I’ve Got the Next Say

My family moved to this church in 2005 and we served in almost every capacity until God called us to plant not just a church, but a Lighthouse Church in the North County in 2019.

This church was my home for 14 years.

All of my boys were born here in this church.

And, you all are blessed with some of the greatest Pastors in the world.

Pastor Sam and Angie, can we shout them down this morning?

We love you both dearly. You took us in. You trained us up. And, you sent us out. We are forever grateful for you.

Before I get into the message today, I also want to honor my family. I have a picture that I want to show you all of us.

That’s my crew right there!

Jaden, my running back, tight end, and linebacker.

Jude, my quarterback.

Jaxon, my slot receiver.

We play a lot of football in the Herrera Household and i could not be more proud of them.

And then of course, there is the Queen, the grace and elegance of the home, my Joanna. Not only does she put up with me, but she is an academic counselor working in the ever so bougie City of Carlsbad. And she is making a difference in children’s lives not just inside the church, but also in the school system.

It’s baptism Sunday today, so we got to get going.

Reading

Habakkuk 3:17–19 NIV

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

I’ve Got the Next Say

Introduction

Church, we have made it to the last month of the year. Come on, are you excited that it is December?

Can I ask a real honest question this morning? You don’t have to answer this question. You don’t have to raise your hands, or anything like that. I just want you to sit with your answer.

How did you do with your New Year’s Resolutions this year?

Come on be honest…

Maybe in January you said this is the year that you lose 20 pounds, and now that it is December you only have 30 left to go… how did that happen?

You said you were going to read a book a month and right now you are halfway through the book you started in January. Let’s go!

Or perhaps, and this is more serious, this was the year you were supposed to buy the house, but that fell through.

Or maybe, this was the year that you were going to get pregnant, and it didn’t happen.

Life doesn’t always go the way we planned, does it?

We set goals, we buy the work out clothes, we download the tracking apps on our phones, and yet we see no progress.

Sometimes we pray for God to show up in our life and the thing that you’ve been believing for feels dry and empty.

And, that introduction that I intended to get us all laughing, now has you in your feelings because you feel like you failed. Again.

Transition

That is the condition of life, and today I want to talk to you about how we should respond to disappointment.

Because one thing I know for sure, is that every single one of us will face disappointment in our lives.

How we respond to it changes everything…

Text

[Context]

The book of Habakkuk is a quick read, and it’s format is simple.

The Prophet Habakkuk prays some complaints to God about the condition of the nation, Israel. He’s got some questions for God like, “How long are you going to let evil triumph? And, Why do you allow the wicked to swallow up the righteous?”

God is not offended by his questions and dialogues with Him.

God tells Habakkuk that the evil triumphing is what happened as a result of Israel turning their backs on God.

If you want God out of your life, he will go on ahead and let you do it without him. That’s what happened to Israel.

You can’t say and live like you don’t want God, and then get surprised when God’s hand of protection is lifted from your life, and you are left to deal with the consequences of your decisions.

But, God also tells the prophet, that in spite of this, God was going rescue Israel, judge their captors, and make everything right again.

God is good, isn’t He?

God is faithful, even when we aren’t faithful, isn’t He?

This brings Habakkuk to the third chapter where he is so happy with what God said that he breaks out into a song.

How many of you have ever done that?

Your Dad gave you some good news and you turned that into a song? You sang that song in front of your brothers just to mess with them…

That’s a bit of what is happening with our boy Habakkuk.

Application

Life Disappoints

Habakkuk writes:

Habakkuk 3:17–19 NIV

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls

I’ve gone ahead and underlined the verbs in this passage, because that is one of the most helpful ways for me to read the Bible.

The verbs are the action words, and since I like a good action movie, I see the text better when I read through the verbs.

Here’s what the words are telling us:

does not bud - there are no early signs of life…

I don’t know about you, but I can be really impatient about things in life, so this resonates with me. I need to know pretty quickly if I’m doing the right things, so I’m looking for signs of life… I need a confirmation that I’m headed in the right direction. I need someone or something to tell me that my life is headed in the right direction.

And it’s a frustrating thing for me when I can’t see it.

I need to see things budding in my life, and when they aren’t budding, I get real anxious.

He goes on to say,

are no grapes - when life feels fruitless

He’s saying life is feeling real fruitless. I get the picture that I’m doing everything that I am supposed to be doing, but I am not seeing any fruit of my labor.

That’s a hard place, isn’t it? Especially because we Americans put so much value in what we produce.

If you are what you do, what do you do when what you are doing isn’t making a difference?

I’m not saying that’s right, but I am saying that’s real.

crop fails - this means betrayal, the thing that was supposed to be a sure thing. The thing that you counted on…

produce no food - even the things that have a function, but even their function isn’t working

When the crop fails and there is no food is speaking about betrayal.

I planted the seeds, I fertilized the ground, I kept the animals away, and I made sure to water this thing… and it failed me…

the one thing that was supposed to be a sure thing has turned out to be nothing.

How do we feel when that happens? Betrayed. And betrayal hurts…

are no sheep/ cattle - things that should exist, don’t exist. Imagine having a place for something, but the place you created is not being used for what you intend for it to be used for…

He says, there are no sheep and there are no cattle… and that’s bad, but catch the last two words, “the stalls…” Imagine the time it took to build a stall, and yet the stall is empty.

It’s got to be like the pain of a still birth. They threw you the baby shower, you made the nursery at home, you built the crib, you bought the diapers, you had everything ready for that child of yours, but when that delivery didn’t go as expected, you had a nursery without the baby you prayed for in it.

I’m sure some of you are wondering right now, what kind of Christmas message is this?

It’s a real one.

Why? Because life disappoints.

“And they lived happily ever after…” is a complete myth meant to sell movies.

Life is hard. We deal with some very low moments.

Some of these words that I read really resonated with you, because you’ve been there.

Some of you at this moment are in there. As I was reading through that verse you felt like I was holding up a mirror to your situation.

Can I get real honest on this baptism Sunday, that doesn’t change because you make a decision to follow Jesus.

In fact, sometimes it feels like it intensifies.

One of my favorite preachers says it this way, The birthmark of a new believer is a bullseye.

So even after coming to faith, we’re going to have to deal with the disappointments of life.

But I’ve got good news for you this morning…

Disappointment doesn’t have the Last Say

As a matter of fact, it doesn’t even have the next say…

Do you want to know who has the next say?

Look at your neighbor and tell them, “I’ve got the next say!”

My Response to Disappointment

Look at what the Prophet says,

Habakkuk 3:17–19 NIV

yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Everybody say “yet”… That’s a powerful word you need to get into your vocabulary - yet.

Let me try to define “yet” for you.

“Yet” is the hinge the whole story swings on.

It’s the little word that turns endings into beginnings and despair into possibility.

“Yet” is the pause before the plot twist.

Everything looks one way… yet something else is still coming.

“Yet” is God’s gear shift.

Life says, “You’re stuck.” God says, “Not yet.”

“Yet” is the faith word that keeps the story from ending on a bad chapter.

‘Yet’ refuses to let the present problem define the future victory.

You need to tell your disappointment.

It’s not over… yet

I’m not done… yet

I haven’t run out of faith… yet

I’m not dead… yet

These three letters have the power to change your life, and hear what I am about to say next…

Your response to disappointment is in your “yet”

Habakkuk 3:17–19 NIV

yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Here is how the prophet handled his yet…

I will rejoice

I will be joyful

Sometimes you have to ‘will’ yourself to do the hard thing.

Is it easy to rejoice when you don’t have a reason to? No, but I yet I will myself to rejoice.

Is it easy to by joyful when you don’t have a reason to be joyful? No, but yet I will myself to be joyful.

So many of the disappointments in life are not a result of what we did, but they are the results of something that was done to us.

But how you respond to disappointment is entirely within your control.

You have agency.

I call this the response of faith.

Have you ever tried to explain to someone what something is, but it was hard to do, so you just say, “You’ll know it when you see it!”

That’s what faith can feel like.

The author of Hebrews tried to explain what faith was and he said something that can sometimes make you scratch your head.

He said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Come again? What does that even mean?

So instead, let me tell you what faith is…

It’s worshipping God in the middle of your mess.

It’s believing God for a miracle, when all of the doctors have said you are out of options.

It’s choosing to trust, even when everything around you is failing.

Maybe I can’t explain to you what faith is, but I can tell you what it looks like.

I will rejoice!

I will be joyful!

When the fig tree does not bud, I will rejoice.

When there are no grapes in the vine, I will be joyful.

When the olive crop fails, I will rejoice.

When the fields do not produce, I will be joyful.

When there are no sheep in the stalls, I will rejoice.

When there are no cattle in the stalls, I will be joyful.

God Acts and Empowers (Conclusion)

And we get to the end of Habakkuk’s song and he writes

Habakkuk 3:17–19 NIV

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength is the foundation to our ‘yet’.

It’s refusing to put any faith into our disappointment, becuase we’ve already put our faith in God.

I know the doctor gave me a grim diagnosis, but have you met my God?

I know I just lost my job at the worst time of the year, but have you seen His record of faithfulness?

I know that I didn’t get the thing I was praying for, but do you know how good my God is?

When the Lord is your strength you don’t draw from temporary things for joy…

John 4 - Jesus told the woman at the well, if you draw from this well, you are still going to thirst…

When you look to your accomplishments, your job, your hobbies, your career accolades as your “well”, you will thirst again.

But when you look to Jesus to be your well, you are never going to be thirsty again.

The Lord is my strength…

And then this is what he does…

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and he enables me to walk on the high lands.

I know that’s a bit of a weird line, but the author is using imagery that the original audience would understand.

When you think about a deer, don’t think about Bambi. You need to think about the kind of deer that live in Judah at the time of the writing, which is the Ibex.

We’re not familiar with this kind of deer, so let me tell you what the author meant in this final line.

Ibex Have Split Hooves That Act Like Climbing Tools

Their hooves are split in two, which allows them to grip rock and uneven surfaces with precision.

Each half of the hoof can move independently, giving a “pinching” effect on tiny footholds.

The outer rim is hard like a rock-climbing shoe edge, while the inner pad is soft and rubbery, acting like traction grip.

The Nubian ibex (seen in Israel today) can climb:

Sheer cliffs at up to 80–90 degrees.

Rocky walls with only a few centimeters of ledge.

High places predators cannot reach.

Here’s picture of an ibex that should give you the visual of what the writer is saying.

When life starts lifing… and disappointment comes your way, the Lord who is your strength is going to lift you to the high lands, where your enemy can’t reach you. And I know you feel like that you don’t have the ability to climb to that high land, and you are right. Without God you don’t.

But God enables you to walk on high places.

Call

Life will disappoint, but disappointment does not have the last word.

The next word belongs to you.

How are you going to respond? Are you going to crash out under the weight of unmet expectations? Or, will you choose to rejoice and be joyful in the strength of our God?

In a moment we are going to celebrate Baptisms, but I believe before I send you out of here God wants to do something right here in this place and in your heart.

If you are dealing with disappointment right now, and if you’d be bold, I’d love for you to come up and receive prayer.

I’m not trying to single any one of you out, but is there anyone here with a “yet”. I’m disappointed right now, and life has me hurting, yet the God I serve is still seated on the throne and he’s still worthy of my worship. Come on up here. We want to pray for you.

As they come, if there’s anybody here that wants to stand with them and pray with them, I know they’d love to have you by their side. Would you come?

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