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[Music] [Music] [Choir singing] [Music]

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[Chorus singing] [Music] [Music] My star—

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magnify, magnify, magnify the Lord. My star—

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magnify, magnify the Lord. ♪ He has done ♪ ♪ Praise be ♪

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♪ He has done ♪ ♪ Praise be ♪ ♪ He has done ♪ ♪ Praise be ♪

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♪ Blessed by the Lord ♪ He has done great things. He has done great things. He has done great things. Glorified the Lord. [Music] [inaudible]

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I'm glad to be back. [inaudible] [inaudible] Almost six weeks ago now, six Sundays have passed.

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I was just about 56, I believe. I left going to the FBJ library to give a prayer. And after the service was over, My wife looked at the way I was walking and said, "Get in the car. I'm taking you to the hospital now."

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Now, brethren, I usually argue with her about those kind of decisions, but for some strange reason, I did not argue with her. I got in the car and fell asleep. Most of the time she was driving from Scott and White to Huston.

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When we arrived there, they checked my temperature. It was 104. They immediately took me to the emergency room in the woods. And God has been in all of these things.

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I am here today. But I want to take a moment to thank you for the marvelous way that you have carried on. It is just out of sight. The way deacons, choir members have responded during this time of crisis.

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In fact, you have made me, I've always been proud to be pastor of every meeting, that you've made me even prouder. [laughter] So thank you for all that you have done during this interim,

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because it's during a time of crisis that we really reveal who we are and what God means in our lives. Now there is a passage of scripture which is recorded in the book of Nebekha, the third Chapter 17, verse 3, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine.

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The labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall. Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

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The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind feet. And he will make me to walk upon mine high places, as a chief singer of my strange instrument.

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The subject of the message, "Yet will I trust you." "Yet will I trust you." This passage of Scripture, which is the basis of the morning message, comes from a somewhat The morning message comes from a somewhat unknown prophet,

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Rebecca. He is classified as a minor prophet, not so much because of his importance. We attach that term "minor prophet" to Rebecca primarily because of the brevity of his writing rather than the scope of his ministry.

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Now, religion serves a very significant role in the life of every person who takes God seriously. We look to our religious beliefs to strengthen us when we are weak. We look to our faith to guide us through difficult periods when we are confused and do not know the way. So we look here to Rebecca, who is experiencing among his nation a time of despair.

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All of us have times of despair, times of confusion, times when we wonder about God. So this is such a time in the life of the Prophet Rebekah. The becker looks at the world around him and sees a great burden. Some people think religion is just a blessing, but it is a burden as well as a blessing.

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So he shares with us this burden. He looks around and he sees for all. He looks about and he sees where the righteous are being forsaken. And he wonders why God permits this to happen. And as he looks about, he not only sees fraud, but he sees violence. Now, that happened some 2,500 years ago, but it's quite up to date here right now.

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[inaudible] violence, fraud, and then the next thing that disturbs him is the waiting. You know, we wait on God, and sometimes he seems so long in coming,

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and we cry out to him, "Lord, how long?" So we can identify with Rebecca. How long? And he echoes the complaint of the people all around him. Fraud, violence, and waiting. Many of us are waiting now.

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waiting for something to happen that we believe should have happened long ago. And yet we continue to wait. So these problems, as Rebecca sees them, cause him to engage in a theophany. In other words, this is an experience in which

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Rebecca talks with God, and God talks with Rebecca. Have you ever come to a crisis in your life and you go to God and talk to him and share with him, with him, "Lord, why?" Over and over again he says, "Lord, why? Why?" Jeremiah raised this question with God, "Why?" Job raised the question with God, "Why?" Elijah raised the question with God, "Why?"

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And over and over again, we in our own time, in our own way, ask the Lord, "For how long, O Lord, will you permit this to happen in my life?" Well, the test of your religion and my religion is whether or not we will hold on to God, whether we will trust in Him, whether we will put our lives completely in the hands of God. That's what we call faith.

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And this is the sort of faith that we see in the prophet. In the midst of all of the shifting scenes of life, he holds on to God. Now, what really matters is not whether or not you have faith, all of us have faith in something, But whether or not we have the faith that is authentic, that's real, that will carry us through, whether we have that kind of authentic faith.

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This is what we see here in the life of the Prophet Habakkuk. Faith, faith. Faith is believing that God can carry us through. Faith is putting our lives in the hands of God and being satisfied with whatever He does.

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Whatever He does. Children often ask the question of parents, "Lord, well, why? Why?" And we ask the question of God, "Lord, why? Why must I do this? Why must this happen?" And often the parents come back with the answer, "Because I say so."

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And so we have to do it because God says so. God says so. In the midst of my training and seminary, I had a friend. And this friend started out with me in college. And as we moved through college, I remember one particular experience.

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He said, "Come and go with me to Longview." I said, "I don't have any money. Are you taking a trip to Longview?" He said, "But I got money." And so I said, "Well, if you're able to take care of me on this trip, because I don't have any money."

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He said, "Oh, come on, you're with me, you're with me." And so I went with him, trusting in his word. He hadn't shown me any money, but I trusted in his word. And so we went to Longview, we had a little quartet, we sang over the radio,

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and we came back and it had the latitude on the way. And I wondered whether we were going to get home or not back at the college. But we made it back. And when we got back, I said, "Carrie, how much money did you have?"

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There were about four of us that made the trip. Based on his words, he said, "I had $2." [laughter] Two dollars.

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But we trusted in Him. God wants us to trust Him. We may not see the way. We may not understand why.

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But some way, somehow, God would lead us through. And that's not our concern. I really didn't worry about that trip. I was trusting in Cary.

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And so that's the way God wants us to do in life, to trust Him. If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out. So this is the faith of the prophet. No matter what happens, though the fig tree doesn't blossom,

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Though there's no olive in the field, though there's no cattle in the stall, if you say, "Yes!" will I trust you. Now, if you really trust God, you ought to have some "yets" in your life. We live between the "no longer" and the "not yet."

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"Yet" - biblical scholars have said that this is one of the most eloquent "yets" in the Bible. Yet, will I trust you, no matter what happens, in spite of conditions, in spite of reverses, in spite of confusion, in spite of misunderstanding, yet, will I trust you. And this is a rather strong "yet" because when everything is... everything that in an agrarian economy that one depends upon is being removed.

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And he says, "Yet will I trust you." I trust God. And Kierkegaard tells a story that illustrates this. I think this is,

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that religious faith, religious faith, is like a man who has worked all day,

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and he comes home tired and weary,

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and he is expecting to have a wonderful meal that his wife

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would have ready for him when he comes through the door. But to his amazement, she looked as if she had not stirred all day. And so he comes into the house, puts down his thing,

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and waits with anticipation, knowing in his heart of hearts that there's some delicious soup that is being prepared. Now that's what faith is. Even though there's no signs of it. The wife hasn't seen me miss the herd all day, yet! Does he go to the stove and lifts up the lid, fully confident that there's something to look for?

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That's the way God is in our lives. Yes. Yes. Yes. God hasn't come through the way you expect Him to. He has not been there in the way that you hoped that he would be, but yet will I trust

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you. I will rejoice in the Lord. Listen to that, brothers and sisters. I will rejoice in the Lord, the God of my salvation. For the Lord God is my strength, my protection. I remember during the time, sometimes I was in and out of it,

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not knowing what happened. So the brothers came up to see me and I told them that they're coming to see me. But I remember that I was going through some white doors. And it was as if a voice was speaking in the room.

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So you know, you go through those doors, but you don't have to come out of them. I have the power of life and death. And I thought about all of the connections, I thought of my limited possessions, I thought of all of those things, and somehow I had a calm resolve. Fully confident that whatever happens, I can trust God.

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"Yet, though he slay me," Job says, "Yet will I trust him, though he slay me." And that is the kind of faith God wants us to have, a triumphant faith. Faith that will lead us through the darkness. Faith that will strengthen us in the midst of weakness.

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"Yet will I trust him." That's good news. (audience murmurs) That when all of the signs,

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some people want proof of this and proof of that, but when all those things are removed, you say, "Yet will I trust him." (audience murmurs)

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And when you read the end of it, he said, because he will make my feet as hind feet. In other words, upon the slippery slopes of life, and you'll come to those slopes.

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But the hind feet, those feet, will somehow find the place that's secure. And you don't have to worry about falling down or slipping this way or that way, he will make my feet as high as he can make it.

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And you can make it on the Smithers' stump. And he said, now I want this, I want this to be your song. This is just trusting in God. Putting your hand in his hand, walking with him as a friend of God, and have this hymn,

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have it sung in the temple, and played by the chief musicians. For this is my testimony of the goodness and the grace of God. As we sing now the hymn of invitation, we extend the footage of the church. the church.

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For those who have that faith, go to see a three-dozen block. Go. There's no olive. Go there.

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No cattle. Yet, you will see. [music playing] [ Silence ]

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[ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ]

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[ Silence ] [Silence] [Chorus singing] [Music]

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I'm going to stay on the 10th and 3rd. I'm going to stay on the 10th and 3rd. I'm going to stay on the 10th and 3rd. Till I die.

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I'm going to stay on the 10th and 3rd. I'm going to stay on the Tennessee, I'm going to stay on the Tennessee until I die. I'm going to treat everybody right. I'm going to treat everybody right.

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I'm going to treat everybody right, until I die. I'm going to treat everybody right. I'm going to treat everybody right.

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I'm going to treat everybody right until I die. I'm going to walk by the hand of the rain. I'm going to walk by the hand of the rain. I'm going to walk by the hand of the rain until I die.

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I'm going to watch, fire and rain. I'm going to watch, fire and rain. I'm going to watch, fire and rain, until I die. [Chorus singing]

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♪ It's the spirit of the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm going to rise ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm going to rise ♪

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♪ The spirit of the Lord ♪ ♪ It's the spirit of the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm going to rise ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord ♪

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[Music] [ Silence ]