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Habakkuk: Choose Trust | 6-2-2024

November 8, 2024November 8, 2024Posted in SermonsTagged Bible, C. S. Lewis, Choose Trust, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Clay Jones, Genesis 50:20, God, Habakkuk, Habakkuk 2, Habakkuk 3, Jeremiah 10:8-10, Jesus, Lament, Mourning, Pregnancy, Romans 1:16-25, Sermon, Shigionoth, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Timothy KellerLeave a comment

Updated: 11/8/2024

Sermon Prep

Life was so exciting in early June. My wife Glory was over 20 weeks pregnant with our daughter. I was flourishing at my new job I got back in December. Reunion Church was growing deeper roots via discipleship and fellowship with one another. It was a good time for us.

As one might expect when teaching through a book on wrestling and embracing lament, our congregation was ready to move onto our next series. It was going to be a character study on the life of King David, so pretty much everyone was excited about what was next. With that in mind, it was put on me to wrap up our series in Habakkuk so that we could move onto the new series.

But there was a lot of ground to cover and I wasn’t planning on combining what we at first planned to be 2 separate sermons in one. That being Habakkuk 2:2-20 and Habakkuk 3:1-19 respectively. Not the craziest amount of text to cover, but not the original plan during my prep either.

Then again, to teach requires one to be flexible like bamboo and not like glass. Most of the time, I’m as flexible as a pane of glass. Regardless, here’s the notes:

Sermon Notes

Opening Line

Do you trust me? Well, I don’t trust you.
- I trust you with most things, yet not everything.

Intro

Andrew’s marriage and parenting advice vs his driving and movie taste.

Transition To Main Point

Likewise, we choose when we trust God too.

Main Point

God loves this world more than you do and knows what’s best for you, so choose to trust him.

Habakkuk 2:2-20 | God’s Response
- Distrust leads to disorder.
  - Read Romans 1:16-25.
- “God uses evil people to judge evil people.” – Clay Jones
  - See Genesis 50:20.
- Every nation tailer-makes a god for itself.
  - Read Jeremiah 10:8-10.
Habakkuk 3:1-19 | Habakkuk’s Psalm
- Shigionoth = a highly emotional poetic form.
- After choosing to trust God, he sings a vow of praise.
- “Even though I don’t know where God is, God knows where I am.” – Timothy Keller

Why This Matters

A promise is the assurance that someone will do something or that something will happen.
God promises to bring justice, defeat sin, and rescue the oppressed.

Power Text

Some of you don’t believe what I just said.
- Your lament isn’t there yet and that’s ok.
Remember, lament is a prayer of pain that leads to trust. A spiritual journey can’t be rushed.
Stages of Lament:
- Turn to God.
- Brings complaints.
- Ask boldly.
- Choose trust.
- Vow of praise.
Lament is dangerous because it tests all things.
Then again, a life guided by grace isn’t safe.
As C. S. Lewis puts it, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king.”

Final Thoughts

This was a solid message and a good end to this short series. Even though I’m not the teaching pastor, but an associate pastor I will occasionally for one reason or another teach the majority of a series. This was one of those cases along with our 2023 series through Luke.

Life just happens and the teaching schedule we have internally will reflect that too. Didn’t bother me though since I thought this one turned out quite well. Also, fun fact: this was my last hand-written sermon before moving to digital. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Who Is Chris Cribari?

June 10, 2017February 19, 2023Posted in PersonalTagged A Beautiful Mind, Alvin Plantinga, Apologetics, Autism, Bible, Blockbuster, Braveheart, C. S. Lewis, California, Calvary Chapel, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Colorado, Colorado Film School, Equilibrium, Gladiator, John Lennox, Lord of the Rings, Mere Christianity, Norman Geisler, Peter Kreeft, Phantom of the Opera, R. C. Sproul, Saving Private Ryan, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Strongman, The Matrix, William Lane CraigLeave a comment

Photo Cred: Nathan Cribari | Updated: 2/19/2023

For those of you that are new to this blog, I figured it might be time to reintroduce myself. I grew up in Southern California for the first 10 years of my life and then my family moved to Colorado in July 2007 for my Dad’s job where I have lived ever since. I was raised by my parents in the Calvary Chapel Movement, along with my four siblings.

I came to faith in Christ when I was 9 in the summer of 2006 and have been a Christian since then. My parents strong belief in Christianity had a great impact on my path towards the Christian faith, but the decision was all my own. I privately accepted Christ walking home from my friend David’s house where we were watching Playboy DVD’s after school. I publicly came to Christ at Calvary Chapel Oxnard’s VBS summer camp a few weeks later. My group leader explained the Gospel to me after I questioned him on whether or not it was true.

I am an avid storyteller, along with an active listener to people’s stories. I started writing my first stories in either 2nd or 3rd grade and continue to write to this day. At home, I have stacks of partially-written novels, poems, sermon ideas, and short stories either on flash-drives or busting out of years-old binders. Writing allows my soul to speak truthfully, even when my high-spectrum autism disorder gets in the way.

Because I love stories, I also love watching movies! When Blockbuster was a thing, my siblings and I would watch our VHS movie collection to death. This collection that we had contained the original Star Wars trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Wallace & Gromit series, a pair of Jurassic Park movies, a few Val Kilmer movies from the 90s, and a dozen other odd films.

When we got a little older, we boys got the privilege of watching my Dad’s infamous movie collection that holds some of the best films I’ve ever seen. This collection consisted of mostly war movies like Braveheart, Gladiator, and Saving Private Ryan. It also had other genre movies like A Beautiful Mind, Equilibrium, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, The Matrix, and the Phantom of the Opera (2004). It might just be a box of DVD’s, but it holds some of my favorite memories with my Dad.

I occasionally compete in Strongman too. I have competed several times and I am preparing for future competitions as well. My favorite Strongman lifts are atlas stones, deadlift, and log press.

In faith I am largely influenced by C.S. Lewis, James White, Norman Geisler, Peter Kreeft, R. C. Sproul, and William Lane Craig. Other inspirations include Brian Jacques, George Lucas, and Michelangelo. There’s so many more, but there’s not enough time to mention the rest.

I attended the Colorado Film School and have an education in screenwriting, along with directing for the screen. I’m in the process of writing two books. The first book is a fictional novel that focuses on a married couple grieving a stillborn birth and the problem of suffering. The other book is like Mere Christianity, but better and for the modern world. My dream is to be a published writer.

I started this blog because it gave me the opportunity to speak freely about whatever is on my mind. People have also asked and encouraged me to write as well. Most importantly, I believe God put me on this planet to write for him and I will continue that pursuit in showing people what it means to be known by God.

This blog started in June of 2015 and will continue to go on as long as God wills. I’m Chris Cribari and this is just a frame of my life. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

The Creation Account: The Birth of Death and the Long Fall Back to Earth

August 21, 2016May 21, 2019Posted in The Creation AccountTagged Adam and Eve, Angels, Apologetics, Bible, C. S. Lewis, Christianity, Creation Account, Death, Demons, Fallen Angels, Genesis, Judeo-Christianity, Lucifer, Old Earth, Satan, The Creation Account, The Devil, The Long Fall Back To Earth, Theism, Theistic Evolution, Why do we die?, Young EarthLeave a comment

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/21/2019

Lastly in this discussion of the Creation Account and my view of it, I would like to touch on the subject of death. How it is quite the wrench within most views of the Creation Account and can simply knock some views down altogether. But before we acknowledge any of that, what does Genesis chapter 3 actually say regarding death? Let’s find out.

For the first time in the Bible, death is introduced and a whole lot of stuff goes down because of its collateral damage on all things good and godly. After the events of the Creation Account and by the end of chapter 2 in Genesis, everything seems to be dandy. Adam and Eve are nude and chill, God is done making Creation, and the whole Universe has been perfectly fine-tuned to a tee for the centerpiece of Creation: mankind. Yet what follows in chapter 3 is a different type of epilogue because the story is not done yet. In light of the rest of Scripture, the story has actually just begun for the serpent has slithered onto the scene with sin in mind.

Now who is the serpent mentioned here exactly? Short answer, Satan. Long answer, definitely Satan (2). Wait, so then what is Satan doing in the Garden of Eden if he is evil and everything else is good? How did he get there? To answer that we need to backtrack a bit to understand who exactly Satan is and pinpoint his role in this story.

Satan was a prominent angel that was once named Lucifer before his fall from grace (3) and is technically the first to sin (4), but not the one who brought sin into the world as Adam takes the fall for that one (5). In actuality, Satan’s sin tainted the heavens (the Universe), while Adam’s sin tainted our world (the Earth). When he sinned, God cast the formerly known Lucifer, along with a third of the angels that rebelled with him, out of Heaven as sin can have no part with God’s goodness. Satan’s attempted coup d’é·tat to take God’s throne as his own failed miserably (6) and Hell became the new home for the fallen angels (7).

This moment in history took place sometime after Genesis 1:31 and before Genesis 3:1 because we have evidence to believe that the heavenly creatures watched the Creation Account (8). As my father, Mark Cribari, put it simply: “The creation of the spiritual must have preceded the creation of the physical, in order for the angels to observe God’s work.” With this framework of Satan’s history and his placement in it, let’s pick up where chapter 3 starts with the serpent of old.

What I find peculiar about Ch. 3 is the very fact that Satan is just there. He has no explanation or backstory besides that he was “crafty,” “more cunning than any other beast,” and God made him. There is no mention of his part in the Creation Account, except what is revealed in the rest of the Canon of Scripture. In a way, Satan’s story in the Bible is told in a nonlinear way with flashbacks here and there to fill in gaps of his own timeline in the grand scheme of things.

From this strange introduction to a stranger being, we find this fascinating encounter between a crafty creature and the femme fatale. The conversation immediately begins with Satan questioning God’s word (9), transitions to Satan’s truth-layered lie (10), and leads to the first sin. But was it the first death? Now that is the point of contention.

As one man put it, the first few chapters of Genesis are semi-poetic history and that is part of the struggle with grasping the truth in relation to this tough portion of Scripture. But back to the question of contention: was this the first death or was there death before the end of mankind’s goodness? Let’s look further.

From what I understand from this text, I believe this to be an open-ended issue, but I very much favor the idea that as Romans 5:12 infamously states that “death through sin, and so death spread to all men.” Later on in Romans 5:14, it supports the idea that death is a direct result of Adam’s offense before our perfect God and that death was not present among God’s Creation in the beginning. For if death did exist before the Fall, to what capacity?

The best argument I’ve heard is that everything could die physically, although Adam and Eve later died spiritually and this is what corrupted Creation. We humans are the centerpiece of Creation and as imagers of God, we represent Him here on Earth. We are God’s ambassadors who are designed to glorify God in all that we do, including taking care of Creation.

If we think about it logically, we realize that Adam and Eve didn’t die physically from their disobedience. The text doesn’t say they physically died until years later after being banished from the Garden of Eden. Rather, they died spiritually and ruined their covenant with God. Because of sin, Adam and Eve’s souls were stripped of their spiritual connection and this left them scarred. From then on, every human now has that same scar on their soul.

From this viewpoint, natural death occurring before the Fall is different than the disease of sin corrupting the souls of men as this type of death is the gradual decay of God’s image bearers, which is us humans. As C.S. Lewis put it nicely (11),

“It is impossible at this point not to remember a certain sacred story which, though never included in the creeds, has been widely believed in the Church and seems to be implied… I mean the story that man was not the first creature to rebel against the Creator, but that some older, mightier being long since became apostate and is now the emperor of darkness and (significantly) the Lord of this world… It seems to me, therefore, a reasonable supposition, that some mighty created power had already been at work for ill on the material universe, or the solar system, or, at least, the planet Earth, before ever man came on the scene; and that when man fell, someone had, indeed tempted him… If there is such a power, as I myself believe, it may well have corrupted the animal creation before man appeared.”

Suffice to say, the Creation Account is a tough topic to perfectly get a handle on because of all of the various ideas we have to consider when talking about it. The current debate at hand in regards to our origins will continue long after we are all gone, so don’t get too worked up on something we will never know until we die. This blog series was meant to simply explain very plainly what I believe in relation to the Creation Account and some main points of heated disagreement within the body of Christ that needed to be addressed. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

http://www.graphite-art.com/blog/the-fall-of-lucifer
http://www.gotquestions.org/Satan-serpent.html
Isaiah 14:12
Isaiah 14:13-14.
Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:22a
Revelation 12:3-9
Matthew 25:41b
This argument was originally from my Dad who quoted the first two passages below in support of this notion in one of our infamous late night discussions. He argues that in Scripture, the spiritual always comes before the physical. Therefore, the spiritual Creation preceded the physical Creation. Hence, Satan was created and fell before Adam and Eve were created. The last passage noted here is from my own research that solidifies, in my mind, his theory as full-proof. Job 38:4-7, Psalm 8, and Hebrews 2:5-9 (key phrase: “the world to come.”).
Genesis 3:1b
Genesis 3:4-5
The Problem of Pain (P. 119, 122-123)

The Creation Account: The Current Debate

July 9, 2016May 21, 2019Posted in The Creation AccountTagged Alister McGrath, Apologetics, Ark Encounter, Bible, C. S. Lewis, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Creation, Creation Account, Creation Museum, Creation vs Evolution, Francis Collins, Genesis, Henry Morris, Judeo-Christianity, Ken Ham, N. T. Wright, Norman Geisler, Old Earth, R. C. Sproul, The Creation Account, Theism, Theistic Evolution, William Lane Craig, Young Earth1 Comment

Photo Cred: (1)| Updated: 5/21/2019

When talking about the Flood, the Fall, or really anything from the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis, the topic of the age of the Earth eventually comes into the discussion. When the age of the Earth is discussed, so too the age of the Universe must be discussed because of their direct correlation in the Creation Account in Scripture. But when speaking on such matters there always will remain an aura of controversy and tension among theistic circles, especially within Christianity.

For when it comes to this debate, there are some very strong sides etched out by Christians from various branches within Christianity. These various stances include, but are not limited to old-earth creationists (i.e. C.S. Lewis, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig)(2), young-earth creationists (i.e. Ken Ham, Henry Morris, R.C. Sproul?), theistic-evolutionists (i.e. Francis Collins, Alister McGrath, N.T. Wright), and so on. Now the issue goes even deeper when considering different interpretations of the days within the Creation Account like the 24-hour view (seven literal days of a single earth week), the day-age view (seven time periods of unspecified length), the framework view (a logical, rather than chronological framework to perceive Creation), etc. In short, there are a lot of people with a lot of views regarding the Creation Account.

In recent years, the friction between differing stances has only grown stronger as the issue has been a hot-button topic for most Christians and has resulted in a lot of harm. More so than the help that Christianity claims to offer to the world through the message of the Gospel, yet lacks among its own adherents and followers. Talk about hypocrisy. This tension can be seen from Ken Ham’s mentality of the “us vs. them” philosophy plastered throughout Answers In Genesis materials to the not so subtle statements of analytic philosopher Alvin Plantinga who, on the subject of widespread doubt in the existence of God (3), accounts as the following:

“In this connection [on cognitive consequences of sin and doubt concerning God’s existence], consider the despised [young-earth] creationists, who believe that the world is only ten thousand years old: they are ignorant, pitifully ignorant about when God created the world. From the point of view of the model [the Aquinas/Calvin Model, i.e. the A/C Model], this ignorance pales into utter insignificance compared with that of many of their cultured detractors, who foolishly believe that there is no God and thus (naturally enough) are ignorant of the vastly more important fact that the world was, indeed, created by God.”

There is also the esteemed apologist William Lane Craig who agrees with Plantinga as he refers to “young-earthers” as an “embarrassment” to theistic thought and Christianity in particular within the academic community (4). Yet the question remains: why is there so much bitter antagonism within Christianity concerning the timing of the Creation Account among its most prominent leaders? Since when did pastors, scholars, and theologians become so confrontational towards one another on this specific issue?

I would argue that this is because they have raised up the -logy (logic) of theology while diminishing the very theos (God) that inspired their theology to begin with and in my mind, this is spiritually immature to say the least. It’s foolish to build up such matters as bearing more weight than other more important things like the Essentials (5). Not to say these figures within the faith do not know what they are talking about or are uninformed on the subject, rather the way they express their sentiments in a demeaning fashion to other Christians is childish.

In fact, William Lane Craig has helped me, through his debates and literary work, in some of the spiritually roughest times of my high school years. All the people mentioned above are not fools or lack logic concerning the truths of the Christian message, rather they lack the love that is grounded within our belief system when it comes to this particular issue. In my mind, we must be open to differing viewpoints on this touchy, non-essential subject since, in all honesty, all hold at least a little water when all things are considered.

I find that John C. Lennox, professor of mathematics at Oxford University, agrees with me on this point when he states that:

“We also need to be prepared to distinguish between what Scripture actually says and what we think it means. It is Scripture that has the final authority, not our understanding of it. It is a sad spectacle, and one that brings discredit on the Christian message, when those who profess to believe that message belie their profession by fighting among themselves or caricaturing others, rather than engaging in respectful discussion through which all sides might just learn something (6).”

You see it is not an “us vs. them” issue or an issue of blind ignorance either, as every view and stance has set out to accomplish the same goal. To answer how the Universe and everything within it came to be according to the Bible’s Creation Account and in light of new discoveries. The truth of the matter is that every viewpoint and stance does share a few commonalities under the Christian banner.

For instance, we believe God caused everything into existence from nothing and into something. This is commonly referred to within theological circles as ex nihilo creation where no pre-existing materials were present before the Creation Account to build the Universe and all within it. God simply spoke to construct the Universe as written famously in the first few chapters of Genesis.

We then must believe, as it is an Essential, in the inspiration of the Bible (whatever the Bible affirms to be true is true). That what is written about Creation in Genesis is true regardless of the interpretation of what is written. That any interpretation that tries to mishandle the text is in direct contradiction with that Christian Essential.

The problem lies not within what is written in Genesis, but the way it played out in reality because no one was there to witness Creation. Presumably, God told Adam and Eve who must have passed this information of our origins down through the generations by way of oral tradition until Moses was able to write about it in Genesis or God directly told Moses the Creation Account through whatever means God could reveal that information.

Lastly, there is the simple truth that Scripture interprets Scripture. So the parameters are set even higher and tighter as other books within the Bible narrow down what may or may not be a plausible interpretation of the Creation Account. Such as Jesus affirming the model for marriage displayed between Adam and Eve (7), Jesus causing the Universe into existence (8) the structure of the days of the Creation Account ending with a Sabbath like day of rest for God (9), the origin of sin’s expansion into the hearts of every human (10), and taking the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) as completely true (11) are just a few examples of when Scripture correctly interprets Scripture to guide us to the mysterious truths regarding the Creation Account.

Now this little backdrop to the current debate concerning the Creation Account may not do justice to the various sides of the argument, but hopefully we can move forward with charity as we continue this discussion in Part 2 of this blog series. Next time, we will read my particular view of the Creation Account. Starting with interpreting the days of the Creation Account, next the Standard Model for the Big Bang Theory in relation to Creation, and then end with how the Fall’s aftermath ends in death. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless!

Footnotes

https://www.pexels.com/
http://www.reasons.org/articles/notable-christians-open-to-an-old-universe-old-earth-perspective#smith_jr
Warranted Christian Belief (P. 217, fn. 25); bracketed sections are mine for context sake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHye8EABbEc
2 Timothy 2:23, Titus 3:9-11 *All Biblical references are used with the NASB translation, unless otherwise noted in the footnotes below.*
Seven Days That Divide The World (P. 32)
Matthew 19:3-6, Mark 10:3-6
John 1:1-5, Acts 17:24-31, Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:10
Exodus 20:11, Hebrews 4:3-5, 9-11
Romans 5:12-14
John 5:45-47