Late

It's really late.

I saw many people from my high school graduating class tonight, as Laura put together an informal 6.5-year reunion. It'll be interesting to see over the years what people do, how they develop and change, etc. Most people were still in school in one form or another.

That being said, I'm glad to be done with the semester. I have ONE MORE to go. Wow.

In January, if things go through on the school-side (it's looking pretty good), then I'm planning a 10-week Sunday School series on the Minor Prophets. There are 12 Minor Prophets, and an intro & conclusion that would be tight to put in. Here is one option:

(1) Intro & Jonah
(2) Obadiah & Joel
(3) Hosea
(4) Amos
(5) Micah
(6) Nahum & Zephaniah
(7) Habakkuk
(8) Haggai
(9) Zechariah
(10) Malachi & Conclusion

This puts the books in general approximate chronological order, though there is some +/- there. Haggai could also be combined with another book if necessary since it's 2 chapters, though there's definitely a lot to Haggai.

The study would focus mainly on Applications & Theological Observations (what can we learn about God from this book?). Example from Habakkuk:

Theological Observations

-The LORD allows questioning. He is not threatened by it (1:2-4ff.)
-The LORD responds graciously but firmly to Habakkuk’s questioning (1:5-11, 2:2ff.)
-The LORD hears the distressed prayers of faithful Habakkuk (e.g. 1:5-11)
-The LORD uses judgment and chastisement to bring His people back to Him (1:5-11)
-The LORD uses even the most unexpected agents to carry out His purposes (1:6-11)
-The LORD knows what He’s doing (1:14-17ff.)
-The LORD is faithful to keep His Word (2:2-3)
-The LORD is massively just (2:6-20)
-The LORD is powerful and mighty to save (Chapter 3)
-The LORD brings hope (3:16-19)
-The LORD is our strength (3:19)

Applications

-The LORD has been faithful throughout history and will continue to be faithful.
-The LORD is so faithful to His covenant with us that He even would give His Son for us, even after centuries of unfaithfulness.
-Question the LORD faithfully, rooted in hope.
-Run to the LORD in trials and chastisement, not away from Him.
-The LORD often uses people and groups of people as a means of blessing and judging (1:6-11)
-Do not despise the chastening of the LORD (cf. Hebrews 12:6)
-Let us get rid of any idols in our own lives, as the people of Judah suffered because of it. The LORD our God is a jealous God! Let’s avoid idolatry.
-The LORD often cries out ‘How Long’ to His people, desiring them to return to Him!
-If you need to return to the LORD, repent!
-In seeing the LORD’s faithfulness and saving power, live in faith and trust in Him for salvation.
-Sometimes we must wait patiently to see an answer from the LORD (2:3)
-The LORD will preserve a remnant of people – those who live by faith (2:4)
-The LORD will in due time bring judgment (cf. Hebrews 9:27)
-Let us live by our faith in trusting the LORD’s provision and timing (cf. Romans 4)
-We are even today saved by faith in God’s plan – faith in Jesus (cf. John 3:16-18)
-In seeing the LORD’s past provision, have hope in His provision in the future (3:3-19)
-The LORD is powerful and mighty to save (3:3-13)
-The LORD also preserved His people to bring about the Messiah, Jesus (3:13)
-In the midst of despair, trust in the LORD (3:16-19)

So doing this for every book will be neat. Note that Habakkuk is pretty short, too.

I also don't know what the point of the picture on the left is. Hopefully this Christmas season, we won't fly away from God.

During this Christmas season, focus on the birth of Jesus, but also on the purpose of His coming -- to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

Thanks to His coming, there is hope for mankind. Instead of being enemies of God, hopeless and destined to eternal punishment, we can be made the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus and His work for us. He was our perfect sacrifice.

And because of that, may we be thankful, and if we have not come to Him yet for salvation, may we seek Him even now to repent of our sins & accept His gift of salvation.

Status Time

1. Done with the first sermon on Habakkuk
'How Long, O LORD?'
...in Shockwave format:
http://www.djsterf.net/sermons/habakkuk-1.swf
OR in .pdf format:
http://www.djsterf.net/sermons/habakkuk-1.pdf

2. Starting on the second sermon on Habakkuk
'How Just, O LORD!'

3. I keep getting 1 on hard stuff on DDR Extreme.
One of the most frustrating things about playing now -- I always think about getting a Great, and then I'll end up with a Great on a random easy step. I have numerous pictures of 1 on Paranoia Survivor, and I hope to get 0 soon on it and be done with it.

4. Internship Stuff
Hopefully it'll go through. The four main categories I have been commissioned to do --
1. Start an Evangelism Training/Evangelism Group: I'd teach methods and then go out with people to tell others in the community about Jesus. I'm really excited about this.
2. Teach a Sunday School class: I'm going to come up with either an 8-week or 10-week lesson series on either a book of the Bible (more likely) or a topic (less likely). I'm really excited about this.
3. Start/Restart a College & Career group: I'm not really excited about this. It's probably just because I've had bad experiences with them in the past, especially relating to kick-starting it at an old church and having no support whatsoever. This is not my passion, and I think, by a friend's advice, that it might be overload. I may get a few interested people to work on starting it up, and then help them out where needed.
4. Counseling -- Have open hours for counseling, though it doesn't look like there will be much traffic here. Who knows? Maybe something will amount. I'm really passionate about pastoral counseling, so I wish this category would ramp up.

5. Red Xena is the truth now.
I asked my friend Andrew about this. I mean, she may have been the truth 10 years ago? What about today? Andrew said that she was the truth...now. lol um

6. Graduating in May
...then what? Hopefully something pastoral will open up soon for that time period! Yikes, it's coming fast.

7. Two Poems

I Worship
© Sterling C. Franklin

In every circumstance, Lord, I worship,

Whether I’m joyous or stressed, bubbly or miserable,
On occasions in which I find abundance or in which I have want,
Respecting You for Your providing Hand in all things.
See to it, Lord, that I am grateful, and I will certainly be so,
Have mercy on Your servant, for You know that my frame is dust,
I see my frailty, and I desire to please You,
Please continue to tilt your gracious ear, for I worship.

-Romans 12:1-

Shepherd
© Sterling C. Franklin

The Lord is my Shepherd,
He provides for my needs,
He keeps my way straight,
In all of my deeds,
He puts me at Peace,
He knows my desires,
He patiently guides me,
And keeps me from briars,
He takes me through darkness,
With His staff and His rod,
He is humble and comforting,
My Shepherd is God,
And because He’s my Shepherd,
And has called me as such,
I will be a faithful shepherd,
Relying on the Good Shepherd’s touch.

-Psalm 23-

HBQQ (Habakkuk)

Oh hi. Hopefully this formatting will work.

I have to write a sermon series outline for OT 6217, but in reading through Habakkuk, I really just wanted to write the whole series out instead of just an outline.

So this book is one of my top 66 favorite books of the Bible. Really, though, it has some really excellent content to consider.

Habakkuk laments the wickedness of the people of Judah, and he pleads to the LORD for Him to straighten things out! They have six problems, in three pairs and spheres:

Offenses against the LORD (Vertical)

1. Iniquity
2. Wrong

Society-level Offenses (Broad Horizontal)

3. Destruction
4. Violence

Interpersonal Offenses (Narrow Horizontal)

5. Strife
6. Conflict

In response to a lament, you'd hope for a message of comfort. Instead, the LORD gives a message of future chastisement against His people.

He would raise up the Babylonians (lit. Chaldeans) -- a godless people whose own strength was their idol. The Babylonians would come and be an agent of God's judgment against the straying people who had broken their covenant with the LORD.

So Habakkuk responds in shock -- 'WHAT?!' But it's a faithful shock. He states what he knows about the LORD --

Everlasting – Steadfastness, Constancy; Eternality

LORD – Master, King

My God - The only ruler of everything; thus, set apart

My Holy One – Set Apart

LORD – Master, King

Rock – Steadfastness, Constancy; Refuge

Then Habakkuk realizes that it's a definite response -- judgment and chastisement against the wickedness of the nation. Habakkuk questions in a faithful way, and he wonders why the LORD will use a wicked nation to exercise judgment on the people.

Well, there's nobody else righteous. Even more, the judgment is shocking and would hopefully result in the people repenting and turning back to the LORD whom they had forsaken. This is a common theme in the Prophets -- a call for the people to repent, and a covenant option -- blessing/favor or chastisement/judgment. The LORD is so faithful, and He desires His people to turn to Him. He is persistent in pursuing His people to bring them to right relationship with Him, so much so that He even would give His Son 600 years or so after Habakkuk's ministry was finished. Amen?

Even more, in Chapter 2, the LORD promises that the Babylonians will also be dealt with justly according to their wickedness.

Habakkuk's response? A song of praise in Chapter 3, worshiping the LORD for who He is.

So overall, it's a sweet as mess book.

It shows the LORD's justice, reasons for His chastisement, a faithful and questioning response to chastisement from Habakkuk, etc. It also shows that God knows what He's doing.

Habakkuk 2:18-20

18 "What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!
19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.
20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him."

Sometimes we just ought to be still and know that He is God (cf. Psalm 46:10). He has things under control. Even in the midst of hard chastisement, Habakkuk sees it fit to rejoice in the LORD. May our heart be as such, and even in dire circumstances, may our heart delight in the goodness of the LORD!

Habakkuk 3:17-19

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

It's also neat to see Habakkuk's original response of grief in 1:12ff. It is first done in shock/denial, though Habakkuk understands and accepts it fairly quickly. His acceptance is further shown by his Psalm/Song in chapter 3.

Sermon Sections
Habakkuk 1:1-2:1
Habakkuk 2:1-20
Habakkuk 3:1-19

That's pretty much all I've got for now in terms of blog entry. Have a good evening!

Speak
© Sterling C. Franklin

Speak to us,
Speak with us,
Speak despite us,
Speak through us,

Speak considering us,
Speak concerning us,
Speak regarding us,
Speak from us,

Speak of us,
Speak upon us,
Speak over us,
Speak for us,

Speak before us,
Speak after us,
Speak above us,
Speak within us,

Regardless of the preposition,
Lord,
Speak!
For Your servants are listening.