WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:08.220 This morning, we're going to begin a new series together, and we're going to be navigating through Jonah's journey as 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:08.960 a church. 00:00:09.700 --> 00:00:10.700 the book of Jonah. 00:00:10.940 --> 00:00:14.600 When we start a new series, especially in the book of the Bible, it always excites me. 00:00:14.600 --> 00:00:16.000 I love going through books of the Bible. 00:00:16.340 --> 00:00:23.340 You can't go wrong when you when you read a book of the Bible and you understand the way God communicated that story to his people at a 00:00:23.420 --> 00:00:26.220 particular time and place, and then how it relates to us in our life. 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:29.200 You really avoid a lot of incorrect beliefs about God. 00:00:29.680 --> 00:00:35.140 And so I enjoy, out of everything we do as a church, just going through books of the Bible and learning about those things together. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:42.270 And one of the other things I always enjoy about it is when I get to pick from the Old Testament, and that book is a page, and you get to watch people flip to that page. 00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:47.420 If you brought a Bible this morning, this information I'm about to give won't help. 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:50.720 But if you use a church pew Bible or in front of the seat in front of you. 00:00:51.300 --> 00:00:52.380 Page 657. 00:00:52.380 --> 00:00:54.000 The Old Testament is where you find the book of Jonah. 00:00:54.620 --> 00:00:55.960 And be careful it's only one page long. 00:00:57.500 --> 00:01:02.680 But if I were to ask you this morning, tell me something about Jonah. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:06.010 I know what everyone would likely say. 00:01:06.940 --> 00:01:08.880 He was eaten by a fish, right? 00:01:09.860 --> 00:01:10.980 And you might even call it a whale. 00:01:12.020 --> 00:01:13.920 If you look in the text, you'll note it's called a fish. 00:01:15.440 --> 00:01:16.300 And that's okay. 00:01:16.440 --> 00:01:17.760 Tell me something else about Jonah. 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:22.600 He was eaten by a fish, right? 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:25.620 I mean, what else do we know about Jonah? 00:01:27.160 --> 00:01:31.880 Well, consider this week preparation for Shark Week in July. 00:01:32.020 --> 00:01:34.310 It's coming up, and we're going to read all about big giant fish. 00:01:34.820 --> 00:01:38.620 And you've got a great story to share along with that to get excited and pumped up about it. 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:38.800 Anybody? 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:39.860 Does anybody like Shark Week? 00:01:40.520 --> 00:01:42.880 Anybody ever watch Shark Week and then go to the beach and never swim again? 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:45.780 Or jaws for that matter? 00:01:47.220 --> 00:01:48.920 This book is intended to scare you. 00:01:48.960 --> 00:01:49.060 Not. 00:01:49.100 --> 00:01:49.570 No, I'm just kidding. 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:57.840 Well, we're going to find, as we go through this book together, is Jonah is really a piece of biblical literature 00:01:57.860 --> 00:01:59.380 that is difficult to deal with. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:01.550 In some ways. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:08.620 I see myself relating to Jonah a lot throughout this story, and it's a side of myself I don't like to compare with to the life of Jonah. 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:13.190 This story really picks up, and it looks like it's in the middle of a story. 00:02:13.380 --> 00:02:20.440 It says, and now the word of the Lord comes to Jonah as if you're in the middle of some great story that's taking place, and all of a sudden he just picks up with the word of the Lord coming 00:02:20.440 --> 00:02:21.080 to Jonah. 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:24.640 And then when you get to the end of the book, there's not really a conclusion to it. 00:02:25.600 --> 00:02:27.440 Jonah starts mad and he ends mad. 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:30.640 And you're thinking, what do you do with this information? 00:02:31.300 --> 00:02:38.120 I mean, what is beneficial for us as people when we read this and God wants us to pursue him with joy, or we're going to discover that together. 00:02:40.460 --> 00:02:47.720 As we look throughout this prophetic book, I just want you to note this morning that the last 12 books of your Old Testament are 00:02:47.720 --> 00:02:49.460 what we call the Minor Prophets. 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.120 They're not minor because they weren't important. 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:53.240 They're minor because they wrote less. 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:55.260 They're men of brevity. 00:02:56.940 --> 00:03:02.920 And when they wrote throughout the Scripture, what they declared to the people was God's Word on behalf of God. 00:03:02.940 --> 00:03:04.800 They were God's mouthpiece to the people. 00:03:05.660 --> 00:03:11.960 They were God's prophets, God's chosen ones, especially selected to share God's Word with people. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:19.560 But out of all those 12 books at the end of the Old Testament, something interesting about the book of Jonah that while most of the books deal with God's 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:25.040 words being proclaimed to his people, the book of Jonah only has eight words of a prophecy. 00:03:27.380 --> 00:03:34.640 Matter of fact, what you get most of in the book of Jonah is just the internal struggle that Jonah goes with and goes through as he experiences God's calling 00:03:34.640 --> 00:03:35.640 on his life. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.140 Will he live up to what God has called him to do? 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:45.650 Jonah tells us in the very beginning of the book, is called on by the Lord. 00:03:46.700 --> 00:03:51.650 And here's what we know about the life of Jonah's as we look just in other related scripture. 00:03:51.780 --> 00:03:58.920 In Second Kings chapter 14, it says this concerning King Jeroboam the Second, he restored the border of 00:03:58.920 --> 00:04:03.190 Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of Araba, according to the word of the Lord. 00:04:03.260 --> 00:04:10.540 That's all pertaining to the king, not Jonah, the God of Israel, which he spoke through his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who 00:04:10.540 --> 00:04:11.460 was of Gath hepher. 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:20.579 If you note in the time of Israel's history in this particular point, Jonah was a prophet selected by God to serve the Lord in what we call 00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:22.620 the northern part of Israel. 00:04:23.840 --> 00:04:27.370 In Israel's history, there were there was a king who took place. 00:04:27.400 --> 00:04:29.520 It was it was Saul who ruled over Israel. 00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:31.340 And then David followed after Saul. 00:04:31.620 --> 00:04:36.290 And then after David came his son Solomon, right after the reign of Solomon. 00:04:36.320 --> 00:04:39.960 It tells us that the nation of Israel literally went through a civil war and split in two. 00:04:41.220 --> 00:04:48.360 The bottom half of Israel began to be referred to as the title of Judah, taking on the predominant name of the tribe that ruled in 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:49.920 the southern half of the nation of Israel. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:56.500 The northern kingdom kept its common name of Israel, taking with it ten of ten of the tribes that were a part of Israel. 00:04:58.020 --> 00:05:03.840 Once Israel divided the northern kingdom of Israel never had a godly king again to rule on the throne. 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:11.440 The southern kingdom experienced periodic types of following after God and then falling back into sin. 00:05:12.640 --> 00:05:19.740 And Jonah is selected as a prophet of God in the northern Kingdom of Israel under King Jeroboam, and as large 00:05:19.740 --> 00:05:21.620 as Israel's borders would ever get. 00:05:21.900 --> 00:05:23.490 Happens under the king Jeroboam. 00:05:25.340 --> 00:05:31.440 And Jonah, being a prophet of God, knows that his people, the nation of Israel, has no heart to follow after him. 00:05:32.140 --> 00:05:36.200 And Jonah is called to follow after the Lord and tells us he's from the town of Gath Hepher. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.560 And it's significant for us to note about the location of which Jonah was from, because it's very close in proximity to the town in which 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:44.760 Jesus was from. 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:53.700 As a matter of fact, if you were to look at a map of Israel today, you would find the town of Gath still in existence over 2700 years later and 00:05:53.700 --> 00:05:59.240 within an hour, within an hour journey of walking from Gath, you could be in the town of Nazareth. 00:06:00.900 --> 00:06:04.220 Gath Hepher was a very small town, as was Nazareth. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:13.280 And as we read the story of Jonah, what we begin to find is there are some similarities toward towards the Savior who came to save us from our sins. 00:06:13.340 --> 00:06:20.460 And Jonah, who was called to the nation of Israel to excuse me, to preach repentance, tells 00:06:20.460 --> 00:06:27.720 us in this passage of Scripture in Jonah chapter one and verse one, Jonah didn't ask for this calling from God, but 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:29.340 the word of the Lord came to him. 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:35.880 This is a period about 760 BC in which God's Word comes to Jonah. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:40.950 We're not exactly sure how this happened according to this passage of Scripture. 00:06:41.460 --> 00:06:48.720 If you were to read Hebrews chapter one and verse one, it tells us in times past God spoke to his people or to many people in very in many 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:55.920 times and in various ways Meaning this God in times past used to select prophets to go proclaim 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:59.420 his truth to people in all sorts of ways, in many various ways. 00:06:59.440 --> 00:07:01.060 And as you read the Old Testament, you see it happens. 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:02.080 It happens in dreams. 00:07:02.080 --> 00:07:05.220 It happens in God just speaking to his prophets to share with people. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:06.640 It happens in visions. 00:07:08.900 --> 00:07:11.260 In the life of Jonah, we don't know exactly how it happened. 00:07:12.440 --> 00:07:17.240 Maybe it even was a christophany the appearance of Jesus on this earth before Jesus actually lived on this earth. 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:18.800 That happened periodically throughout the Old Testament. 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:24.200 Matter of fact, when you read John one one, it says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:27.820 And the same was in the beginning with God, and the word became flesh. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:36.460 Jesus in Scripture is oftentimes referred to as the word and tells us in John chapter one and verse one, the 00:07:36.460 --> 00:07:38.640 word of the Lord came to Jonah. 00:07:39.880 --> 00:07:42.980 Not a choice, but God had appointed him for this particular need. 00:07:44.420 --> 00:07:52.380 This morning, though, I just want to encourage you, as we desire to find and discover God's will for our life, that we shouldn't seek just special 00:07:52.380 --> 00:07:59.060 revelation or appearance from God to communicate to us what he wants to do and wants us to do. 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:02.800 See, Jonah lived in a time before the Old Testament was even formulated. 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:05.800 He lived in a time before we had a New Testament. 00:08:07.140 --> 00:08:12.280 If you want to discover God's will for your life, most of what God desires for your life is found within His Word. 00:08:13.520 --> 00:08:20.600 Matter of fact, as you read Hebrews one chapter one and verse one, it tells us God spoke in times past to his prophets in many times and in various 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:21.040 ways. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:23.450 But today he has spoken to us through Jesus. 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:30.560 It says in verse two, meaning everything that God wanted for us to understand and accomplish in this world, everything that we should see, to discover 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:34.240 what God's will for us is in our lives, is found in Jesus. 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:40.320 That's why, as you read the book of Genesis, you find that God promises to us a Savior who would come. 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:43.520 You read through all of Scripture the promise of that Messiah who would be here. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:45.760 The Messiah comes, the Messiah dies for our sins. 00:08:45.800 --> 00:08:48.600 The church is established and you get to the book of Revelation in the end. 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:49.880 And Jesus wins. 00:08:51.760 --> 00:08:59.040 God has declared to you the results and God's will for you can be made known in 00:08:59.040 --> 00:08:59.620 the Scripture. 00:09:01.680 --> 00:09:08.860 If you desire to know what God wants for you in his life to experience God's calling, my desire for you, my begging of you, would be to become 00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:10.020 a student of God's Word. 00:09:11.640 --> 00:09:13.820 See what God has to share for your life. 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:21.780 I'm always hesitant when people sometimes say that the Spirit of God directed them to do certain things, because the Bible tells us in first John chapter four 00:09:21.780 --> 00:09:26.220 and verse one, brothers believe not every spirit, because many false prophets have gone into this world. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:32.560 And my question to people who oftentimes say things like that without backing it up according to Scripture, is what spirit are you following? 00:09:33.780 --> 00:09:39.240 Because if what you're doing can't be matched with what God's Word says, it's not an obedience to what God would want you to do. 00:09:40.540 --> 00:09:44.140 And so it's important to understand the way God desires to communicate himself through Scripture. 00:09:44.260 --> 00:09:48.470 Before you begin to share with other people what it is that God wants you to do without really knowing who that God is. 00:09:49.640 --> 00:09:50.970 Become a student of God's word. 00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:56.600 Nonetheless, it says in this passage of Scripture that the word of the Lord came to Jonah. 00:09:58.200 --> 00:09:58.900 And this is what it says. 00:09:59.300 --> 00:10:01.500 We ask the question, why did God's Word come to Jonah? 00:10:01.560 --> 00:10:07.660 He says in verse two, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. 00:10:09.380 --> 00:10:14.580 Jonah's told by God that his purpose and reasoning in which God is sharing His word for him, is to go to Nineveh. 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:17.660 Think about why Nineveh? 00:10:19.400 --> 00:10:21.170 God, just all of a sudden woke up this morning. 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:27.560 He says, Jonah, I got up this morning and my map of the world was looking pretty good, and I threw a dart and it happened to land on Nineveh. 00:10:27.880 --> 00:10:29.300 That must be where we should go today. 00:10:30.140 --> 00:10:30.780 Is that how it works? 00:10:32.660 --> 00:10:40.600 If you study the history that's taking place in the life of Jonah and the circumstances around Israel at this time, you become to understand that Nineveh 00:10:40.800 --> 00:10:44.060 is the capital city of the empire known as Assyria. 00:10:45.020 --> 00:10:48.150 Assyria at this time is a world dominating power. 00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:50.800 And God is saying to Jonah. 00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:57.180 Listen, Jonah, I want you to go to the largest city of the greatest empire that's existing on the face of the Earth right now. 00:10:58.920 --> 00:11:05.960 It's as if he's saying to Jonah, Jonah, if we want to change this place, this culture, these people for Jesus, you've got to get to 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:09.680 the heart of the city that dictates the culture in which they obey and follow. 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:15.010 It should be a circumstance that all of us examine as we see where God calls us in our lives. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.340 If we desire to see God, just make some noise in a city. 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:21.560 We get to the epicenter of that city or into a state. 00:11:21.800 --> 00:11:24.960 We get to the capital of that state, and we make a difference for Jesus. 00:11:26.300 --> 00:11:29.120 And God's interest is to change the wickedness of these Gentiles. 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:34.500 It says, into the grace of God. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.600 It's a simple request for Jonah that we find in these scriptures. 00:11:37.800 --> 00:11:40.460 God just simply says, listen, Jonah, I've got a got a will for you. 00:11:40.460 --> 00:11:43.460 I'm not going to tell you everything that happens there, but Nineveh is wicked, and I want you to go there. 00:11:44.760 --> 00:11:48.420 And I love the way that God works when he declares to us what his will is for our lives. 00:11:48.560 --> 00:11:52.130 It's as if God only directs us according to one step at a time. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:59.080 You know, when I was younger, a lot of times I would get asked the question, especially in high school and college, what are you going to do with your life? 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:03.800 According to most high school and college kids, we have no idea. 00:12:04.180 --> 00:12:08.760 And when we get to college, we're going to change our major about 20 times and we still have no idea, right? 00:12:09.400 --> 00:12:10.980 Man God, I get tired of this conversation. 00:12:11.180 --> 00:12:13.860 Just show me everything you want me to do with my life for the rest of my life. 00:12:13.860 --> 00:12:15.260 Just map it all out for me. 00:12:17.020 --> 00:12:18.360 But God doesn't do that for Jonah. 00:12:19.860 --> 00:12:20.740 He doesn't do that for us. 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:29.820 I find one of the reasons that I think God is just more concerned about the next step that we take in our lives is that if he revealed to us every step 00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:35.000 of the way, we would become too overwhelmed and cower at what God has for us in store for our lives. 00:12:36.060 --> 00:12:39.740 It's too much to bear and handle as we examine it from beginning to end. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:47.160 And Jonah just has spoken of to the Lord, and God just simply says, listen, Jonah all I want you to do right now is go to Nineveh because they're wicked. 00:12:49.160 --> 00:12:51.350 And recently, we just had the Kentucky Derby ran. 00:12:51.380 --> 00:12:52.500 That's pretty close to where I live. 00:12:53.020 --> 00:12:56.680 People back east, they love their horses, especially in the state of Kentucky. 00:12:57.760 --> 00:13:02.850 If I could just tell you the one animal I will never get on in my life, it's a free thinking animal that can run really fast. 00:13:03.540 --> 00:13:10.540 And, but the cool thing about the Kentucky Derby, and if you watch some of these trainers who teach 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:15.500 these animals to run, is some of them have a certain time in which they will show up to the race. 00:13:15.920 --> 00:13:22.960 Matter of fact, the recent race that was just ran this weekend, it said that one of the one of the jockeys intentionally brought this animal to the race 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:25.760 late or later than all the other horses. 00:13:27.140 --> 00:13:34.200 And the reason was, is the jockey had trained this animal to recognize that when this animal got prepared to run the race, when he showed up to the track, the animal went into running mode, and 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:37.340 it got really antsy about getting ready to run this race. 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:44.580 And so the trainer wouldn't let the animal know when he was going to run the race until the race was about to start Similar to us 00:13:44.580 --> 00:13:45.700 in our Christian lives. 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:53.660 God is preparing us through the word of the Lord as we begin to learn and grow in him, because he's got a race for us to run. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:56.560 He's got a purpose for us in our living. 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:02.260 Whether it be the great city of wicked Nineveh or somewhere else that you may not choose to be like Jonah. 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:04.480 God's got a plan for your life. 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:13.160 God desires for you to learn and be taught in His Word, that you may declare it to other people what God would desire for them to know, and 00:14:13.160 --> 00:14:19.840 what we see in the life of the Ninevites, the people of Assyria, is that God is compassionate towards even the worst of sinners. 00:14:21.640 --> 00:14:24.800 If you study Assyrian history, what you'll find is in this people group. 00:14:24.800 --> 00:14:26.080 They were just horrible. 00:14:27.780 --> 00:14:32.470 Something that would make the Geneva Convention of today cringe at what they would do to prisoners of war. 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:40.760 Oftentimes, when they would conquer a town or city, they would go through and slaughter every man and every child and only leave the women alive if 00:14:40.760 --> 00:14:47.900 they captured you as a prisoner, it was common for them to bind you up, dig a hole out in the middle of the desert, and bury you until your until just your 00:14:47.900 --> 00:14:50.780 head poked out of the sand and leave you for dead. 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:56.110 They were a group that only liked to conquer, but they liked to torture their enemies. 00:14:57.560 --> 00:15:04.340 And God says to Jonah, their wickedness has come before me, and I want a message of grace and compassion being taught to them that they may know me. 00:15:06.140 --> 00:15:13.260 What we discover in Israel's history is by the year of 722, the northern Kingdom of Israel is taken into captivity by these Assyrian 00:15:13.260 --> 00:15:20.240 people, just one generation removed from Jonah in 586. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:27.540 We discover as well that the southern tribe of Judah is taken into captivity, and Jeremiah is there for the conquering of Israel. 00:15:27.580 --> 00:15:35.060 And God says this to Jeremiah and Jeremiah 29 seven he says, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:36.400 pray to the Lord on its behalf. 00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:40.540 For in its welfare you will find your welfare. 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:47.620 God saying to Jeremiah, rather than being a person of complaining in the position that I've placed you. 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:55.540 Be a person that seeks the good of the city, because in seeking the good of the city, we find the good for ourselves as well. 00:15:57.260 --> 00:16:00.780 We think about maybe just a prayer for our church and reading such verses. 00:16:02.880 --> 00:16:08.520 May we be a church that the city just aches for, to continue to help in its need. 00:16:09.700 --> 00:16:16.940 That in our absence the city aches with pain from a church that loves Jesus so much that it's making an impact in the lives of 00:16:16.940 --> 00:16:18.410 the people around it. 00:16:19.380 --> 00:16:20.680 That's what Jonah was called to Nineveh. 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:24.510 And just like Jonah is called to Nineveh. 00:16:24.520 --> 00:16:30.680 God has called us to a specific place and time to serve, to serve him on behalf of the Lord. 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:33.710 And here we see that God pursues the sinner. 00:16:34.920 --> 00:16:42.000 What a crazy concept to think about God, because it reverses all thinking of any other God taught within culture, in any civilization or nation today, 00:16:42.820 --> 00:16:45.940 that God would love people who aren't worthy of being loved. 00:16:47.860 --> 00:16:49.630 And so God gives Jonah a call. 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:53.380 In verse three, we find what's Jonah's response? 00:16:55.560 --> 00:16:56.980 It tells us in the passage of Scripture. 00:16:57.180 --> 00:17:01.560 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, or from the presence of the Lord. 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:01.880 Excuse me. 00:17:02.580 --> 00:17:09.839 So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid for the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:10.960 of the Lord. 00:17:12.540 --> 00:17:15.300 Jonah's simple response was, I don't want to go. 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:18.079 God, do you understand who I am? 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:18.819 I'm a I'm a Jew. 00:17:20.040 --> 00:17:21.260 God, you're working through the Jews. 00:17:21.280 --> 00:17:22.619 I mean, we are amazing people. 00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:26.760 We've not really done anything in northern Israel that would deserve that. 00:17:26.800 --> 00:17:27.810 But we are just amazing. 00:17:28.020 --> 00:17:28.900 We're Jews, right? 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:29.700 We're better than them. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:36.160 Matter of fact, if you were to read in acts chapter ten and verse 28, Peter is called by God to go to the home of Cornelius. 00:17:36.860 --> 00:17:41.660 And when he shows up, he says, this has to be of God because a Jew does not come into the home of a Gentile. 00:17:43.760 --> 00:17:46.460 And so Jonah is faced with the same perplexing situation. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:48.360 God, these are your people. 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:53.020 You're going to leave the Jewish people to go share to the wicked Gentiles about your love? 00:17:53.620 --> 00:17:54.460 No way man. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:56.900 I'm fleeing to Tarshish. 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:01.260 You know, in the situation what some of us are left to think. 00:18:01.300 --> 00:18:07.560 Man, if God came to me and he said to me in an audible voice to go, I would go, right? 00:18:08.940 --> 00:18:10.280 I mean, I'm better than him. 00:18:11.820 --> 00:18:12.480 Let me ask it this way. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:21.580 if I were to say you had to spend your life serving God in Spain, or you had to spend your life serving 00:18:21.580 --> 00:18:22.620 God in Iraq. 00:18:23.800 --> 00:18:24.630 what would you choose? 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:28.940 Tarshis is in Spain. 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:32.200 Nineveh is in Iraq. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:37.790 There's not a lot of difference between Iraq when Jonah was around and Iraq today is there? 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:40.520 I mean, serve Saddam Hussein. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:41.520 Love that group. 00:18:42.560 --> 00:18:43.560 I like Spain. 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:45.500 I want to learn Spanish. 00:18:46.360 --> 00:18:46.680 Right? 00:18:47.500 --> 00:18:47.940 I don't know. 00:18:47.940 --> 00:18:48.900 I don't want to go to Iraq. 00:18:50.600 --> 00:18:51.920 And Jonah's looking at the same circumstance. 00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:54.740 God, what you've called me to do seems too difficult. 00:18:56.140 --> 00:18:58.220 And Jonah ignores the need that exists in Nineveh. 00:18:58.300 --> 00:19:00.710 But I love the way the Word of God shares it to us as people. 00:19:01.320 --> 00:19:05.000 Yes, Jonah is ignoring Nineveh, and he's ignoring the need of the people in Nineveh. 00:19:05.060 --> 00:19:07.050 But look what it says about the situation. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:09.160 It doesn't say that Jonah is fleeing from Nineveh. 00:19:09.780 --> 00:19:12.900 It says what Jonah is fleeing for at the very bottom of the hole. 00:19:13.120 --> 00:19:18.000 Or the whole verse here it says Jonah is fleeing from the presence of the Lord. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.540 Jonah's fleeing from the presence of the Lord. 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:31.420 We're not always happy with the situation where God calls us, and it may not be the exact circumstance that we go to. 00:19:31.820 --> 00:19:33.470 I wish God would call me to Hawaii. 00:19:34.780 --> 00:19:36.260 That would be awesome. 00:19:36.320 --> 00:19:39.180 I could find reasons to celebrate every day with my fresh coconut. 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:44.900 Yeah, but God called Jonah to Nineveh. 00:19:46.760 --> 00:19:48.440 And what we discover for the life of Jonah. 00:19:48.540 --> 00:19:55.080 But this is God's will for Jonah and that ignoring God's will, he's not ignoring the need in Nineveh. 00:19:55.080 --> 00:20:02.080 What he's running from is the presence of God in his life, that relationship that God wishes to share with 00:20:02.080 --> 00:20:02.830 him. 00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:04.760 And I'm sure it went through Jonah's head. 00:20:04.760 --> 00:20:07.640 Okay, God, I feel like, man, this is definitely where you called me. 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:10.560 You called me to do this, but they might get upset with me. 00:20:10.560 --> 00:20:10.920 Who knows? 00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:12.400 It's none of other mean they're angry. 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:13.970 How about second best today? 00:20:14.180 --> 00:20:15.980 God, Spain. 00:20:16.540 --> 00:20:17.240 I hear they need Jesus. 00:20:20.260 --> 00:20:23.580 But God had selected Jonah for that specific place for a specific reason. 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:27.160 Why doesn't Jonah want to serve? 00:20:29.100 --> 00:20:33.700 And we could share things like, I don't think God would really want me to go there, right? 00:20:34.520 --> 00:20:35.430 I mean, it sounds hard. 00:20:36.860 --> 00:20:43.880 My aunt went to Iraq to serve with the Peace Corps, and she came back telling me stories about people who just 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.460 use the restroom in open places when there's a restroom beside them. 00:20:48.180 --> 00:20:49.180 And it's a common thing to do there. 00:20:50.020 --> 00:20:50.940 That, to me, is gross. 00:20:51.360 --> 00:20:52.720 You know, I'm sure it is to you as well. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.180 Could you imagine serving in a situation like that? 00:20:56.760 --> 00:20:57.280 Just saying. 00:20:57.640 --> 00:20:59.660 Maybe God doesn't really want me to do that. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.180 I'm sure God doesn't want me to experience that pain. 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:05.200 Maybe he's just got second best for me out there. 00:21:06.660 --> 00:21:13.880 But you know, when you examine the life of the people who have really been called by God who love the Lord, it's always been marked by a life of some sort of sacrifice 00:21:14.020 --> 00:21:15.020 and suffering. 00:21:16.280 --> 00:21:23.420 The prophets many times were killed going to the northern tribe of Israel after they split from the southern 00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:24.750 tribe of Judah. 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:26.080 They never followed God. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:30.160 Could you imagine being a prophet proclaiming the truth of God to people who didn't want to hear it? 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:38.340 Jesus, when he walked this earth as a Jew, rejected by his own people to the point that he went to the garden. 00:21:38.340 --> 00:21:43.240 And he said, God, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless your will be done. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:50.230 And it tells us in Hebrews, for the joy set before him he endured the cross. 00:21:51.460 --> 00:21:57.790 In a situation where you think there could be no joy to be experienced, Jesus sought joy. 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:02.500 The apostles laid down their lives in following after the Lord. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:11.230 You know what that teaches me as I look at Scripture is that the truth is worth the consequence. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:18.000 The truth of knowing God and experiencing God, whatever the cost, is worth the consequence. 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:27.540 When you read the early church as it started, tells us, if you've been reading along with us in our in 00:22:27.540 --> 00:22:31.080 our series of Reading the New Testament in a year, we're in the book of acts. 00:22:31.820 --> 00:22:33.520 These days towards the end of it. 00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:38.660 But in chapter one through three, it gives us the Spirit of God who comes to this world and dwells his church. 00:22:39.020 --> 00:22:41.740 The church goes out and begins to proclaim his name as they proclaim his name. 00:22:41.740 --> 00:22:49.080 It tells us in one day, 3000 people came to know Jesus because people were passionate in the city of Jerusalem and 00:22:49.080 --> 00:22:51.840 reaching Jerusalem, where God had called them to be. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:23:00.440 And the apostles went to the to the temple, the place where Jesus was brought before trial. 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:04.300 And he and he goes to the temple, and he begins to proclaim outside of the temple the name of Jesus. 00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:11.960 And as he's proclaiming the name of Jesus, Peter and John are dictating this message to the people, and they see a lame man 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:12.870 and he's healed. 00:23:14.100 --> 00:23:19.260 It tells us when this lame man is healed, more people came to listen to this message, and many more people came to trust in God. 00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:22.880 And as they came to trust in God, the leaders of the Jewish nation got angry. 00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:31.740 And they brought the Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, the leaders, and they told him not to proclaim the name of God anymore. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:36.190 You think about that circumstance for a minute. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:39.040 They just saw Jesus on a cross. 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:43.380 Not many days later, they're back at the temple proclaiming the name of Christ. 00:23:45.180 --> 00:23:45.900 How would you react? 00:23:46.580 --> 00:23:51.110 Now, having come before those leaders, I know what I would likely done. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:52.600 Whew! 00:23:53.120 --> 00:23:54.280 That was a close one, right? 00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:56.220 Do not take me back to that place. 00:23:56.740 --> 00:23:57.100 There is no way. 00:23:57.360 --> 00:23:57.820 Let's do it. 00:23:58.140 --> 00:23:58.540 But do it in secret. 00:23:58.800 --> 00:24:00.510 Let's do, like, House Bible studies. 00:24:00.620 --> 00:24:01.220 No one knows. 00:24:01.220 --> 00:24:03.960 We'll keep all the lights off and let's share. 00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:04.080 Right. 00:24:05.340 --> 00:24:06.310 That's the American way. 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:08.140 We pray for. 00:24:08.580 --> 00:24:09.560 For prosperity. 00:24:09.560 --> 00:24:10.980 We pray for the sick people. 00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:12.870 We pray that God gives us comfort. 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:15.100 We pray for all the nice things we can enjoy in life. 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:16.890 But look what the apostles prayed for. 00:24:18.340 --> 00:24:24.020 It says, now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:27.730 They left and didn't ask for any prosperity. 00:24:28.060 --> 00:24:29.560 They didn't ask for anything great to go their way. 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:31.880 They just wanted boldness to share this message. 00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:34.860 That's how important they understood Jesus to be. 00:24:35.620 --> 00:24:38.380 The truth was worth the consequence to them. 00:24:40.340 --> 00:24:43.330 Jonah couldn't find the need to share God's word. 00:24:44.980 --> 00:24:51.220 Maybe one of the reasons, and this is just speculation, that Jonah didn't share God's word or didn't desire to share with the people of Nineveh. 00:24:52.060 --> 00:24:54.730 It's because he was focused on the past, not looking to the future. 00:24:56.460 --> 00:25:01.140 You know, if we told Jonah at that moment, Jonah, God hasn't revealed his entire plan to you. 00:25:01.140 --> 00:25:08.180 But if these people don't repent and these people don't trust in Jesus, in 40 years, your people are going to be taken captive by these people that you hate so 00:25:08.180 --> 00:25:14.700 much, and your people are going to be slaughtered before your very eyes and tortuous ways that you thought unimaginable. 00:25:17.320 --> 00:25:19.040 I wonder what Jonah's desire would have been then. 00:25:20.940 --> 00:25:25.180 But he looked at the nation of Assyria, who were suppressing the people around him, and maybe even the Jewish people. 00:25:25.660 --> 00:25:28.660 And he's saying, man, no way, no way am I going to love them. 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:30.760 No way am I going to extend the hand to them. 00:25:30.760 --> 00:25:34.210 I'm just going to sit here and complain about everything that I don't like about these people. 00:25:34.600 --> 00:25:36.820 I'm going to Spain, kiss this job goodbye. 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:41.070 And think about your circumstance. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:45.820 Have you ever lived in a place that was difficult to stand for Jesus? 00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:50.520 How did you react? 00:25:53.260 --> 00:25:54.360 Like Jonah or like Jesus? 00:25:56.420 --> 00:25:57.930 It depends on the day. 00:25:59.360 --> 00:26:00.260 It's true. 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:01.740 It's absolutely true. 00:26:03.180 --> 00:26:10.220 But the point of the story, as we look at the life of Jonah, Jonah's testimony, Jonah's sharing 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:12.400 of his story for us is when we reach this conclusion. 00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:14.140 It's just it's just unsettling. 00:26:14.360 --> 00:26:19.650 When you get to the end of chapter four and you see that Jonah's heart never really changed for the place he was doing ministry for. 00:26:21.280 --> 00:26:22.120 And I think as Jonah. 00:26:22.280 --> 00:26:24.600 If Jonah wrote the book of Jonah, we have no reason to think otherwise. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.880 But if Jonah wrote the book of Jonah What a story of regret this was. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.020 God's prophet called to do something for him of which he was used to doing. 00:26:34.020 --> 00:26:36.530 But he got to a circumstance where he just didn't want to anymore. 00:26:38.080 --> 00:26:45.180 If a prophet called by God through God's audible words could not surrender to God's 00:26:45.180 --> 00:26:45.400 will. 00:26:46.420 --> 00:26:47.700 How does that match up for us as people? 00:26:49.460 --> 00:26:56.540 We act like Jesus and pray, as the disciples did, for boldness, just to stand more clearly for him to see the lives and hearts 00:26:56.540 --> 00:27:01.080 of people change for the good of the city, and the good of all people around, the good of the church, for everyone. 00:27:02.500 --> 00:27:04.500 Or do we act like Jonah and run? 00:27:06.100 --> 00:27:08.550 The truth is worth worth the consequence. 00:27:10.700 --> 00:27:13.120 And in the end, we have no idea about the outcome. 00:27:13.220 --> 00:27:20.380 And one of the things maybe we can examine the life of Jonah is the reason that he wasn't able to do ministry is because Jonah focused on himself rather than others. 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:28.640 Jonah was more concerned what people would think about him going to the nation of Nineveh, rather than what would happen in the life of the Ninevites as God's Word was proclaimed. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:37.220 Could you imagine today if we just thought in our heads, okay, if this area was like 95% Christian, we better be ready. 00:27:37.280 --> 00:27:39.740 Study your Bibles because you're going to have a lot of Jesus sharing to do with people. 00:27:40.260 --> 00:27:47.280 I mean, but could you imagine the transformation that would take place if we were to dream that big, if we were to pray for that kind 00:27:47.280 --> 00:27:51.360 of boldness to share God's word like the apostles and not like Jonah. 00:27:53.400 --> 00:28:01.020 And I'm brought to a place and a portion of Scripture like this, where I just fall to my knees and say, God, forgive 00:28:01.020 --> 00:28:08.250 me for not having a vision as big as yours, for not seeing this city the way that you do for this state, 00:28:09.580 --> 00:28:10.140 for this country. 00:28:11.620 --> 00:28:15.600 God, give me a heart that when you say go, I get up and run. 00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:18.920 You know, we looked last two weeks. 00:28:19.080 --> 00:28:21.770 What God's plan is for the church to go out into this world and make disciples. 00:28:22.040 --> 00:28:22.760 And how to do that? 00:28:24.200 --> 00:28:26.530 God has called us to do that. 00:28:27.040 --> 00:28:28.600 It doesn't take an audible voice. 00:28:29.520 --> 00:28:30.580 God has said, go. 00:28:32.020 --> 00:28:38.480 And rather than praying for comfort on a on a day or for a sick person, which are good things to pray for, we want our well-being right? 00:28:38.820 --> 00:28:40.770 We want to not be sick. 00:28:41.280 --> 00:28:42.260 We want to live a healthy life. 00:28:43.640 --> 00:28:45.820 But what about the spiritual need of the people around you? 00:28:47.380 --> 00:28:52.120 What about when you knew that you should have shared Christ in a particular situation, but you held your tongue afraid to offend somebody? 00:28:54.100 --> 00:28:55.040 What about praying for boldness? 00:28:57.240 --> 00:29:04.720 You know, I know, I know, and seeing Christians live out their lives, there are a small group of Christians who, who 00:29:04.780 --> 00:29:09.640 go to proclaim the name of Jesus and do it in such a spirit that it's really distasteful towards the overall body of Jesus. 00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:16.120 But I have to say, as a body of Christ, more oftentimes, we err on the side of not saying something about Jesus rather than saying too much about him. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:20.200 And what we need is boldness. 00:29:22.280 --> 00:29:25.140 Start thinking about the way Jesus can use you to proclaim his name. 00:29:25.420 --> 00:29:27.580 And rather than be a Jonah, be like Jesus. 00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:34.360 And we see as Jonah disobeys God what type of circumstance this creates in the following verses. 00:29:35.220 --> 00:29:40.220 I'm going to breeze through this real quick because it's a large portion, knowing that the sides cut off, so I might throw in words for fun. 00:29:41.040 --> 00:29:41.160 Oh. 00:29:43.560 --> 00:29:45.940 It says the Lord hurled a great wind. 00:29:45.940 --> 00:29:47.120 Jonah's on the ship, remember? 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:49.750 It says the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea. 00:29:50.220 --> 00:29:51.760 And there was a great storm on the sea. 00:29:51.820 --> 00:29:54.100 I want to think how big this disobedience is for a minute. 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:58.060 People in this day don't jump on a plane and just, in two hours, they're where they want to be. 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:01.960 You can't go to Israel to from Israel to Spain that fast in these days. 00:30:02.300 --> 00:30:06.880 This would have taken like a year of Jonah on this ship thinking I'm disobeying God. 00:30:07.020 --> 00:30:07.700 I'm disobeying. 00:30:07.760 --> 00:30:12.920 And the Lord brought a great wind to the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:16.260 Then the sailors became afraid, and every man cried to his God. 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:20.080 And they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. 00:30:20.540 --> 00:30:24.460 But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, laying down and falling sound asleep. 00:30:24.560 --> 00:30:26.280 I'm sure he had run away from God. 00:30:26.860 --> 00:30:28.400 You think anybody watched Deadliest Catch? 00:30:29.560 --> 00:30:31.840 Man, I gotta admit, I'm a Deadliest Catch addict. 00:30:32.380 --> 00:30:33.520 Anybody know if I say SIG Hansen? 00:30:33.660 --> 00:30:34.100 Anybody know who that is? 00:30:34.300 --> 00:30:35.760 Like the man of all men on the sea. 00:30:36.080 --> 00:30:36.940 Northwestern. 00:30:37.060 --> 00:30:37.540 He drives it. 00:30:37.540 --> 00:30:38.820 He's from Sweden or something. 00:30:39.380 --> 00:30:39.820 Denmark. 00:30:39.840 --> 00:30:41.920 I don't know, but he's like a man's man. 00:30:42.140 --> 00:30:44.440 You think about these guys on the ship for just a minute in this storm. 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:48.410 These are sailors, and they have seen storms. 00:30:48.540 --> 00:30:51.660 Matter of fact, they would probably put the Deadliest Catch people to shame. 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:52.440 They're flying. 00:30:52.460 --> 00:30:56.900 We've had thousands of years now in building better crafts that are more seaworthy to handle big storms. 00:30:57.340 --> 00:30:59.940 These guys are on these old rickety boats in the middle of the storm. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:03.640 And they are sailors, dirty, nasty, toothless, West Virginia looking sailors. 00:31:04.540 --> 00:31:09.040 And I'm from West Virginia, right. 00:31:10.760 --> 00:31:15.760 And they're afraid it tells us so much so that they begin to lighten the load. 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:19.600 I should apologize if West Virginia people ever come here. 00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:22.280 Sorry And they lighten the load. 00:31:23.140 --> 00:31:26.490 And it begins to tell us in verse six to the captain approached him and said, how is it that you are sleeping? 00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:31.540 Get up and call on your God, and perhaps your God will be concerned about us so that we will not perish. 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:36.580 And there's a philosophy in this time about the type of gods, and everyone just followed their own god. 00:31:36.600 --> 00:31:37.090 They kind of please. 00:31:37.180 --> 00:31:37.960 This is Greece, right? 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:39.750 Many gods, some of them are big and strong. 00:31:39.840 --> 00:31:41.180 They look like no, nevermind. 00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:42.760 But they're big and strong, right? 00:31:43.140 --> 00:31:43.800 Some pictures. 00:31:43.840 --> 00:31:46.060 Zeus with a lightning bolt just hitting people whenever they're mad at them. 00:31:46.100 --> 00:31:47.180 And that's kind of the appearance of God. 00:31:47.820 --> 00:31:48.760 Something bad is happening. 00:31:48.800 --> 00:31:49.820 Gods are angry at us. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:51.140 Everyone please your God. 00:31:52.520 --> 00:31:59.470 And so they go downstairs and they say this to Jonah and it says, each man said to his mate, come, let us cast lots so that we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us. 00:31:59.940 --> 00:32:01.930 So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 00:32:02.440 --> 00:32:05.940 And they said to him, tell us now, on whose account has this calamity struck us? 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:08.780 What is your occupation, and where did you come from? 00:32:09.360 --> 00:32:11.780 What is your country and from what people are you? 00:32:13.120 --> 00:32:14.000 Jonah goes on to share. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:19.280 He says, and he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 00:32:20.300 --> 00:32:20.760 See, Jones. 00:32:20.760 --> 00:32:21.160 Just saying. 00:32:21.160 --> 00:32:21.280 Okay. 00:32:21.700 --> 00:32:25.460 In your time, you think you worship these gods, and this gods may be in charge of the rain. 00:32:25.460 --> 00:32:26.710 This god's in charge of fertility. 00:32:26.780 --> 00:32:28.370 And this God's in charge of the crops. 00:32:28.820 --> 00:32:31.320 No, this God created heaven. 00:32:31.500 --> 00:32:33.320 Everything on earth and everything on land. 00:32:33.320 --> 00:32:34.700 That's how powerful this God is. 00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:37.480 That's why that storm is here today, it says. 00:32:37.480 --> 00:32:40.760 Then the man became extremely frightened, and they said to him, how could you do this? 00:32:40.860 --> 00:32:44.160 For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so. 00:32:44.660 --> 00:32:48.300 They said to him, what should we do to you, that the sea may become calm for us? 00:32:49.080 --> 00:32:50.540 For the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 00:32:51.780 --> 00:32:55.520 And he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea. 00:32:56.300 --> 00:32:58.360 Then the sea will become calm for you. 00:32:58.560 --> 00:33:01.960 For I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you. 00:33:02.260 --> 00:33:09.990 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. 00:33:11.940 --> 00:33:20.300 You know, in our storm circumstances, it's worth noting for us that Our sin can 00:33:20.300 --> 00:33:21.310 affect everyone. 00:33:23.540 --> 00:33:25.290 When you think about the sailors on this ship. 00:33:27.600 --> 00:33:34.680 Jonah's sin of not following after God caused these men to take their possessions, I'm sure that they were traveling with to make money on and cast 00:33:34.680 --> 00:33:35.730 it off the side of the boat. 00:33:37.300 --> 00:33:39.820 The people of Nineveh needed to know the Lord. 00:33:41.460 --> 00:33:43.040 And Jonah's just content with himself. 00:33:45.260 --> 00:33:50.360 Oftentimes, we can identify sin as direct, obedient disobedience against God. 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:56.400 But how much do we think that just not taking the time to share what the Lord is doing in our lives with other people is disobedience? 00:33:57.930 --> 00:34:05.240 Because that's what Jonah was doing and his sin storm, if I could call it that, began to affect the lives of everyone around 00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:05.890 him. 00:34:07.360 --> 00:34:11.060 But I love the way that God can take anything negative and turn it into his good. 00:34:12.900 --> 00:34:19.020 I think in our lives, if we're disobeying God and it's just created a sandstorm around us. 00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:23.639 And we can see how that ripple effect is even affecting other people. 00:34:25.260 --> 00:34:29.300 Even in that situation, we can live in a hope and knowing that God can change it in for his good. 00:34:30.560 --> 00:34:33.500 Because the Bible tells us that these men began to pray these Bible. 00:34:33.560 --> 00:34:37.900 The Bible tells us these men were fear and fear of who God was. 00:34:38.600 --> 00:34:43.440 And it goes on to tell us in verse 14, and they called on the Lord and said, we earnestly pray now they're calling on God. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:47.600 Do not let us perish on account of this man's life, and do not put innocent blood on us. 00:34:47.600 --> 00:34:49.320 For you, O Lord, have done as you have pleased. 00:34:50.219 --> 00:34:53.230 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 00:34:53.719 --> 00:34:58.340 Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 00:35:00.600 --> 00:35:04.080 We could stop here and say, see my disobedience. 00:35:04.120 --> 00:35:05.080 God can still do what he wants. 00:35:06.700 --> 00:35:11.800 I would say you are the greatest resource that God has to use to proclaim to this world what God can do in the life of an individual. 00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:15.620 And God desires in his love to work through you. 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:18.620 And rather than leaving God behind. 00:35:18.640 --> 00:35:19.610 God loves you so much. 00:35:19.620 --> 00:35:23.000 Jonah could have just said, okay, God, I'm not going where you want me to go today. 00:35:23.340 --> 00:35:23.820 I'm giving up. 00:35:23.820 --> 00:35:25.420 And God said, okay, I'll just find somebody else. 00:35:25.420 --> 00:35:25.840 Have a good day. 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:30.660 God loved Jonah, and he began to pursue Jonah. 00:35:31.260 --> 00:35:35.360 And it tells us in verse 15 that as soon as Jonah went overboard, the storm stopped. 00:35:36.100 --> 00:35:43.280 The reason the storm existed was solely because of Jonah, and Jonah was being pursued by God, and God was sharing with Jonah. 00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:45.550 Jonah, I love you too much to give up on you. 00:35:46.500 --> 00:35:53.040 And rather than focus on the fierceness of this storm, we focus on the fierceness of God's love being made evident through the storm. 00:35:55.550 --> 00:35:58.710 Think about a sin storm in your life. 00:36:00.020 --> 00:36:05.120 Something that's caused you to be disobedient to God. 00:36:05.540 --> 00:36:12.620 And in that storm, and in that ripple effect that's affecting the lives of other people around you, God is passionately pursuing you with his love 00:36:12.940 --> 00:36:16.060 to use you for the reason that he's called you in this world. 00:36:20.140 --> 00:36:21.360 Jonah created this storm. 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:25.570 And when Jonah was thrown overboard, the storm ceased. 00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:35.060 And can I say this morning, as you think about the places that God puts you, whether you like it or not, there's an opportunity 00:36:35.060 --> 00:36:36.420 for you to find joy in it. 00:36:36.540 --> 00:36:39.720 And knowing of the hope that is ahead for the people that you share God's Word with. 00:36:40.760 --> 00:36:45.210 But the safest place you could ever be in this world is in the center of God's will. 00:36:46.780 --> 00:36:53.710 We're going to find in the next chapter happens to be in the belly of a whale for Jonah, but it's the safest place you could be. 00:36:55.520 --> 00:36:57.730 Don't focus on the severity of the storm in this situation. 00:36:58.200 --> 00:37:05.360 Focus on the love of God in this storm as we make comparison again just to Jesus and Jonah, 00:37:06.600 --> 00:37:11.280 I'm reminded of our own just sin that caused Jesus to go to the cross. 00:37:12.960 --> 00:37:16.360 When we had our own sin storm to deal with in our relationship with God. 00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:18.560 Jesus endured that sin for us. 00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:25.540 So much so that Jesus made an illustration in Scripture from himself back to Jonah. 00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:32.240 And it tells us in Matthew 1239 he said, A wicked man and an adulterous generation asks for a sign. 00:37:32.240 --> 00:37:36.760 Jesus is before all the religious leaders and they're saying, Jesus, Jesus, do another miracle Jesus. 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:39.160 Jesus is saying, that's not what I came here for. 00:37:40.300 --> 00:37:41.940 If you want a miracle, here's the last one I'm giving you. 00:37:42.720 --> 00:37:43.660 It's the sign of Jonah. 00:37:44.600 --> 00:37:49.580 It says an adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 00:37:50.040 --> 00:37:55.840 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 00:37:56.860 --> 00:38:00.320 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:02.360 For they repented at the preaching of Jonah. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:06.230 And now something greater than Jonah is here. 00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:12.770 Because Jesus endured our storm so that we wouldn't have to. 00:38:13.720 --> 00:38:18.040 Jesus has given us the opportunity to walk in joy in the middle of his will for our lives. 00:38:18.980 --> 00:38:22.040 Jesus has called Jonah to proclaim that message to the lives of other people. 00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:25.160 Jesus has called you to do the same to those who follow. 00:38:27.500 --> 00:38:34.620 A few years ago, Stacy and I went up to up to Ogden to a Christian concert put on by Steven Curtis Chapman, 00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:42.220 and it was a great, just a concert set that he had performed all over the country, because the thing that was driving it was adoption. 00:38:43.680 --> 00:38:50.280 Steven Curtis Chapman, If you've never heard about his life, he helps other people adopt kids, especially from foreign countries. 00:38:50.300 --> 00:38:52.560 He himself has adopted a few kids from foreign countries. 00:38:53.300 --> 00:39:00.540 And he came to Ogden and he raised some money while the concert was going on, raised some money and then gave it to a family at the concert who was working to adopt 00:39:00.540 --> 00:39:02.440 a child but didn't have the financial means to do it. 00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:04.260 They were just a little short of what it required. 00:39:05.480 --> 00:39:06.080 It was all about adoption. 00:39:07.640 --> 00:39:12.920 And Steven Curtis Chapman pointed out to the people in the congregation that adoption is such a godly thing. 00:39:12.980 --> 00:39:20.180 Because you were an alien to God and God, a foreigner to God, and you didn't have a relationship with God before, you trusted in Jesus and God 00:39:20.180 --> 00:39:22.320 adopted you to his kingdom. 00:39:23.860 --> 00:39:24.540 Kind of cool to think about. 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:33.220 And as Steven Curtis Chapman put on this concert, he even brought his two older boys who were, I think, in high school at the time to perform this worship set 00:39:33.220 --> 00:39:35.730 that he had prepared for this group to listen to him. 00:39:36.200 --> 00:39:38.670 And his whole family was just worshiping together. 00:39:38.980 --> 00:39:40.130 They were serving the Lord together. 00:39:40.160 --> 00:39:41.020 It was a great thing to see. 00:39:41.320 --> 00:39:44.340 So when that song I Will dance With Cinderella came out, I don't know if you've ever heard it. 00:39:44.340 --> 00:39:46.190 You know, you think about your daughter and just weep. 00:39:47.260 --> 00:39:49.500 It's a great, just a great time. 00:39:50.340 --> 00:39:57.680 In a couple weeks went by and Cece and I were sitting at home and the news came on and we found out that, Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter, 00:39:57.760 --> 00:39:59.960 whom he adopted, had been killed. 00:40:01.340 --> 00:40:08.520 And she actually ran over, run over by her older brother who was performing at that concert 00:40:08.520 --> 00:40:11.180 That's a tragic moment. 00:40:12.340 --> 00:40:13.060 Think about it, man. 00:40:13.060 --> 00:40:15.780 He wrote that song for his daughter who passed away. 00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:17.960 He then wrote another song about singer One day in Heaven. 00:40:19.250 --> 00:40:19.700 And. 00:40:20.660 --> 00:40:24.200 And that young boy, what would have been going through his mind when he. 00:40:24.960 --> 00:40:27.120 He knows what that whole concert was about. 00:40:27.120 --> 00:40:34.280 And now this young lady he just ran over with his car, his vehicle, and they put the family on Larry King Live months 00:40:34.420 --> 00:40:36.180 later and were asking him about the situation. 00:40:36.560 --> 00:40:41.840 And Larry King asked the young man, when you got out of the car, what did you do? 00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:42.540 Or what were you thinking? 00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:51.620 And he said, when he got out of the car, the family began to gather around the young lady, and he was just so destroyed by the situation that he just ran away, 00:40:51.620 --> 00:40:55.860 and he just hid because he couldn't bear looking at the people that he shamed. 00:40:56.840 --> 00:41:00.570 He couldn't bear thinking about the circumstance that he was facing. 00:41:02.060 --> 00:41:09.280 And I think in our own lives, we can guilt rid ourselves so much for what God wants to do through us that we just think about all the shame that's presented upon 00:41:09.280 --> 00:41:12.640 us, all the things that we've done wrong, and we just want to run and we just want to hide. 00:41:14.640 --> 00:41:17.800 But God in that storm is pursuing you. 00:41:19.660 --> 00:41:26.800 And the reason that family was allowed to be on Larry King that day is because that son began to experience the restoration of his relationship 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:34.260 with his family and the people that he disappointed so much and began to live again for the reason that God had created him and 00:41:34.260 --> 00:41:36.640 his family gathered around him, and they loved him. 00:41:39.240 --> 00:41:46.260 I don't know when it comes to the life of Jonah, if we just are living in direct disobedience to God, or it's just the weight of sin that's weighing it down. 00:41:46.280 --> 00:41:51.570 But the important thing to recognize is we go through the story together, is that God has a purpose for your life. 00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:59.680 God has put you in a place to see people change for the sake of Christ, beginning in your own life. 00:42:01.400 --> 00:42:08.480 And if it's a difficult place, how more important it is for you just to stay in thinking about the future, hope that 00:42:08.480 --> 00:42:14.750 can be brought forth to all people as we point them to Jesus, and obedience to the reason God has created us. 00:42:17.560 --> 00:42:20.750 You think about the early church in acts. 00:42:23.160 --> 00:42:25.950 They were told not to proclaim the name of Jesus anymore. 00:42:27.460 --> 00:42:34.100 The Sanhedrin, they went out again and they proclaimed Christ one more time, and they were brought before the Sanhedrin one more time. 00:42:34.920 --> 00:42:36.600 And it says, they called the apostles. 00:42:36.780 --> 00:42:38.200 And you think about these 12 guys for a minute. 00:42:38.200 --> 00:42:43.490 They called the apostles in, and they flogged them when they would flog people. 00:42:43.740 --> 00:42:47.220 It was usually a process done one at a time, sometimes two at a time. 00:42:48.360 --> 00:42:56.280 You think about 12 men, your two buddies up there now, and you're sitting back here watching your friends being beat within an inch of their life, and 00:42:56.280 --> 00:42:57.180 then it's your turn. 00:42:58.820 --> 00:43:00.960 And then it says in verse 41, if we go on. 00:43:01.080 --> 00:43:03.680 They ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. 00:43:03.700 --> 00:43:05.620 And the apostles left the Sanhedrin. 00:43:05.860 --> 00:43:06.420 Look at this next word. 00:43:07.580 --> 00:43:10.930 Rejoicing because they had counted. 00:43:11.380 --> 00:43:12.160 Been counted. 00:43:12.160 --> 00:43:12.260 Worthy. 00:43:12.980 --> 00:43:17.300 Worthy to suffer disgrace for the name referring to Jesus. 00:43:18.560 --> 00:43:21.040 And then it goes on to say that didn't stop him. 00:43:22.240 --> 00:43:29.180 Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. 00:43:32.070 --> 00:43:35.960 That's contradictory to everything that I think about as an American Christian. 00:43:38.180 --> 00:43:38.960 How do you even fathom that? 00:43:40.300 --> 00:43:47.760 Rejoicing in suffering because you're so focused on Jesus, and then praying to be more bold, to 00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:49.620 then let it happen again? 00:43:52.320 --> 00:43:59.540 Think about the passion that they had to serve Christ because they knew the truth was worth the consequences. 00:44:03.140 --> 00:44:10.180 The reason Jonah is in our Bible today, so that we could learn from 00:44:10.200 --> 00:44:15.840 the story of regret on behalf of a prophet who rejected God. 00:44:16.320 --> 00:44:17.000 Jonah messed up. 00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:25.720 He was so focused on himself and his own joy and pleasure in this world, that he forgot the greater picture in which God had called him to serve. 00:44:27.860 --> 00:44:35.080 You know, this morning, this message is a hard one to think about, a hard one to start on when 00:44:35.080 --> 00:44:35.800 we go through this series. 00:44:36.620 --> 00:44:37.180 This is step one. 00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:37.860 Wait till step two. 00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:40.720 You know, I mean a prophet. 00:44:41.180 --> 00:44:43.900 If a prophet can reject God, what shot do I have? 00:44:46.690 --> 00:44:53.700 And Jesus has seen and has to be in our lives if we're to live the way God called us, more important to us than anything in this 00:44:53.700 --> 00:44:56.760 world, that we're willing to make the sacrifice to share his message. 00:44:58.380 --> 00:45:00.010 Because in that people find freedom. 00:45:01.860 --> 00:45:04.720 It's a hard message to share with us this morning, but it's an important one. 00:45:06.760 --> 00:45:11.120 If God is calling you to live in a difficult place, will you serve him? 00:45:12.700 --> 00:45:16.720 A place where you may be different just because you're following after him? 00:45:17.200 --> 00:45:19.960 I mean, will you react like Jonah, or will you react like Jesus? 00:45:22.280 --> 00:45:24.560 What kind of storm will it take for God to get your attention? 00:45:27.980 --> 00:45:31.540 Can you see the bigger picture in which God wants to accomplish in you? 00:45:34.120 --> 00:45:41.670 What an amazing story it would have been for Jonah if, at the end of the book, he sat back in the city of Nineveh and he watched this entire city repent. 00:45:41.720 --> 00:45:42.460 And he said, you know what? 00:45:42.600 --> 00:45:45.310 God gave me a hand in all of this. 00:45:46.040 --> 00:45:47.990 This was a wonderful thing to be a part of. 00:45:49.520 --> 00:45:56.640 What an opportunity as a church family, if we sit back and we think about the needs of our city, and we go out into this world and proclaim his name with joy, and we can 00:45:56.640 --> 00:46:04.020 sit back one day and say, God had called me to this place, and I put my hand in obedience to him in this And we had a part of this. 00:46:05.840 --> 00:46:07.910 Can I tell you, maybe as a suggestion, where to start? 00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:14.040 This morning comes in acts 429. 00:46:15.220 --> 00:46:15.800 Pray about boldness. 00:46:17.940 --> 00:46:20.230 Have you ever in your life prayed for boldness? 00:46:21.880 --> 00:46:24.200 It's not something that readily comes off the tip of our tongue. 00:46:24.220 --> 00:46:26.660 When we think about the needs that we have as Christians, we just line them up. 00:46:26.780 --> 00:46:27.300 Man. 00:46:27.520 --> 00:46:30.150 God, I don't have the amount to pay for this month. 00:46:30.720 --> 00:46:35.220 God, I'm feeling like I got a cold and John is sick. 00:46:36.500 --> 00:46:36.800 Amen. 00:46:38.440 --> 00:46:39.910 Which is fine to pray. 00:46:40.960 --> 00:46:43.590 What about the boldness to carry out the mission that God has called you to? 00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:47.860 You think this morning we could just say this verse before the Lord. 00:46:47.880 --> 00:46:52.840 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servant to speak your word with great boldness. 00:46:54.320 --> 00:47:01.170 Maybe this morning you could say to yourself, God, enable me as your servant to speak your word with great boldness.