Give brief intro about you…
[Show Halley’s Pic]
When I was a 12 years old, I got the chance to see Halley’s comet. Some of you in this room may have had the chance to see it back in 1986. Halley’s only occurs every 76 years. I remember that entire trip because we actually had to travel away from town to see it. I grew up in Homestead and we drove 3 hours to the Keys in order to have minimal light, so we could see it. I remember being all excited about it because I had known very few people who were actually going see it. The place we stopped and got the telescope out was crowded with others who wanted to see it. I remember getting up to the telescope and just seeing this very tiny object. But I was still excited and talked about that event for days afterward.
[Start showing star pics]
I have always enjoyed watching the stars. I love to go camping because we are usually far enough from the city to be able see tons of stars in the sky. During a camping trip with my youth group, we sat under the stars at about midnight and just watched and talked about things going on in the lives of our students. There was something serene about just sitting and watching the stars, wondering if anything else might be out there. I enjoy the great artistry that God put into this world for us.
Do you know why we can’t see stars during the daytime? The non-scientific reason is that the sun and everything else, actually blocks out the light the stars are putting out. The brightness of the stars is not enough to see past the brightness of the sun.
Listen to these interesting facts about stars:
1. One of the stars in the Big Dipper, named Mizar, has another star revolving around it. Each of those two stars have another star revolving around it, and Mizar and it’s companion star each have another star revolving around them. So, what looks like one star is actually 6 stars.
2. Stars twinkle because the light we see coming from the stars travels through the atmosphere around the earth and there is turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere.
3. If you were to drive a car at 100 kilometers an hour, 24 hours a day then you could reach the sun in about 3 years.
4. It takes the light from the sun over eight (8) minutes to reach the Earth. That means that if the sun blew up right now, we would have eight more minutes of life before we were affected as well.
5. Some stars are 600,000 times a bright as our sun.
6. The sky (both northern and southern hemispheres) is divided into 88 constellations. A constellation is a grouping of stars usually resembling a mythical figure from Greek or Arabic folklore.
[Show Contact Slide]
One of my favorite movies is Contact... Give brief background of the movie During the movie, Jodie Foster is asks if she believes that there is life out there, she says ’if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space’. Do you believe that? Do you believe that we are the only ones out there and that the rest of the galaxy is a waste of space? Have you ever thought about it? If you never ask the question, you will never know the answer...
I have a friend named Greg Henry who is an astronomer. He spends his life looking at the stars. I used to love going to his house and talking to him about space and stars and finding out what he knows. I asked him that question one day, if he believed that there was life outside of earth and if that is what he was doing with his research. And he told me, nope, just the opposite, he wanted to prove there was no life out there. The world and space around us is not wasted. I believe it is there so that we can marvel at how great our God is. And trust in the fact that if he is able to create such a world as the one we live in and the ones trillions of miles away, he is able to take care of me and my problems.
[Show Graphic] boys, elephant, zoo
Three mischievous boys went to the zoo one day for an outing, since they had been at school all week. They decided to visit the elephant cage, but soon enough, they were picked up by a cop for causing a commotion. The officer hauled them off to security for questioning. The supervisor in charge asked them to give their names and tell what they were doing at the elephant cage.
The first boy innocently said, "My name is Gary, and I was just throwing peanuts into the elephant cage."
The second added, "My name is Larry, and all I was doing was throwing peanuts into the elephant cage."
The third boy was a little shaken up and said, "Well, my name is Peter, but my friends call me Peanuts."
Have you ever felt like peanuts? Felt like you have been thrown into the elephant cage? Our lives are filled with stress and turmoil. If it isn’t work, then it is at home, or with friends or at church. All of us at one point in time struggle with the things in our life. No one is happy all the time. If they are, then they are either lying or delusional. Sometimes, we as Christians tend to want to hide any sorrow, pain or stress in our lives. We are always trying to hide behind a wall so that people don’t think that there is something wrong with us. [Be smart] Because everyone knows that Christians have it all together all the time. We couldn’t possibly have problems in our lives...
Ok, let’s be realistic, we have just as much trouble as the rest of the world. This week, my family and I experienced trouble. This church experienced trouble. My father’s death this week was something that none of us expected. Beth and I got the call on Friday afternoon while we were headed to a camping trip with our teens. For the entire 16 hours that we drove down here, I talked, yelled, questions, cried and argued with God about why something like this would happen. As we watched him slowly slip away, I knew that God’s will was being done, as hard as it was for me to accept. On Monday, my sister and I went for a drive and she told me that she was mad at God. I told her that was alright, that He was big enough to handle anything. One of the things I try to drill into my teens head, is that it is ok to question God about why things happen. To even yell at Him when you don’t understand something that is going on in your life. When life is slamming you up against the rocks and you aren’t able to get a breath.
I used to love to surf. Growing up here in Miami, it was natural. The first time I ever went surfing was during a tremendous winter storm that was causing 6 foot waves on the beach. This was incredible for Miami. I was actually in shape back then. I played football and worked out in high school, but that water was horrendous to paddle out in, the waves were just huge and the water was rough. Now I remember catching a wave and thinking that I was doing awesome until I shifted my weight and headed straight into the water. I remember being under the water and trying to swim up but the waves were close together and I kept getting pushed down. It was scary and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make it out of the water. Obviously I did make it. I spent the rest of the afternoon taking it easy and making sure to stay close to my board when I fell. But being under that water and not being able to breath is how life feels like sometimes, you are swallowed by the stress around you and you aren’t sure which way is up.
A writer in the Old Testament felt the same way. Habakkuk lived when the kingdom of Israel was going through a very bad time. People were mean, violent, lovers of themselves, ruthless and godless. A lot like it is today. The kingdom had been saved by God, yet at this time, they seemed to forget about Him. Habakkuk was an prophet of God. He spent his life working for God. He was the prophet who helped Daniel when he was in the lions den.
[Show verse as I read it]
We are going to read Habakkuk 1:2-4 and 12-17. Both of these sections are Habakkuk and his questions for God:
2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
This next part is after God answered Habakuk which we will get to.
12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
Habakkuk questions are as old as time itself. God, why is the world so evil if you are so good? This is one of the most asked questions of Christians. If God is so good, then why is there evil. Now some people would call what Habakkuk did as blasphemous or something that shouldn’t be done. How dare he question God for what is going on in the world, but If you never ask the question, you will never know the answer...
God knows our hearts. God knows what we are really asking. He knows the motives in our lives that are causing us this grief. There are 3 types of people when it comes to questioning God:
[Slide 1]
1. You can pretend you don’t have a question. You can figure that it’s just wrong to question God in the first place. How dare you ask God? How dare you doubt him? You little pip-squeak! Don’t you dare question God. You’re way out of line.
[Slide 2]
1. You can ask the questions, but go for easy answers. This one allows room for doubt - a good thing - but doesn’t go too far in questioning God. You face a tragedy that you can’t figure out? Sure, come to God with your questions, but don’t forget that all things work together for good.
[Slide 3]
1. Let the questions loose. Your not threatened by the questions. You are just truthful with God. Just be honest.
Others throughout the Bible have questioned God.
Moses, thought God needed to choose someone else to lead the people of Israel out from Pharoah command,
Abraham questioned God about how many people were needed to save Sodom and Gamorrah, and
Jonah questioned God about why he should save the Ninevites, even if they repented.
God is not scared of our questions. There is nothing too big or too hard for us to ask Him. He doesn’t get offended. He doesn’t blow us off as silly or immature. God loves us and wants us to draw closer to Him in our times of struggle.
But if we ask the questions, we need to be prepared for the answer. The children is Israel had spent their lives messing up and being saved by God. Throughout their history, there were captured, freed, then captured and freed in a big cycle. Their life as a people were like our life as individuals. We promise God that we will do better if He helps us, then He helps us and we go back into our normal pattern of life.
Habakkuk was surprised at the answer he got from God. In verses 5-11, we see God’s answer to Habakuk.
[Show verse as I read it]
5 "Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;
9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
You see, Habakuk was expecting the nice answer that had been given before. I mean, can you see it. Habakuk walking up to God saying, hey we need your help, life stinks and the people are mean. Then God looks at him and goes, ha, I am going to bring your worst enemy to wipe you out and punish you… This was probably the farthest response that Habakuk expected. But God knew what His people needed. For centuries they had disobeyed God and turned to their own wicked way, defying God at each turn.
Our lives will never be 100% hunky dory. We will always experience trouble and stress in our life. Be it the loss of a loved one, or the loss of a job, struggles in your marriage, and issues with your finances or problems with your kids. Nationwide insurance has a slogan, Life comes at you fast. This is true for all of us, Christian or not.
As Christians, what makes us different from everyone else is that we have hope. We have hope that no matter what happens, God is still God and he does not change. We must stop looking to the world for answers and look to God. We must start now to lean on him when times get tough. Lean on him when work gets too much, when our families are driving us crazy, when our children don’t seem to understand you and are making things worse, when life hands you lemons, get God to make you lemonade. If you never ask the question, you will never know the answer. I want to finish by telling you a story...
A young couple began attending a midwest church. They had been saved only about 8 months when they announced that they needed prayer; they had experienced several miscarriages and had just discovered they were with child again.
The congregation responded; they had the most prayed for baby in the church.
After the child’s birth alive, they realized their fears when their child died hours after birth. Their pastor joined them, as well as their unsaved family members. After a time of sorrow, the attending physician asked if they would like to hold their baby one last time. They said yes. Instead of cursing God, questioning Him, or complaining, they took their child (named Mindy), placed it in the arms of their unsaved parents, and said, "If you don’t trust Christ, you’ll never see Mindy again. We’ll be spending eternity with her in heaven."
Are you where you are supposed to be with God? Will you be in Heaven when we get there? I know I will be there; there isn’t a doubt in my mind that I will be there. I would love for you all to be there. My father will be there. One of the highlights in this dark week was when I found out that Harry and the people in this church had helped my father become a Christian. I can give my kids hope that they will see their grandfather again. I know that some of you are struggling through life right now and don’t think you can deal with it, or you think that you are big enough to deal with it yourself. Let me tell you, that is not the thing to do. The more we put on ourselves the harder we are going to fall. God has a plan for each of us, are you ready to follow him. As you leave tonight, begin to focus on things beyond your front view. Look past the stress and the struggles in your life and find the star that is shining bright.
Let’s pray...
