Video Transcript: Write Down the Vision

So we spent a great deal of time talking about the leader, the transformational  leader. And while there is a great deal of positive aspects to transformation and  transformational leadership, I don't want to minimize the fact that it is hard.  There are times where we're serving the Lord in hard places, and it is not  always. It is not always easy. And so I want to draw your attention to the prophet Habakkuk in the Old Testament, Habakkuk was unique as a prophet, and he  was unique in that the he did not have that thus saith the LORD voice instead  his his prophecy reads more like a personal relationship, a personal  conversation with God and he at first, Habakkuk is concerned about Israel and  about the sin that's going on in Israel. But then God tells him that he is about to  send the Babylonians, and the Babylonians will take them captive. And at that  point, he says God's decision to use the inexorable Babylonian invasion to  discipline the nation, it shook him. It shook him. It seemed inconsistent and out  of character with God, and he experienced a momentary crisis of faith. He says,  Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why  then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked  swallow up those more righteous than themselves? And I think there are times  in our ministries where we see that where just bad things happen. Injustice  takes place. Bad things happen to good people, and at times, that can be an  overwhelming experience, where we look around and we ask God, where are  you? But look at how God responded to Habakkuk. He says, Write down the  revelation and make it plain on tablets. So he's saying, write it down so that  people will remember it. They will see it, they will read it, and they will remember it. And so he wanted him to write it down so his prophecy will be preserved. The  promise would be preserved, he says so that a herald May, May a herald, the  one who reads, may run with it. And while the language in the Hebrew language  makes it unclear as to what he meant. The key point is that they were to run that in the midst of their captivity, they were supposed to run that God would give  them the ability to persevere. And so this is God's message, back to Habakkuk.  And Habakkuk, he offers a prayer. He says he remembers who God is, as I have heard of your fame, he worships him. I stand in awe of your deeds. He expects  God to act, repeat them in our day. And then he trusts God to love, even through hard times in Wrath, remember mercy. And then he ends his prayer with this  statement. He says, 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, so no amount of suffering would  vanquish his joy. His response was very simple faithfulness. He would be faithful to God, and notice what that faithfulness would look like. He says the sovereign  Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to  tread on the heights. So with the feet of a deer, he would tread on the heights,  trusting God, he would run we, as leaders, need to hear the message of 

Habakkuk, for we, too, we have been called to serve the Lord in hard places.  Make no mistake, the young people that you serve, they're in different difficult  situations. They have been squeezed. Their thinking, their hope many times has been dashed. You're this is not an easy spot. That is why transformational  discipleship is so important. Because it focuses you on what God has done. It  gives you the This is what I've done, this is what I've created, and no amount of  the code of the street is going to destroy it. It's still there. I'm still there. I am still  here. I am with you now. Go and share the Gospel. Go and send the good news  to young people in ways that they understand, so that they might embrace life,  they might experience life. We serve in hard places, and yet that's where God  wants us to be. I remember one time when an old elder had served in the  community for a long time. Actually, he served. He served the he went to church  in the community. We lived outside the community, and he made this statement.  He said, God isn't in the city. This is Satan's stronghold. And my first response  was, are you in the city? Because if you're in the city, then God is in the city. And so we need to recognize that even though we are in a tough place, that's why  God has you there, so that you can make the difference. And also recognize that in being there, God wants you to run. Do not hide. Do not cower. He wants you  to run to carry out his kingdom agenda, though the Bible speaks of this in so  many places, the the walls, the walls of the enemy will not be able to withstand,  withstand God's people as they move forward. That's why God has us here. We  are God's people in society, and we are God's people there to serve and bring  hope to young people who may otherwise not have any hope. So be  encouraged. You are part of you’re you're in good company. What God has  called you to do, he has called many people to do, and when we do things his  way and when we apply what he has already told us about people and about  calling and about his desire to be with us, always, even to the ends of the age,  then We truly can make a difference in the lives of the young people that we  serve. So I trust that you will be encouraged even in the midst of hard times, that you would be encouraged by the fact that God is working through you to make  dramatic change in the lives of the young people you serve.