Voices: Going Through the Motions
Voices – An Eternal Perspective
2 Corinthians 4:17-5:10
Luke 11:34-36
Colossians 3: 1-2
1. You need a point of reference
2. Don’t focus on distractions or obstacles
Hebrews 12:1-2
Romans 8:18
3. Know your purpose
1 Corinthians 2:9
“I love to live on the brink of eternity.” -David Brainerd
4. Live by faith
5. The story has already been written.
“The story has already been written. Your final scene has already been shot. You don’t end in failure—you end in victory.”
Voices-Proverbs 21
1 Kings 10:1-3, 6-9
Proverbs 21
Proverbs 21:1-2 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.
Proverbs 21:30 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD.
God speaks through His Word, His Spirit and His people.
His Word______________________________________________________.
His Spirit______________________________________________________.
His people_____________________________________________________.
Godly wisdom on its own ____________________________________________.
1 Kings 11:1-4
Key Idea: _______________________________________________________________
but ______________________________________________________________________.
Two Questions:
Are you actively seeking God’s wisdom?
Is your heart in the Lord’s hands?
Voices-Parable of the Prodigal
Luke 15:11-32
Prodigal Means _____________________________________________________.
The Younger Brother: Prodigal Living
– Wants __________________ but becomes ____________________________.
The Father: Prodigal Love
– Bears the ______________________________________ and yet ________________________________________ his son.
The Older Brother: Prodigal Motives
– Treasures the _____________________ over ___________________________.
Our Older Brother: Prodigal Sacrifice
– Jesus _______________________ us even though our ________________________ cost Him _____________________________________.
Embrace a spirit of Worship
Habakkuk’s Prayer:
* He ____________________ God’s __________________.
Habakkuk 3:2-16
* He ____________________ his ____________________.
Habakkuk 3:17
* He _________________on God’s ____________________.
Habakkuk 3:18-19a
* He ____________________ in _____________________.
Habakkuk 3:19
Habakkuk 3:1 Shigionoth: a poem or song of strong emotion, somewhat erratic in rhythm, wild in character and irregular in form.
KEY IDEA: _______________________________________________; focus on the ___________________________________________________________________________ rather than the _________________________________________________________.
Embrace Finality
Habakkuk’s First Question:
Is God really going to _____________________________________?
God’s response: Habakkuk 2:2-3
Three things about God’s judgments…
1) God’s judgments are __________________ and ___________________.
2) God often waits to give people an opportunity to _______________________
and _____________________________________________.
1 Peter 2:8-9
Exodus 24:6-7
3) Don’t mistake God’s ________________________________________
for ______________________________________________.
Habakkuk’s Second Question: How could God do that, since other people are _____________________________________________________?
God’s response: Habakkuk 2:4-20
Habakkuk 2:4
The Hebrew word in this verse that we translate ’faith’ is emunah.
emunah refers to _______________________, not _________________.
The righteous one, because of his/her faithfulness, will live on.
Key Idea: Be willing to ____________________________________…
but ____________________________________________.
Embrace Confusion
Habakkuk 1:2-4
Habakkuk means “EMBRACE.”
Be willing to EMBRACE GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY… and learn to TRUST IN HIM.
Habakkuk 1:5
“wonder and be astounded” is literally: BE ______________, ______________!
Habakkuk 1:12-13
Four approaches Habakkuk (unsuccessfully) uses:
1 _________________ gets us nowhere with God because _______________ ________________________________________________.
2 _________________ gets us nowhere with God because _______________ ________________________________________________.
3 _________________ gets us nowhere with God because _______________ ________________________________________________.
Isaiah 55:8-9
Habakkuk 1:14-17
4 _________________ gets us nowhere with God because _______________ ________________________________________________.
Key Idea: Be willing to ____________________________________…
and be __________________________________________.
Proverbs 3:5
“There are times in your spiritual life when there is confusion… God [is] taking you through a way that you temporarily do not understand. And it is only by going through the spiritual confusion that you will come to the understanding of what God wants for you.”
~Oswald Chambers from My Utmost for His Highest
Embrace God’s Sovereignty
Habakkuk 1:1-5
Four things from Habakkuk’s complaint that we need to recognize:
– God is not ____________________________; we are _____________.
– God always _____________, even when He does not __________________.
– God is __________________________for the evil around us.
God is sovereign over both good and evil; everything is under His control.
(sovereign means having supreme power and authority)
God is responsible for everything good.
God is not responsible for anything evil.
– God is ___________________________,
even when______________________________________ .
Question:
Habakkuk means ________________.
Habakkuk 3:17-19
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines… yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength…”
Be willing to ______________________________________…
and learn to ____________________________________.
Isaiah 55:8-11
That was Then, This is Now: Many Hats
1 Corinthians 9:16-22
16For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. 19For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul writes: Be imitators of me, as I am [an imitator] of Christ.
First question: _________________________________________________?
Second question: ________________________________________________?
“If this [eternal punishment] is a minor part of your thought world, if you don’t think about this very much, then it will be hard for you to feel the sense of sorrow and urgency that Paul felt for lost people around him.” ~ John Piper