Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] It is good for us from time to time to say a group prayer.
[00:00:14] That's where everybody prays in their heart, and I pray out loud.
[00:00:19] And we bombard the throne of God and ask for favor.
[00:00:26] And the Bible teaches us it says very. This is a direct quote from the Psalms.
[00:00:34] Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
[00:00:38] And I want us to do that together this morning.
[00:00:46] I want you to whisper in your heart, and I'm going to pray out loud. And we're just going to do what God taught us to do. We're going to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
[00:00:58] We're going to pray that in his own way, by his own power, that he would glorify his name and bring peace to a very troubled place.
[00:01:09] I feel like that would be honoring to Jesus Christ, don't you?
[00:01:14] All right, let's pray together.
[00:01:17] Dear Heavenly Father, humanity is violent, we're arrogant and we bring trouble.
[00:01:34] But you are the God of all peace and you taught us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
[00:01:43] And this morning, the church and I, we raise our hearts to you and simply say to you, would you grant peace to Jerusalem?
[00:01:53] Would you whisper to hearts? Would you redirect ways? Would you guide people in new directions?
[00:02:02] And where there is a violence in war, may it be replaced by peace.
[00:02:08] Dear Father, I pray that you would bless us this morning and we could learn from the prophet Jonah.
[00:02:15] I pray that we would confront our own reluctance and we would trust in you and believe that you are able to do exceedingly and abundantly above what we can ask or think.
[00:02:27] In Christ's name, Amen.
[00:02:35] We're studying through the book of Jonah.
[00:02:39] And last week we learned that Jonah was a prophet.
[00:02:45] And all his life he had done what God asked him to do.
[00:02:50] But the word of the Lord came to him and say, go to Nineveh, that great city, and prophesy against it.
[00:03:00] And for the first time in his life, Jonah said, no, I'm not going.
[00:03:08] In fact, he said, I'm going to run from the presence of the Lord.
[00:03:14] And he went to Japa, bought a ticket on a boat and sailed out into the Mediterranean.
[00:03:21] But Jonah's ability to run was less than God's ability to block him.
[00:03:28] And God sent a great storm.
[00:03:32] And Jonah slept during the storm until the captain said, what's wrong with you, loser? Everybody else is fighting for their lives and you're sleeping.
[00:03:44] And we pick up at chapter one, verse seven this morning.
[00:03:51] And the mariners said to one another, come, let us cast lots, so we may know on whose account this evil has come. Upon us.
[00:04:02] So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
[00:04:08] Ah, well, I was thinking about this this week.
[00:04:13] Sailors are not notorious for being well behaved.
[00:04:21] Ah.
[00:04:22] In fact, they have a reputation for being a rather rowdy bunch.
[00:04:29] And I thought to myself, ah, ah.
[00:04:34] I would have been afraid to say, let's catch cast lots because I remember some loser stuff about myself and I would afraid the lot would fall on me.
[00:04:47] Church.
[00:04:50] But there's a very human flaw here.
[00:04:55] They're willing to cast lots because they exaggerate the flaws of others and under emphasize their own flaws.
[00:05:10] This is a human. This is a very flawed human trait.
[00:05:15] It's easy for me to look at other people and see the bad in them and then say to myself, I'm not that bad.
[00:05:27] Church.
[00:05:28] It's real easy to say, look at that guy. I'm not that bad.
[00:05:34] All right? And that's exactly what these sailors are doing.
[00:05:38] They're saying this is somebody's fault. And I'm sure it's not me because I know these other guys and I think they're all worse than I am.
[00:05:49] So.
[00:05:55] This is. This is showing us that all of us permit too much evil in our thoughts, feelings and choices.
[00:06:06] That lot could have fell to anyone in that boat.
[00:06:10] They all had thought thoughts they shouldn't have thought.
[00:06:15] They all had cherished feelings that they should have cashed cast out of their heart.
[00:06:21] And they had all made choices they shouldn't have made. The lot could have fallen on any of them.
[00:06:29] But because God was at work, of course the lot fell on Jonah.
[00:06:36] Now everybody in the boat is looking at him and they're thinking, this guy must be a real problem.
[00:06:47] And.
[00:06:53] It supported their belief that. That even though they knew they had flaws, there was somebody on the boat worse than them.
[00:07:04] All right, I want to make a point here.
[00:07:07] Church.
[00:07:10] Ah.
[00:07:12] We don't get better by finding people worse than we are and pointing the finger at them.
[00:07:21] We get better by saying the lot is falling on me and I gotta take a good, honest look at myself.
[00:07:32] And I have to say, where is it that I have been reluctant in my relationship to Christ and that reluctance has allowed me to have things in my life that do not belong in my life.
[00:07:48] Church.
[00:07:51] Ah.
[00:07:52] This passage reminds me of the Gospels.
[00:07:55] In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was teaching and some people came up to him and said, hey, Jesus, did you hear what happened?
[00:08:06] Pilate got mad in Jerusalem, sent soldiers in and killed people who were making sacrifices.
[00:08:17] He mingled the blood of people with the blood of sacrifices.
[00:08:24] And Jesus paused for a minute and he goes, yeah, that was pretty ugly.
[00:08:32] But you mustn't think that those Galileans were worse sinners than everybody else.
[00:08:40] He said, in fact, if you don't repent, you're going to perish the very same way.
[00:08:47] And then Jesus said, you remember that the Tower of Siloam that fell and killed 18 people?
[00:08:55] Do you think those 18 people got killed that day because they were worse than everybody else?
[00:09:02] I tell you, no.
[00:09:05] And unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
[00:09:09] All right, here's the big point.
[00:09:13] I believe as Christians, we represent God better when we are confronting our own brokenness than when we are finger pointing at other people.
[00:09:29] As Christians, I think we represent Christ better when we're trying to live more like him who has shown himself gracious and merciful and full of forgiveness.
[00:09:49] Church.
[00:09:59] Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.
[00:10:07] What is your occupation?
[00:10:09] Where do you come from? What is your country of? What people are you? And he said to them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and dry land.
[00:10:24] Now, these mariners, they're fascinated with Jonah, and they ask him five questions.
[00:10:31] And I'd like to share with you what I hear behind the questions.
[00:10:35] The first question they ask him is, what evil did you do to bring this on us?
[00:10:47] I don't think they were actually asking him to say, well, I dishonored God and, and I. And, and I ran from Him. I.
[00:11:00] What I hear behind this question is, ah, What's going on that would cause God to do this?
[00:11:20] What's going on in you that would cause God to send this storm and threaten all of us?
[00:11:28] Their second question was, what is your occupation?
[00:11:33] They said, hey, we're sailors.
[00:11:36] We make our living on this boat. We sail all over the Mediterranean. This has never happened before.
[00:11:44] What is your occupation?
[00:11:47] Ah.
[00:11:50] What kind of evil work are you doing that would bring this on us?
[00:11:56] Then they said, where do you come from?
[00:12:00] This is a way of saying, what makes you so different that in all our lives we've been on this sea and we've never seen a storm like this. What makes you so different that, that, that this would happen?
[00:12:15] What is your country of? What people are you?
[00:12:22] What is so special about you and where you're from and your people that God would cause the whole sea to be like this and afflict us and everybody else who's on the sea right now?
[00:12:39] They've said, we've traveled all over this, this Mediterranean and we've Never seen it like this before.
[00:12:46] What made this happen?
[00:12:50] Now everybody's staring at Jonah.
[00:12:54] And Jonah gave two answers to their questions. One.
[00:12:58] I'm a Hebrew.
[00:13:01] When he said, I'm a Hebrew, he. He was saying, God did something unique in the world when he called Abraham.
[00:13:11] When God said to Abraham, I'm going to make you a great nation. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And in your descendant, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
[00:13:26] Jonah said, you want to know what makes me unique?
[00:13:31] I am a descendant of Abraham. I am a Hebrew, and God is at work in the world.
[00:13:40] Then, through the Hebrew nation, you shouldn't be surprised that there's a great storm. Because the God, the only living and true God, he is the God of the Hebrews, and I am his servant. And he's brought all this to pass as part of glorifying his name in all the earth.
[00:14:06] And then he said, I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
[00:14:16] If you look at this, I think I've shared this with you before.
[00:14:20] If Lord is spelled in all capitals, it's the Hebrew name Yahweh or Jehovah.
[00:14:28] This is what he said.
[00:14:30] I serve Yahweh.
[00:14:35] That name comes from Moses experience at the burning bush, God said to Moses, I want you to go to Egypt and free my people. And. And Moses, yeah, I'm not going.
[00:14:49] I know the Pharaoh. And plus, I know your people, and they're hard to get along with.
[00:14:55] He said, besides, who would. If they asked me who sent you, what would I say?
[00:15:01] And then from the burning bush, God said to Moses, you tell him, yahweh sent you.
[00:15:10] I am that. I am the God of the eternal presentation. Who sent you? The God of the eternal present.
[00:15:21] Now, Jonah uses that name and he says, yes, I am a Hebrew, and you need to know that I am a servant of the God of the eternal present.
[00:15:37] That's too much for you to comprehend, so think about it this way.
[00:15:43] I am a servant of the God of Heaven who made the sea in the dry land.
[00:15:49] Jonah said, you want to make. Want to know what makes me unique?
[00:15:53] I am a servant of the God of the eternal present.
[00:15:58] You want to know what makes me unique? I am a servant of the God of Heaven.
[00:16:04] You want to know why I'm not surprised by the sea being in a torment like this?
[00:16:10] Because I serve the God who made the sea.
[00:16:15] And if he made the sea, it's a relatively easy thing for him to send a storm on the sea.
[00:16:23] He said, you want. You want to know what makes me unique?
[00:16:27] I am a servant of the only true God.
[00:16:32] When I was thinking about this, oh, how hard we try to find our own unique places.
[00:16:48] Nobody wants to be number 730 out of 1,000, right? Nobody wants to just be another face in the crowd, another name on the list.
[00:17:02] If you started looking at your life and someone says, what makes you unique?
[00:17:12] What makes you different from everybody else in the world?
[00:17:17] What is there about you?
[00:17:19] Well, some of you might say you have this talent. Or some of you might have this life experience or it. We look around in our lives and we identify things that are unique.
[00:17:33] Ah.
[00:17:35] Ah.
[00:17:40] When they asked Jonah what makes you unique, he didn't look at anything he owned.
[00:17:47] He didn't look at any experience that he had had.
[00:17:51] He looked beyond all of that, and he said, the thing that makes me most unique is I am a servant of the living God Church.
[00:18:02] Jonah had a lot of flaws, but he was spot on there. Do you hear this?
[00:18:07] You know what makes you unique?
[00:18:09] You are loved by the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:18:13] You want to know what makes you unique? He sent his spirit to call you.
[00:18:19] He regenerated your soul. He redeemed you. He invited you into his holy family. He is at work in you, both to will and to work, according to his own good pleasure. He is committed to stand you up before him on that great day without spot and without blemish. And that makes you unique.
[00:18:40] Brothers and sisters, Then the men were exceedingly afraid.
[00:18:52] And they said to Jonah, what is this that you have done?
[00:18:58] For the men knew he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he told them, these people were afraid of the storm.
[00:19:07] But after they talked to Jonah, now they're more afraid of God than they were the storm.
[00:19:16] You know why that's important?
[00:19:19] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
[00:19:23] You hear this?
[00:19:25] The fear of the storm didn't change their lives at all.
[00:19:30] The fear of the God of the storm changed their lives.
[00:19:37] Church Jesus was once teaching, and he said to his disciples, I don't want you to be afraid of the people around you.
[00:19:48] I don't want you to be intimidated.
[00:19:51] Don't let people intimidate you because of your Christian faith.
[00:19:56] And then Jesus said, I tell you who you ought to be afraid of.
[00:20:03] Don't be afraid of somebody who can only kill your body.
[00:20:08] And then they can't do anything else.
[00:20:11] You be afraid of the God who can not only kill your body, but condemn your eternal soul.
[00:20:19] That's we ought to fear. Can you hear this, Church?
[00:20:23] There is a mighty God, and he's worthy of all reverence.
[00:20:28] And that reverence for God Almighty is the beginning of all wisdom.
[00:20:35] In spite of Jonah's reluctance, in spite of his lack of cooperation, God is working through Jonah to change the sailors.
[00:20:46] I'm going to show you in a minute they will never be the same.
[00:20:49] Even though Jonah was off track with God, God was still at work in him. And. And God was changing these pagan sailors by their experience with Jonah.
[00:21:04] God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above what we can ask or think.
[00:21:11] Many of us in the room today and watching online, we have family and friends that aren't as close to God as we wish they were.
[00:21:24] Ah. We have family and friends that we hear ourselves whispering their name to God.
[00:21:32] Ah.
[00:21:35] If God could convert hardened sailors with a runaway prophet who did not want to cooperate with God and was reluctant, who knows what God might do in the lives of these people that we can't reach ourselves, but we can whisper their names to God.
[00:21:59] Church, I believe that beyond my limitations, the very same God who used Jonah to convert hardened sailors can find someone can be at work in some way to guide the ones that I love back into the embrace of Jesus Christ.
[00:22:25] Jonah confessed to them.
[00:22:27] Want to know what my big sin is?
[00:22:29] I'm running from the presence of God.
[00:22:33] You know what good things happen when we start to confess.
[00:22:41] Do you hear this?
[00:22:42] It is a beginning of a change in Jonah.
[00:22:47] He's willing to confess.
[00:22:50] He's willing to say, I'm going to tell you what the problem is.
[00:22:54] I said no to God and I fled from his presence.
[00:22:58] Ah, brothers and sisters.
[00:23:02] Church.
[00:23:04] If we're going to be awesome men and women of God, there's got to be some honesty between us and God.
[00:23:13] And we got to be willing to say to him. I confess to you that I have been reluctant to become the person you want me to be.
[00:23:22] I'm holding out on you. I'm arguing with you. You're trying to change me in a better way, and I'm resisting it. I'm reluctant to your change.
[00:23:33] I am confessing to you my sin of reluctance.
[00:23:39] Or it might be, dear God, I hear you whispering, ask me, asking me to serve you in a new and more challenging way.
[00:23:50] And I don't want to.
[00:23:53] And so I've been reluctant to be as close to you as I should.
[00:23:58] And today I'm confessing that that is a sin. And. And I'm asking for your Holy Spirit to work in me, in A new and beautiful way. You see, Church.
[00:24:07] It begins with the confession.
[00:24:11] It begins with the acknowledgment.
[00:24:16] Verse 11.
[00:24:18] Then they said to him, what shall we do with you that the sea may quiet down for us?
[00:24:24] For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
[00:24:29] Listen to Jonah, he said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea.
[00:24:38] Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.
[00:24:49] While they were talking, while they're casting lots and talking, the storm got even worse.
[00:24:56] And the mariners, who had been at sea for years, they have become so impressed with Jonah that they ask him, what should we do?
[00:25:12] They're the sailors. They understand the boat. They understand wind and current.
[00:25:21] But they say to Jonah, what should we do?
[00:25:26] Ah.
[00:25:27] Ah. Isn't it interesting that in spite of all his reluctance, God gave Jonah influence over a group of men that were not easy to influence?
[00:25:42] I don't believe the guys on that boat were easily influenced.
[00:25:48] I believe they lived the rough life of sailors and they weren't really open to a lot of dandies like Jonah giving them advice.
[00:26:00] But here, on this day, they say, what should we do?
[00:26:09] Jonah's answer just shocks me.
[00:26:13] He said, pick me up.
[00:26:20] I hear him saying, anxiety has exhausted me.
[00:26:28] Depression has left me empty.
[00:26:32] I'm feeling totally weak, and I'm not going to jump in.
[00:26:42] So if you want help, you're going to have to pick me up and throw me in.
[00:26:48] Then he just. He doesn't say. Ironically, he doesn't say, drop me into the sea.
[00:26:55] Listen what he says.
[00:26:57] Hurl me into the sea.
[00:27:00] I'm too dangerous for you to be around, and your only hope is to hurl me into the sea.
[00:27:10] I know I caused this trouble.
[00:27:14] You know, I have found in my life the world is a more troubled place when I am reluctant to God.
[00:27:27] Church.
[00:27:29] Being reluctant to God doesn't make my life easy, easier.
[00:27:34] It makes it more chaotic.
[00:27:37] Being reluctant in my relationship to God doesn't calm my inner self.
[00:27:45] It torments my inner self.
[00:27:48] Hear this.
[00:27:49] Your reluctance is part of what's causing the storm in your soul today.
[00:27:57] You keeping a safe distance from Christ.
[00:28:02] It's part of what's traumatizing you in your inner self.
[00:28:07] There is no rest, says the Lord, for the wicked. You see.
[00:28:14] Ah.
[00:28:16] Ah.
[00:28:19] When you run from God, you end up going from a sinking ship to a raging sea.
[00:28:29] You know what we call that?
[00:28:31] Jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
[00:28:34] Oh, Jonah was in the frying pan when he was in the boat. But when they hurled him out, the boat seemed a whole lot more comfy than that.
[00:28:45] A storming sea.
[00:28:48] Can I remind you that wherever you are this morning, wherever your soul is, whatever the state of your relationship to Christ is, Psalm 37 told us that the Lord is our refuge and our stronghold.
[00:29:06] Can you hear this?
[00:29:08] Ah.
[00:29:09] Ah.
[00:29:11] Ah.
[00:29:12] Jonah was running from God, but God was running right behind him.
[00:29:20] The lot fell on Jonah, but God was standing right beside him.
[00:29:28] The mariners said, what should we do?
[00:29:33] Jonah said, I'm too dangerous to be around. Get rid of me.
[00:29:38] But God stood right beside him.
[00:29:41] And when Jonah went into the water, he didn't go in the water by himself.
[00:29:46] He went into the water in the loving care of the God who was his stronghold and refuge.
[00:29:54] Church Could I tell you, you're probably going to have challenging times.
[00:30:03] Life just seems to be that way.
[00:30:06] But when it's at its most challenging, and then it goes up one step still remember, the Lord is my refuge and my strength.
[00:30:17] The Lord is my stronghold.
[00:30:19] Whatever you face this week, you don't face it alone.
[00:30:24] Wherever you go this week, you don't go there alone.
[00:30:29] Whatever the raging sea in your life is, you're not in it alone. Because the Lord is your refuge, he is your stronghold. He is your ever present help in time of trouble.
[00:30:45] I'm starting to like these Mariners. Verse 13.
[00:30:50] Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to the land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
[00:31:04] Therefore they called out to Yahweh.
[00:31:11] Remember at the beginning they were praying to their pagan gods.
[00:31:18] The storm hit and every mariner was praying to his pagan God.
[00:31:24] Now they have experienced something of the presence of God in Jonah. And they're not praying to their pagan gods. They're praying to Yahweh, the God that Jonah introduced them to.
[00:31:39] Ah.
[00:31:42] This is their prayer. Oh, Yahweh, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood for you, O Yahweh, have done as it pleased you.
[00:32:01] So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea.
[00:32:06] And the sea ceased from its raging.
[00:32:10] Then the Lord, then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly, and they offered sacrifices to Yahweh and they made vows.
[00:32:21] I like these mariners. Jonah said, too dangerous to be around. Get rid of me. And they said, let's try harder. Let's. Let's just. Let's try one more time.
[00:32:31] Let's sail this boat as good as we've ever sailed let's get this boat to land.
[00:32:41] But the harder they tried, the worse the storm got.
[00:32:46] Could I tell you, Church, we have to remind ourselves that by the works of the law is no flesh justified Church.
[00:33:02] You don't get better by obeying a few rules.
[00:33:12] You can obey all the rules and still have a wicked heart.
[00:33:16] Don't you know that?
[00:33:17] Haven't we all done the right thing with a bad attitude?
[00:33:22] We don't get better, we don't get where we're going by harder work.
[00:33:29] Paul teaches us we are justified by faith.
[00:33:35] Listen to this.
[00:33:37] It's not that you need to work harder and do more and more and more.
[00:33:44] It's that you need to draw closer to Christ and let him have his forming influence on you.
[00:33:53] We don't work to get better. We work to show our love.
[00:33:58] Church, when I serve Christ, it is an expression of my love. It's not a manipulative thing that I manipulate God into helping me because I. I'm working.
[00:34:13] These guys worked as hard as they could and it didn't get them anywhere.
[00:34:17] And I'm telling you, no matter what you're doing, if you're doing it apart from Jesus Christ, you're not going to get better.
[00:34:31] And when working harder didn't work, the Mariners started to pray.
[00:34:37] O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life.
[00:34:42] It's a pretty cheesy prayer.
[00:34:45] Like they don't have enough guilt on themselves and if they died in the storm it would be an injustice.
[00:34:59] But they are praying the cheesy prayer. But at least it's a prayer. Ah, I'll take a cheesy prayer any day. Other than no prayer at all.
[00:35:15] Prayer couldn't rescue the Mariners from the divine purpose.
[00:35:24] I believe in prayer. I pray all the time.
[00:35:28] But I don't ever want to get myself in the place where I think God is obligated to do what I pray.
[00:35:37] I always want to be in that place where I'm saying I am praying and I this seems to be the best option to me. But I'm willing to be redirected by your spirit. I'm willing to try this in a different way. Not my will, but I will be done.
[00:36:01] Do you have any imagination?
[00:36:04] Jonah sitting there, totally discouraged, totally depressed.
[00:36:10] Three big sailors come over.
[00:36:14] One picks up him by one arm, the other one picks him up by the other arm.
[00:36:19] The other guy picks him up by the legs.
[00:36:23] They take him over to the edge of the boat. They go 1, 2, 3 and old Jonah goes flying out of the boat and Makes a big splash in the water.
[00:36:40] Ah.
[00:36:42] Ah.
[00:36:52] Jonah, in all his reluctance and with the very little he said about God, converted these men to God.
[00:37:06] Church, would you please listen? Sometimes we're reluctant because we think we have to do it all.
[00:37:14] Oh, I gotta say the right thing. And, and, and, and, and I, I can't do this. And, and, and we get ourselves all worked up, like it all rides on us.
[00:37:24] Jonah said very little, but it was enough for the Holy Spirit to change these men's heart.
[00:37:31] Now, how do I know he changed their hearts?
[00:37:35] Ah.
[00:37:44] Ah.
[00:37:48] They. Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly and they offered sacrifices to Yahweh and they made vows.
[00:38:00] How do I know these men went from being pagan sailors to believers in God?
[00:38:07] Even though Jonah was reluctant, here's the three evidences. Number one, they had a new fear of God.
[00:38:16] They had a new respect for God.
[00:38:19] They gave up their old pagan deities, and they made Yahweh their God.
[00:38:28] The second thing they did was they offered sacrifices to God.
[00:38:34] They weren't sacrificing to Poseidon. They weren't sacrificing to some foreign mythological being. They were making sacrifices to the eternally present God.
[00:38:48] And then they made promises. They said, God, we're going to live differently in the future than we've lived in the past.
[00:38:54] Can you hear this?
[00:38:56] Three good signs of conversion. One, a new.
[00:39:01] A new respect and awe for Yahweh, A willingness to do what Jonah didn't do, unreluctantly, make sacrifices to God, and a new commitment to live in a way that's pleasing to God.
[00:39:22] I think the Mariners are good examples for us.
[00:39:27] What is the state of your respect for the Lord today?
[00:39:33] What is the level of your conscious respect for God today?
[00:39:44] We show respect for a lot of things, a lot of things, and people who don't deserve it.
[00:39:51] But I tell you, God deserves your respect in every single way.
[00:39:56] He is all together worthy of all your respect.
[00:40:02] When was the last time you offered him conscious praise, expressing your.
[00:40:12] Your.
[00:40:17] Worship of his wonder and beauty?
[00:40:23] Can you remember the last time in your inner self you showed unrestrained respect for God?
[00:40:34] You see, that's a healthy thing, Church.
[00:40:37] It's a beautiful thing.
[00:40:39] The second thing they did was they offered sacrifices, not reluctantly.
[00:40:47] You know what?
[00:40:49] God's not interested in dragging anything out of you.
[00:40:53] Can you. Can you. Can you open your mind to that? He's not interested in dragging anything out of you.
[00:41:00] What he's looking for is a relationship with him that you're unreluctant in your sacrifice and in your service.
[00:41:13] Verse 17.
[00:41:16] One verse that I wish wasn't in the book because it misguides people all the time.
[00:41:23] And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.
[00:41:29] And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
[00:41:35] This. They heave him over.
[00:41:38] He hits the water like a fishing lure in a pond.
[00:41:45] And now this big bass come swimming up and. And bite onto that lure. Well, Jonah was the lure that day. And a great fish came popping up out of the water and. And took the lure.
[00:42:04] The Lord was at work in the sea that threatened Jonah's life.
[00:42:10] To save his life.
[00:42:12] Listen. The very sea that he thought was going to take his life, God was at work in to save his life.
[00:42:20] You know what I see when I see that I have to stop judging God.
[00:42:26] God can use even terrible things in my life to do beautiful things.
[00:42:33] In the Hebrew this, the word great fish is dog cadolo.
[00:42:43] And dog is not the classical word for fish.
[00:42:48] We. If your Bible says sea creature, that's probably a better.
[00:42:55] In the. In the Septuagint, the phrase is K, T megalo. Do you hear? Mega.
[00:43:04] Mega. A great.
[00:43:06] A great sea creature.
[00:43:12] In Genesis 1:21, when God's creating the heavens and the earth.
[00:43:18] Listen, the phrase that Moses wrote.
[00:43:23] So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm.
[00:43:35] Look at this. The very same phrase that is used in Jonah is used in Genesis.
[00:43:43] When God was creating the marine life, he created great sea creatures.
[00:43:55] Ah. In the book of Jonah, God prepared or created a great sea creature to rescue Jonah.
[00:44:05] Now, please listen to this.
[00:44:08] I've had atheists throw this in my face my whole life. Oh, so you believe Jonah got swallowed by a whale, you idiot.
[00:44:20] No, I don't believe Jonah got swallowed by a whale.
[00:44:24] I believe that the creator of the heavens and the earth prepared a unique creature to rescue Jonah and to put him back on the pathway.
[00:44:41] You hear this, Church?
[00:44:43] If God can create great sea creatures in Genesis, why couldn't he create a great sea creature in the book of Jonah?
[00:44:53] And if I can't believe he couldn't create a creature to rescue Jonah, then I'm deceiving myself that I think he created great sea creatures in the book of Genesis. They go together. They cannot be torn apart.
[00:45:11] Ah. I'm not going out and looking for the creature that swallowed Jonah.
[00:45:19] I'm not trying to prove that a whale has enough space in his stomach to hold Jonah. That's all nonsense.
[00:45:30] The great fish is incidental.
[00:45:35] It was God's way of getting Jonah back on track.
[00:45:40] In fact, we should look at it very, very differently than we do.
[00:45:46] We should say God is so committed to doing his good work that he acts creatively in life to rescue us and put us back on the right pathway.
[00:46:02] Some of you have to admit you have gone astray. And God has caused significant things to happen in your life that were unexpected to get you back on track.
[00:46:15] Church.
[00:46:16] God has caused people to show up in your life that you haven't seen for a long time.
[00:46:22] God has made you change your plans. He's done miraculous things to get you back on track.
[00:46:30] And that's what the book of Jonah wants to say. This is not an everyday incident, but the God who did it is just as creative in your life, and he will do creative things to save you and get you back on track.
[00:46:52] Remember what Jonah said.
[00:46:55] I fear the Lord. I serve the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea.
[00:47:03] The very. If I can believe he can make the sea, then I don't have very far stretch to say he can make a creature in the sea.
[00:47:18] The Lord will act creatively to rescue you even when you're fleeing from his presence and living reluctantly.
[00:47:29] This is what I want to say.
[00:47:35] For you who are reluctant for you who are trying to keep a safe distance from God.
[00:47:41] You're afraid he's going to ask you to do something you don't want to do.
[00:47:46] You're afraid he's going to ask for a sacrifice you don't want to give.
[00:47:50] And you're not living a pagan life.
[00:47:53] But you have to admit you're not living in the relationship to Christ you ought to be living.
[00:48:01] So what I want to say to you.
[00:48:03] There's a great fish out there waiting for you.
[00:48:08] There's a great fish out there waiting for you.
[00:48:11] God will find a way to capture you.
[00:48:17] He'll find a way to redirect you.
[00:48:21] He'll find a way to put you back on a healthy pathway of loving him and serving him with all your heart.
[00:48:29] Can you hear this?
[00:48:32] Okay, but why not take an easier route?
[00:48:41] Ah, instead of taking the great sea creature route, how about taking an easier route?
[00:48:50] An easier route that seeks the Lord with all your heart.
[00:48:55] An easier route that confesses to God where you are.
[00:49:00] The easier route that opens you. You. You open yourself to the Holy Spirit and you say, create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
[00:49:12] So I'm saying this morning.
[00:49:18] Jonah had to be thrown into the sea to get back on track.
[00:49:23] You can throw yourself into the faith of the merciful care of Jesus Christ this morning and you can be made new and whole church.
[00:49:38] You don't have to go the hard way. Throw yourself by faith into the merciful care of Jesus Christ and let, and unreluctantly let him have his perfect way with you.
[00:49:54] Our dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Jonah.
[00:49:59] Thank you for the remarkable life he lived.
[00:50:02] Thank you for the lessons we can learn from Him.
[00:50:06] I pray for myself and I pray for everyone who's here and everyone who's online.
[00:50:11] I pray that we can learn from Jonah and instead of being thrown into the storm, we can fall into the everlasting loving arms of a great and awesome God.
[00:50:26] I pray that we would trust you wholly.
[00:50:30] I pray that we would open our soul to you without reservation.
[00:50:34] Then I pray that you would have your perfect work in us. In Jesus name, amen.
