life. For example, Habakkuk has this passion for justice. You can see it in every line. He wants what's wrong to be right. That drives him. He has this passion for justice, but he also has this experience. He has this experience of the dissonance between what he feels and what he experiences. And he's also gifted as a musician. We're going to find out next weekend that he's going to write a song. He's going to write a song or praise because he's a musician, not just a prophet. And God takes all of those things and uses this to make this letter a powerful thing. And the same thing is true in your life. God made you on purpose for a purpose. When he made you in your brother's room, he gave you gifts and abilities. He knows every day you're going to live your life. And he has a good plan for you. Some of you are curious about that. You're looking. Some of you never really thought about it. How can I take that and then take the experiences I've gone through? Maybe I went through a difficult time as a child. Sometimes we don't like to think about the negative experiences of our life, but the reality is that experience that happened when you were young, that you put in a box and put on a shelf and shut the door.

And you're like, I want to follow Jesus. I want to think about the bad stuff on my past. Often God would say, hey, go back to that closet, open that door, pull down that box, take the lid off, and go through that experience with me and allow me to bring healing, and then redemption, and then meaning by sending you right back to that place of brokenness to help others. And now all of a sudden, you find this vision for your life. I don't know how God's going to do it with you, but I want to show you how that vision now goes through stages. It starts personally. So it's Habakkuk, all by himself in a tower. God, show me what you mean by this. Open minds, because I can't see, I don't understand, and God will often download a vision personally, but it doesn't stay there. It becomes a vision that other people share, like Martin Luther had this vision for what was broken in the world, and it didn't just stay with him. It spread with a whole bunch of other Christians who wanted people to experience the freedom you could have in Christ. And then that vision spreads and becomes exponential. It changes over geography, and it spreads over generations. And this is how God works in vision with Habakkuk and how he works that way through his entire word and through our lives. And we want to be curious about it. Okay, so God, how might you do that in my life? I'll give you a couple of examples, and then we're going to take a moment just to reflect. So this last weekend, my wife and I, we were at the Billy Graham Training Center in North Carolina, sharing in a place called the Cove. And as I read through the history of Billy Graham, this just jumped off the page. Billy Graham was like a young, lanky farm boy from Charlotte, North Carolina, who when he was 20 years old, said, "My purpose is to lead people into a relationship with God through his son Jesus." You wrote it down. That's my purpose. And then he began to run with it and found a group of people that were with him that would help him organize these crusades. And listen, in his lifetime, he presented the gospel to over 215 million people, live, in person, all around the world. Wow. From one mission statement or vision statement, You look at the ministries he started, Youth for Christ started by Billy Graham, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and all of its broadcasts. Christianity's today, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Luzon group of world evangelism

and discipleship, then the mystery of Billy Graham, that one single person who got a vision from God has reached more than a billion people. The good news is Jesus. Wow, how about this one? Maybe you've heard of other Teresa, she's an Albanian nun, she was an Albanian nun in 1946 and when she got a call within a call to move to Kolkata, India. Why would I go to Kolkata, India? The people that are dying in the streets that no one cares about, I would love them in Jesus name, I'm gonna go all by myself, what difference could I make? 51 years later, 4,000 missionaries serving the poor in these communities, centers for the blind, the elderly, the disabled, leopard colonies, hospice centers, 610 foundations, 23 countries. God, what do you have for me? How do I write it down? How do I make it clear? How do I run with it? So when people hear, they say I wanna be a part of that and it spreads exponentially, generations to come. I remember, it was like 26 years ago, I was on a flight from Dallas, Texas, back to Fort Lauderdale, dreaming about what four kids could become to go to the next level, a ministry for kids in foster care,

a ministry of adoption for not just Calvary but for churches across our community and as I'm on the plane and we're talking and like, how do we capture this vision? And I remember writing out a little card on that plane, a home for every child. And sometimes when you write something, you're like, that sounds crazy. But a God-sized vision should scare you a little bit. And I can't do that by myself, and then there's people around us that began to join and then you watch it spread and become exponential and now move beyond just one church or one community or one county. You watch it spread all these places and every time I hear stories about what God is doing, raising up Christians to bring in kids in foster care and adopt them and provide counseling and therapy and support, I'm like, I got to be a part of what God did. And this is what God wants for you. So it couldn't be today that God might begin to speak to you. So you've been given a card, I'm gonna ask you to pull it out for a second. 'Cause these things are like, oh, I'm never gonna be Billy Graham, I'm never gonna be Mother Teresa, I'm never gonna start an organization. Okay, so a couple of you just wrote down in this card a couple of weeks ago what you believe God gave you as a vision.

Now I'm just gonna read what people sitting right next to you might have written. I have a burden to help other men love the Lord and lead well. God's given me a burden for the men of this house. I wanna speak and realize. God has given me the gift of words, both written and spoken. I wanna use these words to make his name known. Tell compelling stories of the gospel. This person right now, I'm haunted for the unsaved. I have a burden to deburden evangelism. I wanna make it normal for people to talk to their friends about faith and invite them to church. I have a burden for married couples, but also engaged couples and dating couples and they could have healthy and thriving relationships. My vision is to share God's word with kids who need him most, I wanna be a teacher. It's not always this super deep, profound thing. It's like, God, a home for a child, investment in a man, in a relationship, in a marriage, the sharing of simple gospel. And so I'm just gonna give you 60 seconds. I don't expect that everyone here is gonna get a sentence that's gonna change their life forever, but the beautiful thing is, God can begin to form something in you. And so for the next 60 seconds, just say, God, speak to me, what can I run with?

What experiences, what passions, what gifts converge together to make me go, I wanna give my life to something like that. And just take 60 seconds and see what God might speak. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO] And here's what I want you to do. I want you to take this little card and just stick it in your Bible. (soft piano music) And every day when you open your Bible, I'll just look at this card and say, "God, just give me a little more clarity." You might have 20 things written on this card, scratches on them until God starts to form this and make it clear and clear. For some of you, it might have happened in this moment. For some of you, it's gonna take a couple of weeks or a couple of months. But the one thing I know for sure is God, God has a vision for you to run with. God doesn't want anyone who calls Calvert Chapel,

their church home to be sitting in the seat as a spectator of a race. We are all called to run our race, to get up and run our race for Jesus. And you'll be surprised, or people around you, when you think that it's personal to you, you'll realize, "Oh, wow, it's you and you and you, "and we can do this together." So we've set up our connection point as you exit today, just to be a space where you can walk through. Today's not about signing up to serve, today's about discovering all the different ways you could maybe give your life to something bigger than you. If you asked the Babylonians to write down what would be on their card, they would say, "I'm running for me, myself, and I." But the gospel calls us to so much more. 'Cause the only thing that matters in the end is what matters and lasts forever. And so I wanna pray for us that God would form this deeply in us as a congregation, and that this 2,600 year old prophecy would shape our lives today. Father, thank you for this revelation for generations. How Habakkuk was faithful to write this down, to make it clear and to run with it, and how we got this, and how it shapes the way we worship today. And God, we were thankful for the men and women that have heard from you, who sat with you,

who wrestled with all the hard questions of life, and are walking by faith and trust in you. We thank you for this church, and the way you're spurring on our faith. And God, I pray that in the days to come, you would do greater things than we've seen, exceedingly above all we can ask or imagine. We pray this in Christ name. Hey, before I say amen, I wanna offer one final invitation, and so I'm gonna ask every Christian who's here to pray, because you get to participate in the next part of this process, and this is a moment that we call a miracle, because in a moment we're gonna witness a miracle. We're gonna witness people who are far from God, come near to God. People who are on a path of destruction, turn and walk toward a future of hope and life and meaning. And we know what it's like to be saved, we know what it's like for the aha moment. See, for those of you who are here, maybe checking church out, or you're watching from a distance, and you haven't gone all in with Jesus yet, this next invitation can change your life. And one of the most important things when you're thinking about life is, when you're running in a certain direction, you wanna ask yourself a question. If I keep on going in this direction, where will I end up? If I keep on going in this direction,

where will I end up? I remember when I was far from God, and running after the things that I wanted. It was all about Doug, is what do I do, what do I think, what do I feel, what do I want, how do I build my future for myself, and I'm gonna run this way, and in fact, to run over people or ignore my own ethics or desires, I'll just do what I'm gonna do. And I found myself all the way over here, and I experienced a revelation. For me, the revelation was a near-death experience. You see, when you're all into yourself, and then you realize I was almost dead like that, you realize you're not in control, you're not as strong or as smart as you think you were, and sometimes those moments of clarity are life-changing. It was for me. And so here's the simple truth that I want you to know. God has a plan for your life. He has a vision for your future. The problem is, if you're running away from him, your sin will separate you from him. And so he's come after you. He sent his son, Jesus, to come after you, to die in your place, to take your sin away and offer you this return home. And this requires a decision. And this is the most important decision a human being can ever make.

Will I embrace my father? Will I come back to my father? Will I continue to run and do my own thing? And believe that He can save us and forgive us and give us a whole new life and we can be saved. That's the only way you make it to heaven. You can't earn your way to heaven. There's no free passes like, "Hey, can you just sweep my sin out of the rug?" No, there's only one way to heaven. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. To all who receive me, you have been given the right to be called the sons and daughters of God." If you've not yet made that decision, it is the most important decision that awaits you. And today we want to give you this opportunity. So we're going to play a song. It's called, "Run to the Father." It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate what we call 20 seconds of insane courage to stand up in front of a whole bunch of people and say, "I'm going to walk forward. I want God more than I care what other people think. I want God more than my own sin. I want God more than all my doubts and angst about all these things in my life. I want to know that I'm forgiven and free that God is my Father, that Jesus, my Savior. And then I have to hope of heaven when I die. I want that new life." And so that's what it means to walk by face. So as we play this song, if you're like, "That's me." And I'm ready. I'm going to ask you to stand in faith. I'm going to ask you to walk forward.

We're going to pray a simple prayer here, and your life and eternal destination will change. And when you take that step, this room will break out in applause, because we know what that was like for us. And we want that for you. If that's you, stand up. Walk this way. He's waiting for you. ♪ ♪ ♪ I can't be the burden ♪ ♪ Too long on my own ♪ ♪ That I wasn't created ♪ ♪ To bear it all ♪ ♪ I hear your invitation ♪ ♪ To let it all go ♪ ♪ And I see it now ♪ ♪ I'm laying it down ♪ ♪ And I know that I need you ♪ ♪ I run to the Father ♪ ♪ I fall into grace ♪ ♪ I'm done with the hiding ♪ ♪ No reason to wait ♪ ♪ My heart needs a surgeon ♪ ♪ My soul needs a friend ♪ ♪ So I run to the Father ♪ ♪ Again and again ♪ ♪ I run to the Father ♪ ♪ I fall into grace ♪ ♪ I'm done with the hiding ♪ ♪ No reason to wait ♪

♪ My heart needs a surgeon ♪ ♪ My soul needs a friend ♪ ♪ So I run to the Father ♪ ♪ Again and again ♪ ♪ And again and again ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Again and again ♪ Wow, it is such a privilege to share this moment with you. We are so honored to be part of this life-changing eternity-altering moment. Go ahead, we'll wait for you. There's still time and there's still room. If you're still standing and you're somewhere in the middle, it's not too late. We'd love for you to join. We don't want you to miss this moment. So what's going to happen next? The Bible says that if you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you, clean you from unrighteousness. He's going to take that sin. He's going to separate it from you as far as the east is from the west. And he's going to begin the work of new creation. And he's going to write your name in the book and heaven called the Book of Life. He's going to adopt you as a son or daughter who's going to fill you with the spirit. He's going to begin to take all those broken pieces and give meaning and redemption to them. And he's going to give your mess a message. And this is just day one following Jesus. It's the greatest adventure of your life.

This is not the finish line. This is the starting line of the race you're going to run for the rest of your life. And we're honored to be here to witness it. And so I'm going to lead you in a very simple prayer. I'm going to ask you to say these words out loud to God. It's not about the perfect words. It's about a heart and mind that's ready. God sees your mind. He knows your heart. And he's going to keep his promise to you. And so if you're ready, just say this out loud to God. Say this. Lord God, I open my heart and I invite you inside. I would like to decide. Forgive my sin. Today I Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, guys. Welcome to the family of God. We are so glad that you're here, and we just want to take a moment. I'm going to ask you for five more minutes to follow me in our crew over that open door right there. We're going to give you a Bible. I'm going to ask you personally, and then you'll be back with your friends in five minutes. Church, can we give them a hand as they go that way? And Church, let's respond in worship because Jesus is worthy of our worship, our lives, our praise. All of it. Let's close and worship. Come on. That's why I won't come today.

Oh, I came to praise. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in the morning. Oh, Cal, we're so good to see you this morning. If you need prayer for anything at all, our prayer team will be right here at the front ready to pray with you. If not, have a great rest of your Sunday. Go out to the connection point. We will see you next week. See you. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]