WEBVTT 00:00:00.260 --> 00:00:05.840 And I'm going to invite the rest of you to Jonah chapter three as we go through our series on Jonah together. 00:00:06.380 --> 00:00:11.040 And we're three weeks into this four week series as it relates to Jonah and I hope it's been encouraging to your life. 00:00:11.440 --> 00:00:16.090 And uh, today we're going to continue to encourage your life to the story of Jonah. 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:18.780 you think about Jonah. 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:22.920 Jonah is one that reminds me a little bit of dreams. 00:00:26.060 --> 00:00:32.700 We start off life maybe dreaming of all the things that we can do, maybe even the start of this year. 00:00:34.440 --> 00:00:36.420 And uh, Jonah pursued his dreams. 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:42.460 You see, God had a plan for Jonah and Jonah decided his plan included a the beach. 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:44.920 And so he heads to Tarshish. 00:00:46.680 --> 00:00:50.780 And in pursuing his dreams, he winds up really empty. 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:58.740 But Jonah reminds me his attitude towards God and what he desired for his life. 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:04.599 He reminds me of the thought that your heart is created for worship. 00:01:06.460 --> 00:01:10.200 by saying heart, I really mean the center of who you are. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:13.880 It's created for worship. 00:01:15.980 --> 00:01:24.580 And part of that means that you're to be inspired and to dream and to imagine to 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:31.860 think of the possibilities what could be, especially when we recognize 00:01:31.860 --> 00:01:33.670 things aren't the way that they should. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:42.520 But when we talk about your heart being created for worship, it's also important to recognize that if 00:01:42.520 --> 00:01:49.540 what's leading your heart is not healthy, the results will not be healthy 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:56.740 and no matter if you think you have all the good intentions of the world, you wind up much like Jonah feeling 00:01:56.740 --> 00:02:05.700 empty when truthful, anything less than God leads our heart, it 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:07.660 ultimately will not end well. 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:12.780 God is the root of joy and the meaning of life. 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:20.840 And it's a possible to live life to its fullest with the meaning and what you were intended to have unless it's centered on the one who gives it meaning. 00:02:23.160 --> 00:02:29.420 And so when we talk about in our cliches of our culture, just follow your heart, the results of that. 00:02:29.540 --> 00:02:36.540 It's kind of a flip of the coin of whether or not it ends in a, in a results, in a positive ending because the heart was created 00:02:36.540 --> 00:02:37.640 for worship. 00:02:37.660 --> 00:02:44.360 And what is leading the heart may not ultimately produce what would call that heart to find joy. 00:02:47.420 --> 00:02:55.140 We in desiring to find happiness oftentimes get self focus and 00:02:55.140 --> 00:03:01.160 we start thinking the answer to life as centered in our in lives and therefore we start to think even smaller. 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:07.380 And the results of that really is that we never end with the joy we were created to have. 00:03:09.440 --> 00:03:10.470 I think in my own life. 00:03:10.820 --> 00:03:18.060 The thing that really brought me into relationship with God was this bugging question of not being able to answer why. 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:26.740 Remember I was in college going getting a degree and couldn't, could not figure out what it was I wanted to do and I, 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:29.500 it drove me nuts just considering it over and over. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:29.700 Why? 00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:31.560 What is it I'm supposed to do? 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:40.100 And then as I thought deeper and deeper and I recognized that if I could figure out why I even existed, maybe 00:03:40.100 --> 00:03:42.840 I could figure out what it was I was supposed to do. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:49.760 Looking at people who've gone before me and how they have lived their lives, just pattering my life after. 00:03:49.820 --> 00:03:52.940 That wasn't enough for me to live my life like them. 00:03:53.200 --> 00:03:56.040 I wanted to know why I would even want to do something like that. 00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:07.920 The idea of dreaming, imagining, being inspired at all, it all draws itself into the thought 00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:11.260 of the reason for which you were created, which is for warship. 00:04:14.260 --> 00:04:17.130 Joan, as you read the story of Jonah, Jonah had his plan. 00:04:17.200 --> 00:04:19.240 He thought, which he could delight in. 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:21.399 Yeah. 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:26.320 Well, we discover it very early in the story of Jonah is that God had another plan for Jonah's life. 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:35.300 Jonah chapter four verse two Jonah declares he didn't like God's plan because it was to love on people and what's Jonah didn't want to love. 00:04:37.080 --> 00:04:44.120 And so Jonah went on his own journey towards his own personal pleasure, finding the seeking for the seed of joy and pursuing his 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:45.880 heart's delight within himself. 00:04:47.760 --> 00:04:54.580 When we see in chapter one verses three and five is that Jonah find himself in a place of depression and in a spot of displeasure. 00:04:55.940 --> 00:04:58.440 Those two verses in chapter one tells us that Jonah went down. 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:01.980 It's the author's way of showing Jonah moving towards death. 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:04.460 Although he thought he was seeking life. 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:14.020 But at the end of chapter one verse 17 it tells us that God appointed a fish, that God pursued Jonah with a fish. 00:05:14.020 --> 00:05:21.360 And that before Jonah had even fallen, before Jonah had even gotten depressed before, before Jonah found himself dis satisfied, God 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:25.020 had already appointed a fish to meet Jonah in his need. 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:35.420 And then chapter two we see Jonah recognizes his despair, his fleeing from God, his sin, and where it 00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:36.080 had brought him. 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:43.100 And in chapter two we saw Jonah calling out to God in chapter three as we get ready 00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:45.570 to engage this tax, this is sort of the chapter. 00:05:45.960 --> 00:05:52.950 That's the reset button in the middle of the story because chapter one and chapter three sort of mirror each other in the way it begins. 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:56.700 Chapter one verse one the word of the Lord came to Jonah. 00:05:57.900 --> 00:06:00.980 Jonah messed up, but God's not finished with Jonah. 00:06:02.580 --> 00:06:09.820 And so chapter three verse one it says again, now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, God's 00:06:09.840 --> 00:06:15.000 grace being extended to Jonah because the book of Jonah is not just about a fish. 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:17.380 It's not just about the city of Nineveh. 00:06:17.440 --> 00:06:24.560 The book of Jonah I think is primarily about the person of Jonah and so the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:31.600 saying, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:38.820 you, I want us to know as we look at the story as the last couple of chapters unfold and we see Jonah walking 00:06:38.820 --> 00:06:40.280 in obedience to God. 00:06:40.280 --> 00:06:50.680 Jonah in the very beginning was rebellious, but now in chapter three to four we're going to see that Jonah follows after God religiously, but 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:52.440 God really doesn't have his whole heart completely. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:02.680 So this morning I really just want to look at two lessons we learned from Jonah's poor example and recognizing that our hearts are created 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:06.840 for worship and the purpose of life is found itself in the center of God's identity. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:12.420 That his desire for our lives is the best for us and the pursuit of that. 00:07:14.580 --> 00:07:17.470 One of the things that we see in this story is it tells us about Jonah. 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:19.000 The second time has God comes to him. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:25.760 It says that Jonah arose and this time rather than going to Tarshish, he makes the journey 500 miles into the city of Nineveh. 00:07:27.820 --> 00:07:32.580 I think I've shared this with us before, but Nineveh is in Northern, Northwest Iraq. 00:07:33.960 --> 00:07:39.360 If you study a biblical history, you'll know Iraq is a country that is rich with biblical history. 00:07:41.200 --> 00:07:48.530 The South East of Iraq is where Abraham was from an earlier the Caldeans, the more central Iraq is Babylon, 00:07:48.700 --> 00:07:50.840 and it's believed to be where the garden of Eden would have been. 00:07:52.200 --> 00:07:54.180 Northwest is the place of Nineveh. 00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:03.980 Jonah here finally in a obedience to God, he follows God to the right place, 500 miles through the desert into 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:08.150 Nineveh and he's barely recognized something. 00:08:08.900 --> 00:08:16.180 For us that was heart doesn't really, doesn't fully connect to this thought, but to live life to the fullest, God, God calls us 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:17.700 to be in the right place. 00:08:20.700 --> 00:08:22.000 How do we find that right place? 00:08:24.700 --> 00:08:33.840 I think for us, discovering that right place, that journey begins first internally, zip 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.559 to say in the first two chapters of Jonah. 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:37.140 If there's something that we've learned, it's this. 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:42.090 If what you believe isn't what God says, please change what you believe. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:53.460 If something God cares about isn't what you love, please change what you love could 00:08:53.880 --> 00:08:54.840 end up in the belly of a whale. 00:08:57.860 --> 00:09:02.540 And Jonah taught us this lesson that you can run from God, but you can't outrun him. 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:12.820 I reminded of a recently in our house, I was, I was doing something and I could hear one 00:09:12.820 --> 00:09:13.910 of our kids were up to no good. 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:16.210 And that was our youngest one. 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:18.140 And he's three years old. 00:09:18.540 --> 00:09:25.180 And I could hear Stacy trying to tell him what he needed to do and he wasn't being compliant. 00:09:25.280 --> 00:09:32.320 And finally I could tell she was at the end of her rope and I just, I just yelled out from the other room, you better run like the wind boy and 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.260 yeah, and he, and he, and he takes off. 00:09:34.260 --> 00:09:35.210 He's like, Oh no, I'm in trouble. 00:09:35.660 --> 00:09:39.940 Well a few weeks went by and I'm, I'm on the couch reading. 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.900 I'm kind of disengaged from what's going on cause I'm involved in this book. 00:09:43.140 --> 00:09:50.200 And Levi gets in trouble again and about the tail end of him doing something 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:51.290 he shouldn't have been doing. 00:09:52.680 --> 00:10:00.200 I could tell Stacy was coming over to him to correct his behavior and to talk to him about his attitude. 00:10:01.260 --> 00:10:08.300 And all of a sudden when he sees that his mom gets the end of that rope, he starts, he starts freaking out and he's just going like Stacy's trying to walk over to 00:10:08.300 --> 00:10:11.880 him, talk to him and he looks like a football player trying to avoid being tackled. 00:10:11.920 --> 00:10:13.130 He's all over the house. 00:10:13.260 --> 00:10:13.660 It's just bizarre. 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:15.990 And say Sarah just looking at like what in the world? 00:10:16.180 --> 00:10:17.630 And finally I just say, Levi, what are you doing? 00:10:17.660 --> 00:10:21.020 He said, dad, you told me you better run like the wind boy. 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:28.380 He's just living around the house and he realizes it at the moment he's at, it's a, it's a place where he has 00:10:28.380 --> 00:10:35.700 met his maker, but 00:10:35.700 --> 00:10:41.820 the truth is, and there's moments he doesn't recognize it, but it would have been good for him to stop. 00:10:43.800 --> 00:10:51.100 And the reason is because of what we acknowledge as his parents is that what we're pursuing 00:10:51.100 --> 00:10:56.160 in his life isn't punishment, but rather discipline. 00:10:58.180 --> 00:11:05.180 There's something significant about that to understand the life of a believer because I feel like God is the same way towards us. 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:07.120 Got it. 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:15.080 Punishment is about just, meeting justice for the sake of bringing that justice against someone for doing wrong or bringing 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:17.000 a charge against an individual. 00:11:17.040 --> 00:11:18.510 We talk about the area of discipline. 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:23.880 It's about corrective instruction to produce a godly result. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:33.100 And so the goal of a parent who's interested in discipline but not punishment, which should be the goal of parents, is to see your child molded 00:11:33.100 --> 00:11:35.860 into the image that you feel like God desires for them. 00:11:38.020 --> 00:11:48.160 And so in order to do that, when discipline comes into their life, it's not just about modifying their behavior but 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:49.810 about experiencing heart transformation. 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:55.700 So your parents are in about behavior modification but rather heart transformation. 00:11:57.940 --> 00:12:00.800 And that's what this whale represents for Jonah. 00:12:00.860 --> 00:12:03.480 It's not God's punishment to Jonah's life. 00:12:06.340 --> 00:12:13.420 Rather Jonah saw it for what it was discipline and 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:14.300 times of your life. 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:15.680 You feel like running like the wind. 00:12:18.300 --> 00:12:25.660 God's desire is to produce in you that which brings you joy so that your heart can delight in him because you were created 00:12:25.660 --> 00:12:27.620 for worship that belongs to him. 00:12:30.820 --> 00:12:38.180 So this story now reflects on God coming to Jonah a second time in his grace because the story isn't 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:46.780 just about Nineveh and the story isn't just about Jonah's actions, Jonah's 00:12:46.780 --> 00:12:46.960 heart. 00:12:50.060 --> 00:12:57.060 And so in verse three the story goes on from there and it says to us, so Jonah arose and 00:12:57.060 --> 00:12:58.980 went to no-no according to the word of the Lord. 00:13:00.140 --> 00:13:02.700 And now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. 00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:07.420 A three days walked in, Jonah began to go through the city, one day's walk. 00:13:08.660 --> 00:13:15.720 See, when we find, find God, and following after God, and looking at Jonah's example, that first 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:20.380 begins by finding the right place and the right place always begins internally. 00:13:24.020 --> 00:13:24.990 And then it moves externally. 00:13:28.380 --> 00:13:29.980 And Jonah walks into the city. 00:13:29.980 --> 00:13:30.700 He tells us three days. 00:13:30.760 --> 00:13:35.980 Now, I'll tell you historically, when you look at the city of Nineveh, Nineveh wasn't three days big. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:43.140 It wasn't the wall of the city wasn't that large but it's thought that maybe the population had extended so far beyond the city 00:13:43.140 --> 00:13:50.340 that when the city began, it took literally three days breadth to walk the length of the city and Jonah journeys 00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:51.660 into the city. 00:13:51.660 --> 00:13:57.400 He's going to the place externally which God has led him because of what God has done in him internally. 00:14:00.880 --> 00:14:06.870 The truth is when you study scripture, you see that God, God loves the city. 00:14:08.660 --> 00:14:15.760 When the apostle Paul planted churches throughout the Roman empire, he went to the major cities of his time in order to proclaim 00:14:15.760 --> 00:14:16.520 the gospel. 00:14:16.560 --> 00:14:24.040 Because what you find is that what happens in the city eventually leads to the country and the city dictates the culture that will influence 00:14:24.040 --> 00:14:29.960 the people and if you can win the city, you win the country. 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:40.000 When Israel was captured, the Southern tribes of Israel and they were taken into captivity in the Babylon. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:47.260 The asked the question knowing that their captivity wouldn't be an extended stay, but rather there was a timetable to what God said and [inaudible] they ask God the question, God, 00:14:47.260 --> 00:14:51.840 what do you want us to do now that we're captive in the city of Babylon, the Babylonians. 00:14:51.920 --> 00:14:59.080 How do you want us to behave and God's seven Jeremiah, this and 29 verse six and seven, take wives and become 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:06.080 the fathers of sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.150 and daughters and multiply their and do not decrease. 00:15:11.640 --> 00:15:17.800 Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. 00:15:18.060 --> 00:15:21.910 For in its welfare, you will have welfare. 00:15:24.020 --> 00:15:30.820 Simply put, if you have ill will towards any part of your country, then it's not to your benefit. 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:40.380 But if you live for the glory of God, where you are in the midst of where God has placed you, not only is that a benefit to the people around 00:15:40.380 --> 00:15:42.420 you, but it also becomes a benefit to you as well. 00:15:42.540 --> 00:15:49.580 And so God's concern even in even when the people of Israel taking captivity into the Babylonian empire, that 00:15:49.580 --> 00:15:52.700 the gods concern are for the people within that empire. 00:15:54.900 --> 00:15:57.370 The same is true for none of them. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:15:59.860 Yeah. 00:15:59.860 --> 00:16:07.180 Nahum, the book of Nahum chapter three tells us that the Ninevites, it lists the things that they have done, against 00:16:07.180 --> 00:16:11.860 the Lord, the killing, the sacrificing of kids, prostitution, nay, nay. 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:18.230 Him chapter three, God's judgment is being pronounced, but God still loves the city. 00:16:21.420 --> 00:16:28.320 We've seen in the life of Jonah is that Jonah is following the Lord into Nineveh, but he still doesn't care about the people. 00:16:31.400 --> 00:16:38.720 When we think about God's calling in our lives, it begins internally, but it extends externally and we can acknowledge that you can go to a place physically 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:42.680 and still choose not to be present. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:47.680 You consider your own city. 00:16:50.920 --> 00:16:58.320 What are some things unique to the area in which you live in 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.320 order to speak the love of God and the hearts of people around you? 00:17:02.400 --> 00:17:03.800 Yeah. 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:07.540 We live in an area that's considered one of the youngest places in the United States. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:15.089 Families tend to not have a whole lot of disposable income because we also have a lot of kids. 00:17:18.560 --> 00:17:24.280 Many people are focused on looking perfect, behind closed doors. 00:17:25.560 --> 00:17:27.000 Life gets messy. 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:33.360 There needs to be a place where people feel comfortable to ask questions, to be vulnerable and honest. 00:17:35.540 --> 00:17:42.720 The area where we live is very community focused or can be ins to certain degrees, but people are often 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:43.320 hurting. 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:45.240 The oppression is high. 00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:52.400 Pornography is high, and yet in that there is opportunity. 00:17:56.080 --> 00:18:00.950 So let me just in recognizing God once it's in the right place internally, God wants us in the right place. 00:18:01.260 --> 00:18:01.740 External. 00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:02.720 Let me just ask you the question. 00:18:04.020 --> 00:18:04.680 Are we in the right place? 00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:10.980 Are you in the right place? 00:18:14.600 --> 00:18:19.260 How do you know Utah is the right place? 00:18:21.140 --> 00:18:27.600 Now, I don't like to get mystical over specific spots in which God wants us to live. 00:18:27.600 --> 00:18:31.460 You know, I think God, God calls people to particular places sometimes. 00:18:34.020 --> 00:18:37.740 You know, I don't think that's the norm, especially when you look at it in scripture. 00:18:39.100 --> 00:18:46.240 I think individuals sat in the new Testament, old Testament, they were in places for decades and God 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:47.760 would lead him to somewhere else. 00:18:48.360 --> 00:18:54.400 And you know, the apostle Paul was over a decade in one area before the Lord even called him on his missionary journeys. 00:18:56.020 --> 00:18:59.640 And so I, I don't, I like to get mystical over particular places in which God leads us. 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:04.960 Though I do recognize that God, God can lead us to particular places, physical places. 00:19:06.260 --> 00:19:13.580 But when we talk about primarily about God leading us to places, more often than not, 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:15.980 God's focus isn't the physical place. 00:19:17.580 --> 00:19:20.150 But to be honest, I think it's a relational place. 00:19:23.380 --> 00:19:29.680 You know, when Jesus taught to the people during his day, he didn't obsess about them finding the right physical place. 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:33.880 I mean, Jesus didn't start his lessons like, Oh man, I can't teach you guys. 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:36.440 You're supposed to be living over here doing this stuff. 00:19:36.760 --> 00:19:37.560 I can't teach you either. 00:19:37.560 --> 00:19:39.150 You're not in the right physical location. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:41.080 I'm sorry. 00:19:41.080 --> 00:19:44.720 You're out of God's will, brother. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:51.760 That what Jesus taught us is that the place in which he wants us to recognize his presence and live for his glory had not to do 00:19:51.760 --> 00:19:54.180 so much with the physical place as it did the relational place. 00:19:54.180 --> 00:20:01.880 And so when you look at that, Jesus, his teachings in scripture, love others. 00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:09.000 Love your neighbor, love your enemy, care for the widows and orphans. 00:20:10.020 --> 00:20:12.600 Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. 00:20:13.940 --> 00:20:15.180 Husbands, love your wives. 00:20:15.300 --> 00:20:17.340 Wives, respect your husbands. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.920 Parents, be godly to your kids' kids. 00:20:21.260 --> 00:20:27.900 Honor your parents, employers, employees, respect one another. 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:36.740 I mean, Jesus, his commands are primarily seeking God's will and finding the a specific place, but rather a 00:20:36.740 --> 00:20:37.760 relational place. 00:20:37.820 --> 00:20:45.060 Let me just say this, you don't change the world by finding the perfect place, 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:50.520 but rather being used by God in a broken place. 00:20:53.020 --> 00:20:57.140 A place is only important because of the people. 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:00.110 The people are who God loves. 00:21:02.340 --> 00:21:07.100 We think in terms of places we should think in terms of people. 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:15.200 It's why we don't have to pray very much about caring for widows and orphans. 00:21:17.890 --> 00:21:25.700 We know God's heart rest with him and to love them is 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:26.340 to love the Lord. 00:21:29.300 --> 00:21:34.420 I mean, could you imagine getting to heaven and having never done anything for anyone such as in that position? 00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:37.870 I mean, you could ask the question, where are you in the right place? 00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:42.440 Even if it was somewhere you felt God led you physically. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:49.710 If nothing was done relationally, you can argue it's not in the right place. 00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:57.120 In fact, Jesus taught his disciples in Luke chapter 10 verse 30 he shared a story of a Levi, a priest, 00:21:57.180 --> 00:22:04.200 and a Samaritan who was walking along the road and a man had been beaten and he's laying in the ditch and the Levi 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:07.020 and the priests are so interested in getting to this physical place. 00:22:09.140 --> 00:22:16.420 They were neglected to minister in the relational place and the Samaritan, the one that would be considered the outcast 00:22:16.420 --> 00:22:17.450 from the Jewish community. 00:22:17.540 --> 00:22:20.380 He's the one that stops, loves the individual in that need. 00:22:22.060 --> 00:22:29.220 And God shares the story for us to recognize that we get so obsessed with the physicality of where we are, that we neglect the people in front 00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:29.780 of our faces. 00:22:31.990 --> 00:22:36.440 And so we can be physically present, not participate. 00:22:39.620 --> 00:22:44.360 So what's the ask us this morning in walking in line with God rather than having the heart of Jonah. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:52.080 Who are the people God wants you to impact, to love, forgive, 00:22:53.600 --> 00:22:57.960 encourage, strengthen, serve. 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:03.730 You know, when you think about the story of Jonah, this is, this is where the story fits. 00:23:03.820 --> 00:23:06.460 It's everything of not what not to do. 00:23:08.080 --> 00:23:14.540 Because what we see in the story of Jonah is that he wants God's presence, but not God's calling. 00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:23.490 Joan is even willing to go to Nineveh, but he doesn't care about the people. 00:23:26.420 --> 00:23:28.140 Hundred and 20,000 people. 00:23:28.140 --> 00:23:35.200 It tells us in chapter four, 120,000 people come to the Lord. 00:23:36.320 --> 00:23:40.140 Yeah, Jonah doesn't care. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:48.280 The find the place that God desires starts internally moves 00:23:48.280 --> 00:23:51.580 externally to love the city. 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:58.080 Cause God loves the people to walk with Jesus in it. 00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:01.740 So it's to ask the question and then maybe answer it this way. 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:03.540 How do I know I'm in the right place? 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:07.360 How do I know God's called me to this place? 00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:13.970 You're ready for the answer because God loves the people. 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:29.540 Acts 17 tells a story about God's understanding of where we 00:24:29.540 --> 00:24:31.500 are literally in this world. 00:24:31.500 --> 00:24:38.560 And it says this, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined their appointed 00:24:38.560 --> 00:24:40.040 times and the boundaries of their habitation. 00:24:43.460 --> 00:24:50.540 God knew that you were going to be here regardless if it's extended for your life. 00:24:50.540 --> 00:24:51.160 Whatever. 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:55.700 What God desires for you to do is to care for the people around you because God cares for the people around you. 00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:08.120 I mean, statistically, just consider our area 600,000 people in this County and 00:25:08.120 --> 00:25:09.480 less than half of 1%. 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:20.590 When I, moved here, I don't know, 10, 11 years ago. 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:30.160 I in my heart, I, I was looking for a place in which I feel like the Lord could use me to have an effect to love on the people as he loved on 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:30.990 the people. 00:25:31.400 --> 00:25:37.160 And I read an interesting article, a, it was, it was an article on how to, how to be an effective person in an area. 00:25:38.980 --> 00:25:45.980 And they've honed it in on pastors because pastors tend to be easier to mimic in this study that they were doing. 00:25:46.340 --> 00:25:53.500 But this is what they recognize about pastors that go in an area that the ones that have the largest effect on an area for Christ 00:25:54.020 --> 00:25:57.460 are the ones who did ministry in a particular area for more than 10 years. 00:25:59.340 --> 00:26:01.260 Just means I'm just not hitting my effective stage. 00:26:02.180 --> 00:26:03.360 Whatever happened for it doesn't count. 00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:10.610 Why it's the desire and willingness to be there with the people. 00:26:13.660 --> 00:26:20.620 Well, the care for the love and courage, strength and teach, direct, Edify, exhort, rebuke, whatever. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:25.620 It's the concern for the people. 00:26:25.620 --> 00:26:32.800 I read a quote from Hudson Taylor before, before I even knew that God would lead me to Utah 00:26:32.820 --> 00:26:35.820 and it drew my heart for what I was longing for. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:41.480 I can, I can remember just thinking anywhere in the world, God, I'm willing to go anywhere in the world for your glory, your kingdom. 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:42.900 I, I, I want to do that. 00:26:42.900 --> 00:26:49.580 Then I read a story of Hudson Taylor who went to China as a missionary and, about his life. 00:26:49.580 --> 00:26:53.830 I read some comments that Hudson Taylor had written and what made him so successful. 00:26:53.840 --> 00:26:55.040 And then I saw this quote from him. 00:26:55.040 --> 00:27:00.930 He said, if I have a thousand lives and a thousand lives I'd give for China. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:05.860 And I knew right there. 00:27:08.220 --> 00:27:08.480 Got it. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:18.680 If you could just lean my heart into a place like that, not just physically being 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:25.740 in the right place relationally, the people you put in front of me, the 00:27:25.760 --> 00:27:33.160 interactions I have, if my heart could yearn for them in that way, how 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:35.230 effective that would be for your kingdom? 00:27:37.820 --> 00:27:45.980 Well, sometimes we need to think in terms of it physically got where you have me, but 00:27:45.980 --> 00:27:50.380 other times it's in spheres of relationships. 00:27:51.080 --> 00:27:58.080 It has got call you the impact and you can think through scripture, the significance of those relationships, what God 00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:05.400 desires, the priority that they should have, whether it be marriage, whether it be the family, whether whether it be work, whatever. 00:28:05.580 --> 00:28:07.020 Those are those places. 00:28:07.360 --> 00:28:09.140 God's not surprised where he has you. 00:28:09.280 --> 00:28:11.640 He loves those people and he placed you there. 00:28:14.140 --> 00:28:21.580 Following God is not just, it's not just finding the right place internally, living that out externally and 00:28:21.580 --> 00:28:26.950 then this, I would say following him by living in the right message. 00:28:29.340 --> 00:28:34.340 The numbers for Jonah shares that message. 00:28:36.300 --> 00:28:43.500 People of Nineveh, Nineveh believed in God and they called a fast and put off, put on sackcloth 00:28:43.500 --> 00:28:44.960 from the greatest of them to the least. 00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:52.600 When the word reached the King of Nineveh, he Rose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him and covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the 00:28:52.600 --> 00:28:53.100 Asher. 00:28:53.140 --> 00:28:54.780 So the sackcloth is a form of repentance. 00:28:55.460 --> 00:28:55.830 You can imagine. 00:28:56.100 --> 00:28:57.260 Could you or could you imagine? 00:28:57.300 --> 00:29:03.640 I should say, the political leaders even getting down in humility and repenting before God. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:07.020 And it says in verse seven, he issued a proclamation talking about the King. 00:29:07.340 --> 00:29:14.100 And it said in Nineveh, by the decree of the King and his Nobles, do not let man beast, herd or flock taste a thing. 00:29:14.100 --> 00:29:15.660 Do not let them eat or drink. 00:29:16.020 --> 00:29:18.740 But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth. 00:29:19.060 --> 00:29:26.080 And let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from the wicked way and from the violence in which is in his hands. 00:29:26.760 --> 00:29:27.380 Who knows? 00:29:28.820 --> 00:29:29.240 Excuse me. 00:29:29.280 --> 00:29:29.760 Who knows? 00:29:29.820 --> 00:29:35.310 God may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we will not perish. 00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:43.000 So they don't even know if God's judgment is still going to be poured out on them, but repenting anyway before the Lord and they, they're 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:45.740 doing this so much that it tells us they're like, get the dog. 00:29:46.080 --> 00:29:47.960 The dog needs her ripping everything. 00:29:48.520 --> 00:29:49.860 If it's breathing, make it repent. 00:29:51.040 --> 00:29:51.620 And that's pretty extensive. 00:29:54.940 --> 00:30:02.060 But you look, when Jonah gives this message and verse four, the message that he preached, I mean, it's a pretty gutsy 00:30:02.060 --> 00:30:02.360 message. 00:30:02.580 --> 00:30:09.600 He's going into a violet group of people who've come against Israel seven several times and now he's preaching this message of 00:30:09.600 --> 00:30:15.340 repentance is like a Turner burn message that just would not be popular in that area, especially from a Jew. 00:30:17.100 --> 00:30:24.560 And when Jonah shares the message in English, it's eight words in Hebrew, it's less just 00:30:24.560 --> 00:30:25.560 shares a short message. 00:30:27.800 --> 00:30:34.820 That's, some people have looked at this message and wondered was this the, was this the extent of the message that Jonas shared was 00:30:34.820 --> 00:30:38.920 that the fullness of this message that's recorded in scripture? 00:30:40.020 --> 00:30:46.380 I mean, he says yet 40 days and then if it will be overthrown or is it just a summary of his message? 00:30:48.740 --> 00:30:50.890 Yeah, those that believed that this is the full extent of the message. 00:30:51.120 --> 00:30:56.800 They acknowledged that God draws life out of the individuals because it wouldn't take much. 00:30:56.820 --> 00:31:01.940 God's desire is for Minerva to come to know him and he's using Jonah as the tool to do that. 00:31:01.940 --> 00:31:05.400 And so Jonah just shares the message and maybe it's so short because Jonah is afraid. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:06.820 So he's like, he's Ipsen real quick. 00:31:06.860 --> 00:31:08.720 And just as a blah, blah, blah, I'm outta here. 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:09.910 You know, I don't want to go. 00:31:10.080 --> 00:31:10.400 He's gone. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:19.820 I tend to believe if this is the full extent of the message, Jonah shared that God used Jenna to share the message 00:31:19.820 --> 00:31:26.820 and more than just words did a little study on those that have been swallowed by whales and lived 00:31:30.420 --> 00:31:31.420 in the Falkland islands. 00:31:31.420 --> 00:31:35.770 I think in the 19 hundreds the um, there was a ship, I think it was called the East star. 00:31:37.420 --> 00:31:44.520 They were, well, it was a whaling ship and they were hunting a whale and early into the hunt, like I fell overboard and the crew 00:31:44.520 --> 00:31:45.550 lost them. 00:31:46.380 --> 00:31:53.380 And then they catch a whale, took them a while, and then over a day later, they eventually bring the boats to the side of the ship and 00:31:53.380 --> 00:31:56.430 they, they start to dismantle this whale. 00:31:57.040 --> 00:32:02.620 And over a day later, as they're dismantling the soil, they find that there is a man inside of the, of this. 00:32:02.620 --> 00:32:04.650 Well, and it was the individual who had fallen out of the ship. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:08.980 And when they pulled him out, they said it took him two to three weeks before he got his sanity back. 00:32:09.180 --> 00:32:16.290 The guy was just out of it and that his body had been eaten so much by the and within the stomach of the whale that he was unrecognizable. 00:32:16.900 --> 00:32:22.900 His skin is pigment was gone, his hair had started to fall out and he had looked like boils all over his skin. 00:32:25.140 --> 00:32:29.330 He imagined this and the story of Jonah, Jonah gets spit out on the shore. 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:32.140 He walks then 500 miles into Nineveh. 00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:39.800 I mean if you're the few people on the beach that day fishing and you see this guy coming up out of the water, the story of that going to spread. 00:32:40.620 --> 00:32:42.840 I mean, you see him, you're like, what in the world happened to you? 00:32:43.620 --> 00:32:46.320 And he explains it to you and you're going to tell your friends, right? 00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:54.780 I think by the time he reaches Nineveh, everyone knows what's happened to Jonah and if you didn't, 00:32:54.780 --> 00:32:55.480 it's apparent. 00:32:55.700 --> 00:32:58.020 By the way, Jonah is carrying himself into the city. 00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:07.660 I think people recognize this is a profit and he shares a message and God has definitely 00:33:07.700 --> 00:33:08.540 spared his life. 00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:13.200 Whatever he says, we are doing it. 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:27.020 Jonah shares this message and it even reaches the leaders and God's 00:33:27.020 --> 00:33:34.060 spirit draws life in the words in which Jonah shares that when God's spirit draws life out of five 00:33:34.060 --> 00:33:36.860 words, but it's important to recognize he chose not to do it. 00:33:38.940 --> 00:33:46.300 Tell Jonah willingly proclaimed Jonah 00:33:46.300 --> 00:33:55.040 not only obeyed God by going to the location, but he also followed 00:33:55.040 --> 00:33:56.920 God by living in the right message. 00:33:59.220 --> 00:34:07.560 You know, as you see this story unfolding and what's important to recognize is that God, I 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:08.340 didn't need Jonah. 00:34:13.219 --> 00:34:14.020 God can use anybody. 00:34:16.820 --> 00:34:18.280 Even in Jonah's disobedience. 00:34:18.739 --> 00:34:20.340 Guy could've just said, fine, go to Tarshish. 00:34:20.520 --> 00:34:21.699 I'm going to call someone else. 00:34:24.780 --> 00:34:25.420 I didn't need them. 00:34:27.560 --> 00:34:27.739 Yeah. 00:34:27.739 --> 00:34:32.090 What we see is God wanted to go on this journey with him. 00:34:35.780 --> 00:34:36.719 The summer. 00:34:38.520 --> 00:34:45.420 my boys liked to come outside when I'm out and join me in whatever I'm doing, which I find incredibly delightful and frustrating at the same time. 00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:51.120 Like, I love doing stuff with my kids and I don't like taking five times longer to do stuff. 00:34:51.179 --> 00:34:58.340 So there's this joy of enjoying the relational time I have with them to teach them something in this frustration of, please 00:34:58.340 --> 00:34:59.290 stop doing that. 00:34:59.420 --> 00:35:06.500 You know, so, but when I'm Mo, I have my youngest likes to Levi, the adventurous one who runs with the wind. 00:35:07.260 --> 00:35:09.780 He, he likes to help me. 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:13.800 Mo and I have had delight in the fact that I can teach him to mow. 00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:18.780 And his attention span is so short that he only gets about three to four strips in before he's done. 00:35:19.260 --> 00:35:26.280 And it's kinda difficult when he does this with me cause he'll sit, he's so small, have to hold the handlebars low and he's right in front of me as that we're pushing 00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:27.450 this mower with a giant bag. 00:35:27.620 --> 00:35:29.910 And then as it accumulates grass, it gets heavier and heavier and everything. 00:35:29.960 --> 00:35:32.580 So I'm trying to like stretch myself out so he can fit in there. 00:35:32.580 --> 00:35:33.620 We can push this thing together. 00:35:34.040 --> 00:35:41.240 But sometime this summer there was this, there was this time, he decided for whatever was in him, 00:35:41.300 --> 00:35:42.420 he was doing the whole yard. 00:35:43.040 --> 00:35:44.240 Thank God. 00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:51.460 So who were out there pushing this mower, and I didn't share this with you yet, but a few leading up to this time for 00:35:51.500 --> 00:35:58.820 the last few weeks had been telling Stacy my heart, my heart had been acting a little funny and um, and some older Mo in this yard 00:35:58.820 --> 00:36:04.640 and I am just wishing he would quit by this point cause my body just feels so broken having to stretch. 00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:09.940 So far my back has is striding more than I've ever felt that strain in my life. 00:36:10.060 --> 00:36:13.240 And finally with just two strips left, he quits. 00:36:13.260 --> 00:36:16.040 And as a father you think, well you just, you want your kid to have that sense of accomplishment. 00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:19.200 But I was so done by that point, I didn't even, I didn't even care. 00:36:19.500 --> 00:36:23.380 And as soon as he lets go, I'm enjoying this journey with him, talking myself through it. 00:36:23.380 --> 00:36:25.240 Just your kid's going to have this sense of accomplishment. 00:36:25.520 --> 00:36:26.840 Just go, you can do it. 00:36:27.160 --> 00:36:28.120 You know. 00:36:28.120 --> 00:36:31.140 And finally, as soon as it gets up, I'll let go of the mower and I just follow the ground. 00:36:31.220 --> 00:36:32.660 My back is just done. 00:36:32.660 --> 00:36:40.060 It's mush and Stacy happens to be in the kitchen and all she sees is her husband doubling over outside 00:36:40.080 --> 00:36:48.280 and you can see as she opens the door, this the sense of panic as she calls, calls out my name, only 00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:52.070 for me to share my desire. 00:36:55.180 --> 00:36:57.250 It's just about spending that time with my son. 00:36:59.600 --> 00:37:06.430 It wasn't about really mowing the yard, it was about walking life with him. 00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:12.240 It's about seeing the accomplishment even though I couldn't make it. 00:37:14.080 --> 00:37:17.930 It's about watching his persistence and endurance to spend time with his dad. 00:37:20.120 --> 00:37:27.120 It's about seeing him mature into a man, emulating his 00:37:27.120 --> 00:37:33.160 father, and that's the story of Jonah. 00:37:35.580 --> 00:37:42.600 It's not just about the city, it's about you in the city. 00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:48.340 The story isn't about just rescuing Nineveh. 00:37:50.820 --> 00:37:52.040 It's about rescuing Jonah. 00:37:55.420 --> 00:38:01.380 Jonah doesn't even realize how much he needs God until the challenges of ministry reveal his own weakness. 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:06.690 That's the same time and walking with the Lord. 00:38:08.380 --> 00:38:11.200 He gets to love others or him. 00:38:14.720 --> 00:38:21.720 Yeah, the neglect of Joan, and I think the reason this literature is given to us in such wisdom is because it wants us to recognize the frustration of Joan in 00:38:21.720 --> 00:38:30.700 those moments that he followed God to the right place, but 00:38:30.700 --> 00:38:37.730 he saw his place in terms of physicality, not in terms of the people around them. 00:38:40.340 --> 00:38:47.430 God's desire was through those people to not only transform their lives, but in the process transform his life too, 00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:52.260 and that's the joy of being where you are today. 00:38:55.600 --> 00:39:02.600 You're in the right place because God cares about the people and 00:39:02.600 --> 00:39:09.720 you're now here to care about the people and in that journey that's 00:39:09.720 --> 00:39:11.430 just not doing a work in them. 00:39:13.300 --> 00:39:15.840 I think most importantly, he's doing that work in you.