WEBVTT

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 Well, on Christmas Eve, our next-door neighbour, who we know very well, came round, rang

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! on our door and said, my husband's ill, she can't drive, I need to pick up some groceries,

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! could I get a ride with you guys? So, my wife Julie let Melissa get in the car with

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 our daughter Zoe, they headed off to Tesco and came back so four hours later or whatever

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 it took on Christmas Eve with the things that Melissa needed. We were very happy to help

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 her, she's a good friend, she and her husband Jeremy, so it was nice to be able to do something

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 for them when we got that request. However, if Dan, our postman, had knocked on our door

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 that morning and said, can you help, I need to pick up some groceries from Tesco's, we

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 would probably have said, can't do that. Not that we got anything against Dan, but all we

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 know about him is, his name is Dan and he delivers our post. We don't have a relationship other

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 than a kind of thank you and signing for parcels. So, some people it's appropriate to get requests

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 from. Some, it just, it feels like they're crossing a boundary. And I think all of us have

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 those kind of boundaries, those limitations we put on relationships, that there are some

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 people we do almost anything for, and there are some people, not because we don't like

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 them, but just because of the relationship, we won't do some things for. Do you know what

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 I mean? Well, I wonder, do we ever put limits, do we ever put boundaries on what we will let

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 God ask of us? Do we ever put boundaries on what the living God can say to us? Jonah did.

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 I expect most of us, at times, are like Jonah. I want to look at two things today. I want to

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 look at Jonah's past service and Jonah's present flight. Look at his past service so we can get

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 some idea of who this man is, the context which God spoke to him. So, if you've got your fingers

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 there in 2 Kings chapter 14, we're going to look at this very briefly. Now, truth to tell,

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 we don't know if this was Jonah's past. The Bible doesn't give us clear chronology here.

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 We don't know if Jonah's message that Israel's borders would expand became before or after

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 he was sent to Nineveh. I think there's good reason to assume it was before, because in

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 the book of Jonah we don't get any other introduction of the prophet's calling, and it certainly seems

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 to assume he already is a prophet. So, I think it's reasonable, even if it's not definite,

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 to assume that what's recorded in 2 Kings chapter 14 is something that happened earlier in Jonah's

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 life. Now, Jonah lived in a terrible time in many ways. It was a time of apostasy in Israel.

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 It was a time when there was a bad king, Jeroboam II, on the throne. If you look at 2 Kings 14,

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 verse 24, this is what we hear about Jeroboam. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

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 He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam I, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

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 So, there's a time when no one was really worshipping the living God. There's a time when there was

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 all sorts of corruption, all sorts of evil going on. You get a hint of that in the book of Amos.

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 And yet, what was the message Jonah had to give to the king and to the people?

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 Verse 25.

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 Hear what Jonah's message was for the people. It was this. You're going to get bigger. You're

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 going to get the land restored to you. The land that you've lost through your lack of faith,

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 through your rebellion against God, God is going to restore that land to you. Jonah was

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 a lucky man, really, wasn't he? It must have been great to be a prophet who could give a

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 positive message. Yes, life's going to get better. You're going to win. That was Jonah's

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 message. It must have been great to be a prophet. And that message was actually a message of

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 God's undeserved goodness. You can see that if you look down to verse 26. Why did God expand

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 the borders? Well, certainly not because the people were good. But here's the reason.

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 Verse 26.

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 For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, and there was none left,

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 bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the Lord had not said that he would blot

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 out the name of Israel from under heaven. So he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the

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 son of Jehoash, by the hand of this unworthy man who led the nation into rebellion against

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 God. See, Jonah had a message of grace, of God's undeserved goodness for his own people.

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 And that was Jonah's past experience. And as a prophet, his prophecy proved true. What

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 a privilege for Jonah. God spoke to him. Jonah proclaimed the message. The message came true.

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 It proved that he really was a prophet. He had this genuine experience of God and his word

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 and God's gracious message for his people. He had the joy of God using him. So that was

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 Jonah's past. I wonder, what does your past look like? What does my past look like?

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 I mean, perhaps you're here today because you have an interest in finding out what Christianity

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 is about. Perhaps you have very little or no past experience of Christianity. In which case,

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 it's great you're here. And you have a privilege as well. Because the Bible tells us that

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 when we hear the Bible read, when we hear God's word taught, we're hearing God speak,

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 just as Jonah did. Just like Jonah, we face a choice of how to respond. So I'm glad you're

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 here if you have little or no experience of Christianity at all. Do please ask questions

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 at the end. Do come along to Christianity Explored on Thursday if you can. Think things through.

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 I'd love to meet up with you and talk about it more. I guess for others of us, we've perhaps

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 been Christians for a long time. Maybe in the past we've known great times of being used

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 by God, as Jonah was. Perhaps in our churches. Perhaps as a witness in our workplaces or with

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 our families. We've seen God work. The question for us is, what do we do with those past experiences?

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 Are they fuel for our prayers that God will in his goodness and grace and mercy use us again?

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 Or do we do what Jonah did? And with this, we turn from Jonah's past service to Jonah's present flight.

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 So if you could turn to page 935 and Jonah chapter 1. Let's look briefly at what Jonah did.

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 Because his past service was not an encouragement to future service, but quite the reverse.

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 So Jonah 1 verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

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 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

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 See, once again, God's word is coming to Jonah. And he's got a message to preach.

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 And he's being sent to Nineveh, a long way away. One of the great cities of the Assyrian Empire,

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 on the east bank of the Tigris River, opposite what is today Mosul, in modern Iraq.

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 That's where Jonah was sent.

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 Now, if you'd never read the story before, what would you expect to happen next?

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 When I was growing up, I used to love to watch a question of sport, a quiz program.

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 And one of the rounds on a question of sport was, what happens next?

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 Where they'd play a bit of action, and stop it, and the teams would have to figure out what happens next.

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 Well, we'd play that game with Jonah. What happens next?

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 He's a prophet. God's word has come to him. God said, Arise, go.

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 What's he going to do?

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 Well, he arises, and he goes.

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 But look at verse 3.

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 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord.

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 From where Jonah was, Nineveh was off in the east.

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 Tarshish, southern Spain, the end of the Mediterranean, was as far away in the opposite direction as possible.

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 And Jonah went there in a rush. That's the implication.

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 He arose and went, and fled.

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 That was his flight.

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 And there are two elements to this flight that I want us to see.

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 Firstly, he disobeyed God's word.

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 He did exactly the opposite of what he was told.

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 And secondly, he was distancing himself from God's service.

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 So you can see he disobeyed God's word because he did exactly the opposite of what he was told.

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 He went west instead of east.

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 And we're not told a reason why.

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 We get a hint as to why when we get to chapter 4.

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 But here we're not told why.

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 And the reason for that is the fact of Jonah's disobedience is more important than the excuse for Jonah's disobedience.

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 The fact of his disobedience is more important, not the excuse for it.

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 Now I don't know about you, but I'm very good at coming up with reasons for disobeying.

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 Reasons for just ignoring or evading God's word sometimes.

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 I shouldn't get angry with my children, but I'm tired, I'm under pressure.

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 Does it really matter, for example?

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 Or, we should be giving to the Lord's work, but finances are a bit tight in this climate.

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 Maybe we should just hold back.

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 There are excuses for actually we're choosing, like Jonah, to disobey.

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 Now most of us don't reject God's word as obviously as Jonah did.

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 Most of us don't do exactly the opposite.

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 But I think there are at least three ways in which I see in my own life I'm prone to disobey.

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 And I suspect it might be true of all of this.

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 The three ways I think I do it are procrastination, rationalisation, and limitation.

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 If I can put it like that.

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 So the first way I disobey is through procrastinating, procrastinisation.

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 I hear, as I did in the sermon the other week,

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 that if I love people I will speak hard words to them where they need to be rebuked.

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 Or I hear a sermon about finances and money.

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 I think, yes, I need to address my giving.

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 But then I just don't go around to doing it.

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 I just put it off and put it off.

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 Now if you had a dog, and you called your dog to come to you,

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 and it sort of ambled up five minutes later,

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 would your dog have obeyed you?

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 When I ask my daughter to clear away her pens so we can have dinner,

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 and she sits there and keeps drawing,

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 is she obeying me?

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 No.

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 Obeying means doing what we're told, when we're told.

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 If we only do it when it's convenient,

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 then who ultimately are we obeying?

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 Who ultimately are we serving?

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 It's ourselves, isn't it?

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 So sometimes I procrastinate.

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 Sometimes I rationalise.

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 I rationalise my disobedience.

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 So we're told to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

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 And yet how easy is it?

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 To just think, well, surely that doesn't include this very difficult person.

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 Surely it doesn't include praying for those who go and destroy villages in Nigeria,

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 or shoot journalists in France.

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 So I start to limit, sort of rationalise,

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 and I'll take away my disobedience.

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 Or a third way is through limitation,

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 through limiting what we'll hear,

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 through selective hearing.

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 My daughter has had lots of ear infections,

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 and there are times when her hearing is really not very good at all,

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 and she just doesn't hear things.

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 And so there are times we'll say,

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 Zoe, can you put your pens away so we can start having dinner?

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 And she actually won't hear.

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 On the other hand, there are times when she doesn't hear that,

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 but you say in a slightly quieter voice,

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 if you put them away now,

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 you can have some ice cream for dessert.

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 At which point the pens suddenly go away.

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 Amazing.

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 Selective listening.

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 We'll listen to the things we want.

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 And that's true of my daughter,

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 and I think she probably gets it from me.

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 But isn't it true of all of us?

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 There might be some areas of life where we say,

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 I've got to hear God on that.

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 I'm not going to hear him challenge me on my relationships.

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 I'm not going to hear him challenge me on where I'm spending my time.

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 I'm not going to hear him challenging me

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 on loving that difficult person next to me.

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 And so he placed limits on God.

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 I think of a friend of mine who about ten years ago

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 was very committed to his church.

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 He had a little accountability group,

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 a bunch of guys he'd pray with,

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 I think on a weekly basis.

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 And he was very committed to those things.

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 But whilst he was praying with those guys,

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 he was also sleeping with a woman he wasn't married to.

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 He was having an affair with someone else in his office,

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 cheating on his wife.

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 What was happening?

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 He was suffering from a sort of selective hearing,

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 limiting God,

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 limiting what God could say to him,

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 not being challenged over the adultery.

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 It was like you put a boundary there.

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 God, you cannot step over this boundary.

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 I'm not going to hear you.

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 And yet the Lord is a God who does not have boundaries.

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 Look again at verse 2.

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 Why does the Lord send Jonah to Nineveh?

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 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,

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 and call out against it,

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 for their evil has come up before me.

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 The Lord is the God of the whole earth,

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 the judge of the whole earth.

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 He wasn't just in Israel.

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 He knew what was happening in a city thousands of miles away.

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 Yet Jonah tried to limit God.

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 He disobeyed God's word.

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 If we're honest with ourselves,

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 it's often not the parts of the Bible

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 that we find hard to understand,

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 that we have difficulty with, is it?

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 It's the parts we do understand very clearly,

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 we have difficulty with.

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 That's what Jonah's problem was.

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 There's no difficulty understanding God's word.

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 He just didn't want to do it.

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 He disobeyed God's word.

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 I should say my friend who was committing adultery

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 is thankfully back with his wife.

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 Things have been restored and that's good.

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 But he was limiting God at the time.

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 Well, it was Jonah disobeying God's word.

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 But also he was distancing himself from God's service.

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 Look at verse 3.

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 There's a phrase that appears twice there.

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 Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish

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 from the presence of the Lord.

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 He went down to Joppa

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 and found a ship going to Tarshish.

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 So he paid the fare and went down into it

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 to go with them to Tarshish,

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 away from the presence of the Lord.

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 See the repeated phrase?

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 Jonah was trying to get away.

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 He was distancing himself from God's service.

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 Now, probably Jonah knew

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 he couldn't actually escape from God's presence.

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 As Psalm 139 puts it,

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 Where shall I go from your spirit?

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 Where shall I flee from your presence?

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 If I ascend to heaven, you are there.

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 If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

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 If I take the wings of the morning

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 and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

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 even there your hand shall lead me

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 and your right hand shall hold me.

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 There is no escaping the God of the Bible.

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 And Jonah probably knew that

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 in his heart of hearts.

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 So what was he trying to do?

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 He was trying to distance himself

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 from God's service.

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 A previous prophet, Elijah,

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 in 1 Kings 17,

00:15:37.140 --> 00:15:39.480
 had described himself as one who

00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:41.320
 stands before the face of the Lord,

00:15:41.400 --> 00:15:42.960
 stands in the presence of the Lord.

00:15:43.660 --> 00:15:45.860
 It's the same phrase used here.

00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:50.020
 Elijah said that as he was speaking God's message.

00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:52.580
 It meant, I am living in God's presence

00:15:52.580 --> 00:15:54.000
 as God's servant.

00:15:54.260 --> 00:15:55.260
 I am serving him.

00:15:55.880 --> 00:15:57.460
 So Jonah was seeking to flee

00:15:57.460 --> 00:15:58.820
 from the presence of the Lord.

00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:00.420
 He was trying to distance himself

00:16:00.420 --> 00:16:01.240
 from God's service.

00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:01.360
 He said,

00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.240
 I'll take my P-45.

00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:05.220
 I'm out of here, God.

00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:06.480
 I've done my bit.

00:16:06.560 --> 00:16:07.539
 I'm not doing any more.

00:16:07.680 --> 00:16:08.500
 That's what he was saying.

00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:12.000
 And look what happened

00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:13.940
 as Jonah tried to distance himself,

00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:15.120
 as he tried to get away.

00:16:16.419 --> 00:16:17.200
 Can you imagine how Jonah

00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:18.399
 would have told the story to us?

00:16:18.940 --> 00:16:20.419
 So I wanted to get away,

00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:21.680
 so I went down to Joppa,

00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:23.820
 and I really wanted to go to Tarshish.

00:16:23.940 --> 00:16:24.799
 And guess what?

00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:26.620
 I pushed on that door,

00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:27.759
 and it opened.

00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:29.960
 I found a boat.

00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:31.940
 They had a space for me.

00:16:32.340 --> 00:16:34.420
 I had exactly the amount of money

00:16:34.420 --> 00:16:35.519
 I needed in my pocket

00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:36.519
 so I could pay

00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:37.940
 and get on that boat.

00:16:39.620 --> 00:16:41.400
 It looks like it was meant to be,

00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:41.879
 doesn't it?

00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:43.560
 If you look down to verse 5,

00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:44.620
 it's even better than that,

00:16:44.680 --> 00:16:46.180
 because in the midst of a storm,

00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:47.560
 at the very end of verse 5,

00:16:47.980 --> 00:16:49.139
 that's a little bit further down,

00:16:49.139 --> 00:16:51.840
 we read that Jonah had gone down

00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:53.399
 into the inner part of the ship

00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:54.819
 and had lain down

00:16:54.819 --> 00:16:56.519
 and was fast asleep.

00:16:57.559 --> 00:16:59.419
 See, Jonah had deep inner peace

00:16:59.419 --> 00:17:00.159
 about this decision

00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:01.379
 to run away from God,

00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:03.159
 to distance himself from God's service

00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:04.879
 and to disobey God's word.

00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:07.160
 Even the violent storm

00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:08.079
 that everyone else feared

00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:10.559
 couldn't shake his inner peace.

00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:13.799
 See, there's a dangerous business

00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:15.720
 when we start to distance ourselves

00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:16.720
 from the Lord's service.

00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:19.019
 There's a friend I knew,

00:17:19.059 --> 00:17:19.700
 a guy I knew,

00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:20.380
 a few years ago.

00:17:20.460 --> 00:17:22.360
 He was a deacon in a church.

00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:23.740
 He worked for a Christian

00:17:23.740 --> 00:17:24.660
 mission organisation

00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:26.940
 and he was married.

00:17:27.360 --> 00:17:27.980
 He had two daughters

00:17:27.980 --> 00:17:28.740
 who were coming up

00:17:28.740 --> 00:17:29.700
 their teenage years

00:17:29.700 --> 00:17:32.200
 and he was a lovely guy.

00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:34.579
 But one day he announced

00:17:34.579 --> 00:17:36.140
 that they were leaving the church.

00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:37.440
 I was never quite sure

00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:38.160
 the reasons why.

00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:39.079
 I think they wanted to go

00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:40.220
 somewhere slightly more local,

00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:41.799
 which is fair enough.

00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:43.720
 But a couple of years

00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:44.480
 after that,

00:17:45.139 --> 00:17:46.819
 he announced he was going

00:17:46.819 --> 00:17:47.639
 to leave his job

00:17:47.639 --> 00:17:49.059
 with a Christian mission organisation

00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:50.680
 because he wanted to be involved

00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:51.700
 in secular employment

00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:52.619
 so he could actually meet

00:17:52.619 --> 00:17:54.180
 some people who didn't know Jesus,

00:17:54.299 --> 00:17:55.839
 so he could be a light

00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:56.980
 and an ambassador

00:17:56.980 --> 00:17:57.839
 in his workplace.

00:17:58.240 --> 00:17:59.879
 Again, that sounded reasonable.

00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:02.240
 It was probably only about

00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:03.399
 two years after that

00:18:03.399 --> 00:18:04.819
 that it was discovered

00:18:04.819 --> 00:18:06.200
 that he was leaving his wife

00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:07.980
 and moving in with another man

00:18:07.980 --> 00:18:08.599
 somewhere with whom

00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:09.480
 he was having a relationship.

00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:11.880
 You see what he was doing?

00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:13.740
 As we look back

00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:14.599
 and see at each stage

00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:15.799
 he was distancing himself

00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:16.779
 from the Lord's service

00:18:16.779 --> 00:18:19.299
 and increasingly disobeying

00:18:19.299 --> 00:18:20.059
 God's word.

00:18:21.380 --> 00:18:23.019
 Primarily by being unfaithful

00:18:23.019 --> 00:18:24.240
 to his marriage vows,

00:18:24.339 --> 00:18:25.400
 unfaithful to his wife

00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:26.259
 and family.

00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:29.059
 See, often the very first sign

00:18:29.059 --> 00:18:30.400
 of the rebellion in our hearts

00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:32.599
 is that distancing ourselves

00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:33.779
 from the Lord's service

00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:35.019
 or distancing ourselves

00:18:35.019 --> 00:18:36.180
 from God's people.

00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:38.140
 So can I ask you,

00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:38.880
 what is your attitude

00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.220
 to serving God?

00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:42.280
 For those of us who have a job

00:18:42.280 --> 00:18:43.400
 as we go into our workplaces,

00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:44.820
 do we feel like we're

00:18:44.820 --> 00:18:45.860
 serving God then?

00:18:46.860 --> 00:18:48.380
 Do we go to do our work

00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:49.940
 as those serving the Lord Jesus?

00:18:51.140 --> 00:18:51.980
 Do we go conscious

00:18:51.980 --> 00:18:52.740
 that the living God

00:18:52.740 --> 00:18:53.480
 has called you,

00:18:53.840 --> 00:18:54.700
 made you his own

00:18:54.700 --> 00:18:55.280
 through the death

00:18:55.280 --> 00:18:56.460
 and resurrection of his son?

00:18:58.380 --> 00:19:00.120
 Or do you just say,

00:19:00.220 --> 00:19:02.140
 well, this is my work.

00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:02.800
 This isn't church.

00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:03.680
 This is my work.

00:19:04.060 --> 00:19:05.140
 Here I'm going to blend in.

00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:05.960
 Here I'm going to strive

00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:07.060
 to do my best

00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:08.299
 to advance up the ladder.

00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:11.099
 I'll do whatever it needs,

00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:12.000
 whatever I need to do

00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:12.599
 to fit in.

00:19:15.399 --> 00:19:16.159
 How do you feel

00:19:16.159 --> 00:19:17.079
 about serving God?

00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:17.839
 Do you feel

00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:19.179
 serving in the church?

00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:22.819
 Or do you naturally think,

00:19:22.879 --> 00:19:23.519
 I'm too busy,

00:19:23.679 --> 00:19:24.559
 or I've got nothing to offer.

00:19:24.659 --> 00:19:25.720
 I won't do that.

00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:27.679
 It's a great heart check,

00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:28.099
 isn't it?

00:19:28.919 --> 00:19:30.159
 Are we distancing ourselves

00:19:30.159 --> 00:19:30.919
 from God's service?

00:19:31.919 --> 00:19:32.859
 Are we disobeying

00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:33.659
 God's word?

00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:36.700
 This was Jonah's flight.

00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:38.480
 Disobedience

00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:40.100
 and distancing himself.

00:19:40.900 --> 00:19:41.460
 Maybe he thought

00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:42.019
 he'd done his bit

00:19:42.019 --> 00:19:42.460
 in the past.

00:19:42.540 --> 00:19:42.880
 After all,

00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:44.259
 he had a successful

00:19:44.259 --> 00:19:45.340
 preaching career in Israel.

00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:46.320
 He didn't want

00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:47.100
 another one now.

00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:51.080
 What about us?

00:19:53.120 --> 00:19:54.160
 Are we disobeying

00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:54.759
 God's word?

00:19:55.460 --> 00:19:55.960
 The things where

00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:56.840
 he's challenged us,

00:19:57.320 --> 00:19:58.200
 and we're putting it off,

00:19:59.300 --> 00:20:00.620
 or rationalizing it away,

00:20:01.320 --> 00:20:02.240
 or limiting it,

00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:02.700
 saying,

00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:02.960
 God,

00:20:03.140 --> 00:20:03.779
 don't talk to me

00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:04.319
 about that.

00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:06.220
 Maybe it relates

00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:06.700
 to family,

00:20:06.819 --> 00:20:07.200
 maybe it relates

00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:07.680
 to work,

00:20:08.420 --> 00:20:08.859
 maybe it relates

00:20:08.859 --> 00:20:09.799
 to lots of things.

00:20:10.819 --> 00:20:11.559
 It's all part of,

00:20:11.620 --> 00:20:12.539
 could all be part

00:20:12.539 --> 00:20:13.180
 of our flight

00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:14.099
 from God like James.

00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:16.200
 But there is good news,

00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:16.859
 as we'll see

00:20:16.859 --> 00:20:18.019
 as this series goes on.

00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:20.019
 Because this great God

00:20:20.019 --> 00:20:20.440
 is a God

00:20:20.440 --> 00:20:21.259
 who is compassionate

00:20:21.259 --> 00:20:22.120
 and full of

00:20:22.120 --> 00:20:23.059
 steadfast love.

00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:24.420
 He's a God

00:20:24.420 --> 00:20:25.680
 who sent his own son

00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:26.839
 to seek and to save

00:20:26.839 --> 00:20:27.579
 what was lost,

00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:28.779
 to seek and to save

00:20:28.779 --> 00:20:29.220
 those who were

00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:30.180
 disobeying his word

00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:31.200
 and distancing themselves

00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:31.940
 from his service.

00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:33.220
 The Lord Jesus

00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:34.180
 came to die

00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:35.559
 for people like us,

00:20:35.819 --> 00:20:36.319
 who are running

00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:37.299
 from God naturally,

00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:38.079
 and who need

00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:38.740
 God's forgiveness.

00:20:40.019 --> 00:20:41.440
 He came to die

00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:42.180
 and rise again,

00:20:42.259 --> 00:20:43.400
 to bring us back,

00:20:43.859 --> 00:20:44.539
 so instead of

00:20:44.539 --> 00:20:45.539
 running from God,

00:20:45.940 --> 00:20:47.220
 we can run to God

00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:48.319
 and know his

00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:49.279
 forgiveness and mercy.

00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:51.220
 So if you know

00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:51.880
 in your heart

00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:53.559
 that you're like Jonah,

00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:55.339
 and you're on the run,

00:20:56.660 --> 00:20:57.240
 can I beg you

00:20:57.240 --> 00:20:57.880
 to look at Jesus

00:20:57.880 --> 00:20:59.460
 and turn around

00:20:59.460 --> 00:21:00.279
 and come home.

00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:02.059
 Let's pray.

00:21:02.059 --> 00:21:02.059