WEBVTT 00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:04.179 Well, I want us to begin with a little word association game. 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:05.320 You know how it works? 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:10.380 I'm going to say a word and you just say out loud the first word that comes to your mind. 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:11.759 Night. 00:00:13.780 --> 00:00:15.380 Everybody said the same word, right? 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:17.199 Summer. 00:00:19.179 --> 00:00:20.519 Different words, good. 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:22.519 Jonah. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:25.820 I think everybody. 00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:28.320 Whale or fish or something like that. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.799 Most people in church are out. 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:46.200 If they've ever heard the story of Jonah, if in a word association game, if you say Jonah, they're going to say fish, whale, big fish or something. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:48.939 Because that's the first thing that people think about. 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:51.679 In fact, a lot of people, that's the only thing they know. 00:00:52.140 --> 00:00:54.299 There's a whale that swallowed Jonah. 00:00:54.299 --> 00:01:04.599 Have you ever thought about, if you've read the story, just how little is really said about the fish? 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:10.299 There are a total of 57 verses in the book of Jonah. 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:15.280 Only three even mention the fish. 00:01:16.399 --> 00:01:24.759 Several commentators have noted this and said that most people think that the story of Jonah is a story about a great fish. 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:28.920 But it's really a story about the great God. 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:31.320 And I want to be a little bit more precise. 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:37.180 Jonah is a story about our great God's amazing grace. 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:43.219 And how Jonah had such a hard time understanding it. 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:49.120 He had a hard time applying it to other people. 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:54.500 I want to begin a series through the book of Jonah today. 00:01:54.620 --> 00:01:58.859 This is going to be like a summer Bible study on Sunday mornings. 00:01:59.759 --> 00:02:02.840 I'm going to call this a struggle with God's grace. 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:10.500 Because as we go through this book, we're going to see that Jonah struggles with God's grace. 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:16.039 We're also going to see as we go through this book that we've got a lot in common with Jonah. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:24.139 We sometimes struggle to understand God's gracious working in our lives, don't we? 00:02:25.699 --> 00:02:37.780 And don't we sometimes, if we're honest, we don't like the way God shows grace to certain people that we know. 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:40.199 We don't think they deserve it. 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:46.500 Or we just don't want God to show grace to them. 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:49.580 We're going to see some of that in Jonah. 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:52.280 But be honest. 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:56.199 Sometimes some of that is in us. 00:02:57.139 --> 00:03:04.500 Let's begin our study by thinking about how we respond to God's call in our lives. 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:11.020 Let's read Jonah chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 and verse 12 this morning. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.699 This is going to be sort of an introductory message. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:16.479 There's a lot that we're not going to cover. 00:03:17.259 --> 00:03:20.060 But it's coming next week in the weeks that come. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:21.920 Look at it. 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:22.819 Jonah 1.1. 00:03:22.819 --> 00:03:28.819 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, 00:03:29.359 --> 00:03:34.719 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:38.379 For their evil has come up before me. 00:03:39.079 --> 00:03:44.459 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:48.320 He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:55.659 So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. 00:03:56.340 --> 00:04:02.460 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:05.340 so that the ship threatened to break up. 00:04:05.340 --> 00:04:10.280 And for this morning's message, just so everybody understands, 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:19.720 Jonah understood that God caused that storm because he was not going to let Jonah run away. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:21.040 Look at verse 12. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:31.959 Jonah said to those sailors in the midst of this horrible storm where their lives were all threatened, 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:34.199 Jonah said in verse 12, he said to them, 00:04:34.699 --> 00:04:39.259 Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, then the sea will quiet down for you, 00:04:39.539 --> 00:04:45.599 for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:47.639 Let's look first. 00:04:48.219 --> 00:04:51.919 God calls all of his people to serve him in some way, 00:04:52.359 --> 00:04:54.699 and Jonah's way was to be a prophet. 00:04:54.699 --> 00:05:01.699 At some point in his early life, God called this man Jonah to serve him as his spokesman, 00:05:02.539 --> 00:05:03.779 to be a prophet. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:07.699 He is identified here in verse 1 as the son of Amnitha. 00:05:08.699 --> 00:05:15.620 To make it clear, he's the same prophet spoken of in the book of 2 Kings chapter 24. 00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:19.319 This is not the first time Jonah appears in the Bible. 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:23.860 People who would have heard this would have heard, 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:30.159 Oh yeah, that's the guy that served King Jeroboam, 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:36.120 Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom of Israel. 00:05:36.980 --> 00:05:43.360 Just as a reminder, after Solomon's death, the nation of Israel, God's chosen people, 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:44.779 they broke up. 00:05:44.779 --> 00:05:49.299 The northern ten tribes, they were called Israel. 00:05:50.239 --> 00:05:53.599 The southern two tribes, they were called Judah. 00:05:54.539 --> 00:05:59.379 The northern kingdom gave, were the most disobedient and rebellious. 00:06:00.379 --> 00:06:06.179 That's where Jonah served under this king, Jeroboam II. 00:06:06.979 --> 00:06:13.019 Now, we are also, if we're people of God, we're called to serve God in some way, 00:06:13.019 --> 00:06:16.680 and I want us to think very quickly, what is your way? 00:06:18.299 --> 00:06:22.039 God calls everybody, if you're a Christian, a child of God, 00:06:22.719 --> 00:06:29.339 God calls you to serve him in some capacity in this church. 00:06:30.719 --> 00:06:32.399 You're a member of the body of Christ. 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:36.159 Paul talks about it on two different occasions. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:42.340 We're the body of Christ as a church, and every part is a hand, a foot, every part is a body part. 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:48.280 And your body functions the best when every part of the body works as it was designed. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:52.580 So what is your way of serving God? 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:55.400 How has God prepared you? 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:56.080 Think about this. 00:06:56.140 --> 00:06:58.060 How has God shaped you? 00:06:58.060 --> 00:07:03.300 I hope most of you remember how we have used this acronym, SHAPE, 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:09.620 to think about how might God want me to be involved in ministry. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:11.459 Rick Warren came up with this. 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:14.840 I want to look at it very quickly because this is not the focus of the message, 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:18.819 but it can help us think about, identify where we need to be serving. 00:07:19.579 --> 00:07:21.319 Number one, what are your spiritual gifts? 00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:29.819 What special gift has God given you as a Christian that you might serve this church or through this church? 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:31.519 H is your heart. 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:32.980 What's the desire of your heart? 00:07:33.139 --> 00:07:33.980 What's your passion? 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:38.600 What is it that really gets you excited? 00:07:40.740 --> 00:07:42.420 A, your ability. 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:44.339 What can you do? 00:07:44.459 --> 00:07:45.339 What have you developed? 00:07:45.459 --> 00:07:49.459 What abilities do you have that might be used? 00:07:49.459 --> 00:07:51.240 Look at your personality. 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:54.500 What does your personality indicate? 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:57.620 Are you sort of an outgoing person? 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:02.300 You like to be out in front doing things that doesn't bother you for people to see you? 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:06.420 Or are you more of a person who likes to be quiet, reserved behind the scenes? 00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:10.879 Are you more of a task-oriented person? 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:12.959 Tell me what you need me to do. 00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:14.800 Leave me alone. 00:08:15.019 --> 00:08:17.800 Or let me just work quietly and I'll get the job done. 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.120 Or are you a people person? 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:22.959 Whatever you do, you've got to be involved with people. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:29.879 You just can't be alone because you're just outgoing people. 00:08:29.980 --> 00:08:35.139 You want to love people, touch people, be involved in people's lives in a good way. 00:08:35.139 --> 00:08:38.759 And then what about your experiences? 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:46.980 What have your life experiences prepared you for in terms of serving God? 00:08:47.659 --> 00:08:57.539 What have you learned that you could now use in serving God, serving people in or through the life of this church? 00:08:57.539 --> 00:09:01.620 How has God shaped you? 00:09:01.719 --> 00:09:04.899 Secondly, where has God called you to serve Him in ministry? 00:09:06.899 --> 00:09:08.539 Where is God calling you? 00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:11.439 With adults, youth, children, preschoolers? 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:15.819 Most people are better with one over the other. 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:23.420 In the area of teaching, in music, helping us with technology, security. 00:09:24.420 --> 00:09:29.240 Maybe you like to help people with certain needs. 00:09:30.400 --> 00:09:33.260 Maybe you have a heart for homebound people. 00:09:33.259 --> 00:09:40.700 Maybe you've been through a divorce and you have a heart for people who are struggling right now in their marriage. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:44.720 Maybe you like to do outreach. 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:48.279 Maybe you work through the music camp this coming week. 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:49.700 Maybe you did our sports camp. 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:50.960 Maybe you're involved in a wanna. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:10:02.580 It could be that you're a member of this church and you know, you see a lot of things going on, but none of it really sort of fits you. 00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:09.980 It may be that God has shaped you and put you in this church to help us start something new. 00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:13.220 That's what you need to do. 00:10:13.940 --> 00:10:19.680 Help us to begin something we're not now doing, but you are shaped for it. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:22.079 And there's probably other people that are as well. 00:10:22.199 --> 00:10:29.439 And if you would take the initiative to get it going, it could be something that God uses in a great way in the life of our church. 00:10:30.539 --> 00:10:40.799 I want you to understand, God calls all of us as His people, church members, to be involved in some aspect of our church's ministry. 00:10:41.299 --> 00:10:43.679 But God also calls us to serve Him outside the church. 00:10:44.059 --> 00:10:45.759 Your home is the first place in your life. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:55.659 You need to look at your home as your first priority in terms of serving the Lord as a husband, as a wife, as a parent, as a child, as a grandparent. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:03.120 Think about your workplace, your school campus, or something in this community that you're involved in. 00:11:04.340 --> 00:11:07.279 Jesus called us to be salt and light. 00:11:07.539 --> 00:11:13.360 He called us to exert Christian influence by the way that we treat people. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:17.659 By the way we do our work. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:20.120 By the attitude that we show people. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:23.759 Here's what I want us to understand. 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:30.460 God does not allow us to be spectators or cheerleaders in the game of life. 00:11:30.460 --> 00:11:49.440 You can't be in a close relationship with God, walking with Him in close fellowship, and just be a spectator when it comes to serving the Lord in ministry in and or outside this church. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:54.560 And I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings who gets into this. 00:11:55.660 --> 00:11:57.120 But we don't need any cheerleaders. 00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:02.280 I don't want to hurt your feelings, burst your bubble. 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:12.080 I've never understood wanting to be on the sideline cheering people who are actually in the game on. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:16.840 Again, I know I'm a bad guy in saying something like that. 00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:25.320 But in the game of life that we are a part of as God's people, we need to be involved. 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:28.440 Playing some position. 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:31.540 Serving in some capacity. 00:12:31.539 --> 00:12:36.059 In the way that God has shaped us. 00:12:36.299 --> 00:12:37.219 No one can do it all. 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:38.919 Nobody should try to do it all. 00:12:39.779 --> 00:12:44.659 And if you're involved in some kind of ministry that you just absolutely hate, that's obviously. 00:12:44.939 --> 00:12:49.679 Either you've got a problem with God, with people, or you're not working according to your shape. 00:12:50.259 --> 00:12:52.500 And so you may need to change what you're doing. 00:12:52.860 --> 00:12:58.480 Because if you're close to the Lord, walking with Him, doing what God shapes you to do, you'll enjoy it. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.720 It will be meaningful to you. 00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:04.600 And there will be some good things that happen as a result of it. 00:13:06.659 --> 00:13:08.700 God calls all of us to serve Him. 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:10.000 That's what I want to say at the very beginning. 00:13:10.139 --> 00:13:15.399 But next, God sometimes calls His people to serve Him in difficult ways. 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:17.340 Look at verse 2. 00:13:18.560 --> 00:13:28.259 God called Jonah to proclaim His word of judgment to one of the most powerful, ruthless, and ungodly nations on earth. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:33.879 I want you to look at two aspects of Jonah's God-given mission. 00:13:34.300 --> 00:13:35.840 First, it was unprecedented. 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:39.120 Look at what God called Jonah to do in verse 2. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:46.340 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:52.420 Tim Keller, the pastor, describes how it was unprecedented. 00:13:52.680 --> 00:13:53.519 Look at what he says. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:14:00.659 It was a call for a Hebrew prophet to leave Israel and go out to a Gentile city. 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:05.240 Up until then, prophets had been sent only to God's people. 00:14:05.939 --> 00:14:14.340 While some pronounced a few prophetic oracles and addressed to pagan countries, they are brief. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:19.799 And none were actually sent out to the nations in order to preach. 00:14:19.799 --> 00:14:25.259 What this is saying is, God called Jonah to do something no other prophet had ever done. 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:33.859 It was unprecedented for God's man to leave his country, Israel or Judah, 00:14:34.419 --> 00:14:41.859 and go to the pagan, unbelieving people with a message from God. 00:14:41.860 --> 00:14:46.680 The second thing we see about this, it was unexpected. 00:14:47.560 --> 00:14:49.680 Nineveh was the last capital of Assyria. 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:56.720 It was the reigning superpower of that day, and they were Israel's number one enemy. 00:14:58.620 --> 00:15:01.180 Some of you know this from history as well as Bible history. 00:15:02.180 --> 00:15:08.060 Assyria destroyed Israel in 722 B.C. 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:11.759 Some of you also know this. 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:17.819 Assyria was one of the most cruel and violent empires of ancient times. 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:31.500 Old Testament commentator James Bruckner describes some of the cruelty that this nation, these rulers were known for. 00:15:31.819 --> 00:15:32.399 Look at it. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:41.799 The Assyrian kings were proud of their cruel and terrible reputation and went to great trouble and expense to record their exploits for posterity. 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:53.939 They made parades of heads, human heads, requiring friends of the deceased to carry them elevated on poles. 00:15:53.940 --> 00:16:04.180 They boasted of their practice of stretching live prisoners with ropes so they could be skinned alive. 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:11.100 And I've read some of the more acceptable things to read in public like this about the Assyrians. 00:16:12.220 --> 00:16:14.740 They were a terrorist nation. 00:16:14.740 --> 00:16:28.980 And that was where God called Jonah to go and preach and call them out over their evil. 00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:45.340 What we're seeing should alert us to the fact that our comfort, our ease is not God's primary concern when he wants to use us. 00:16:46.560 --> 00:16:47.840 We need to understand that. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:56.180 Joel Osteen and those preachers of the health and wealth prosperity gospel will tell you that God wants you to be healthy. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:57.740 He wants you to be wealthy. 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:01.320 All you got to do is name it and claim it kind of thing. 00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:04.500 Well, that's just not true. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.360 That is not what the Bible teaches anywhere. 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:18.059 Sometimes God may call you to be involved in something, to do something with your life that will result in you'll make more money. 00:17:18.740 --> 00:17:20.179 You may be healthy. 00:17:21.179 --> 00:17:27.519 But God could call you to be involved in something that you're going to turn out to be poor. 00:17:29.979 --> 00:17:32.379 You may not ever have good health. 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:41.680 God could even call us to something that where we go and we're faithful and we die doing it. 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:47.540 God may call us, understand this, not just Jonah. 00:17:48.060 --> 00:17:54.980 God may call us to serve him in a way that will take us far out of our comfort zones. 00:17:56.220 --> 00:17:57.800 It could be unprecedented. 00:17:57.799 --> 00:18:00.180 Something you have never thought of. 00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:02.619 Something you would never even imagine. 00:18:03.700 --> 00:18:16.180 For example, Josh and Shannon Jennings are serving God right now as church planters in the middle of the New Age capital of North America, Sedona, Arizona. 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:19.240 Josh preached here back in March. 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:23.799 We as a church have been helping them, supporting them financially. 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:27.240 Some of you have been out there to help lead a sports camp. 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:30.859 I think we've gone out there two or three summers going again this summer. 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:31.599 A group's going. 00:18:32.299 --> 00:18:35.339 We're involved with Josh and Shannon Jennings. 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:39.940 But I want you to know that what they are doing for them was unprecedented. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:43.019 They're both from upstate South Carolina. 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:46.759 Except for a short time they lived in Louisville, Kentucky. 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:52.299 For him to go to seminary, they have always lived in either Anderson Pickens or Spartanburg counties. 00:18:52.900 --> 00:18:54.000 They're not world travelers. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.519 They're homebody. 00:18:58.019 --> 00:18:59.859 Upstate South Carolinians. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.500 But about six or seven years ago, they went on a vacation out west. 00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:06.420 They went. 00:19:07.019 --> 00:19:09.680 I think the big thing they were going to do was see the Grand Canyon. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:13.840 And as a part of that trip, they just spent a few days in Sedona. 00:19:14.840 --> 00:19:26.340 But after the trip, Josh said that God began to work on him, caused him to think about planting a church in Sedona. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:30.560 He would never have thought about that in a million years, he said. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:38.119 And when he first told Shannon what he was thinking, well, she just totally dismissed it and him and said, you're crazy. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:40.980 I'm not going to Sedona, Arizona. 00:19:42.539 --> 00:19:44.480 But God began to work in her. 00:19:46.220 --> 00:19:48.919 And God changed their minds. 00:19:48.920 --> 00:20:06.500 About two years later, both Josh and Shannon enthusiastically said yes to God's call to move their family and their life to Sedona, Arizona. 00:20:06.500 --> 00:20:13.980 Start a Letheia church that is really having an impact on that town. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:21.900 Doing things to serve people, to reach people with the gospel, to change people's lives. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:25.460 God could use you. 00:20:25.660 --> 00:20:26.759 They're just like us. 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:34.720 And God called them to do something just out of the blue, unprecedented for them. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.079 Could he be calling you in the same way? 00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:40.000 Doing something totally different. 00:20:41.620 --> 00:20:45.759 Don't dismiss it as if it couldn't happen to me. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:52.120 What God could do, just be just totally unexpected. 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:56.059 There was a time when Phil and Jennifer Payne, 00:20:56.059 --> 00:21:05.220 they would have laughed if you told them that one day you are going to adopt a little boy from China. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:07.419 And by the way, I have their permission to share this. 00:21:08.619 --> 00:21:10.339 I would never do that without permission. 00:21:11.779 --> 00:21:17.240 But God worked in their lives over time in an unexpected way. 00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:28.960 And now they and their family and our church family are all blessed to have a little boy from China named Jojo right here with us. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:44.220 Just another example of how sometimes God's most rewarding things he calls us to do begin as something totally unexpected. 00:21:44.220 --> 00:21:49.920 Something that could be the most meaningful thing you ever do experience. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:53.120 Could be something you never thought of before. 00:21:54.019 --> 00:21:58.100 Could be something that just out of the blue, God got your attention. 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:10.220 Jonah teaches us that sometimes God calls us to do things we wouldn't just make up. 00:22:10.220 --> 00:22:14.539 But there's something else God or Jonah shows us. 00:22:15.019 --> 00:22:18.120 There's going to be as much going through this study. 00:22:18.860 --> 00:22:21.200 Jonah shows us a few things from a good example. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.279 He shows us a lot of things from a bad example. 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:30.220 Number three, God's call can be disobeyed, but it cannot be quietly dismissed. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:33.880 It's there. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:34.799 You know the story. 00:22:35.259 --> 00:22:39.700 God allowed Jonah to defiantly disobey him. 00:22:39.700 --> 00:22:40.700 Look at verse three again. 00:22:41.120 --> 00:22:44.920 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.200 He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:55.420 So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:01.120 Jonah did the very opposite of what God called him to do. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:09.539 Instead of going a little bit north and east to Nineveh, he went the opposite direction to Tarshish, or he tried to. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:10.319 Look at the map. 00:23:10.439 --> 00:23:12.899 Just to give you a point of reference. 00:23:14.579 --> 00:23:24.159 Jonah went down to Joppa to go to Tarshish as far west as he could go at that day and that day as he was thinking in Spain. 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:28.820 Instead of going up a little bit and east to Nineveh. 00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:39.080 What I want you to note in verse three is how Jonah's attempt to disobey God's call is an attempt to get away from God. 00:23:40.040 --> 00:23:40.540 Look at it. 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:46.440 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:52.940 Old Testament commentator Doug Stewart explains what Jonah was trying to do. 00:23:53.019 --> 00:23:53.600 Look at it. 00:23:54.500 --> 00:24:03.640 Jonah attempted to flee to a place where no fellow believers would be found, hoping that this would help ensure that God's word would not come to him again. 00:24:04.019 --> 00:24:07.660 If he stayed in Israel, he could expect to hear more from God. 00:24:07.779 --> 00:24:10.680 But if he left, he might hear nothing further. 00:24:10.900 --> 00:24:12.559 That may have been what was going through Jonah's mind. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:25.259 Isn't that similar to what we do or think about doing when we want to try to run from what God's calling us to do? 00:24:25.679 --> 00:24:31.339 Don't we try to get away from God's presence by ignoring the Bible and not praying? 00:24:32.899 --> 00:24:35.579 You know, if God's dealing with you about something and you don't want to do it, 00:24:36.299 --> 00:24:39.619 he's calling you to confess a certain sin. 00:24:39.619 --> 00:24:43.500 To start doing a particular thing that he wants you to do. 00:24:44.459 --> 00:24:46.699 But you're just not willing to do it. 00:24:47.879 --> 00:24:50.039 Every time you pray, you get under conviction. 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:52.719 That's all you can think about so you stop praying. 00:24:53.779 --> 00:24:55.759 You stop looking at the Bible. 00:24:57.339 --> 00:24:59.579 You may stop being involved in church. 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:02.139 Or even attending church. 00:25:02.140 --> 00:25:10.400 When we're trying to run from God, suppress what we know he wants us to do, just not do it. 00:25:12.140 --> 00:25:15.759 We don't want to be around Christian people. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:23.180 We don't want to be around people who might talk about God or the things of God because it makes us feel guilty. 00:25:23.180 --> 00:25:26.160 I want us to understand. 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:33.180 We can disobey God when he calls us to do something just like Jonah did. 00:25:36.060 --> 00:25:43.519 But sooner or later, we learn the same lesson that Jonah learned the hard way. 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:44.420 Look in verse 4. 00:25:44.420 --> 00:25:51.660 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea for that the ship threatened to break up. 00:25:51.860 --> 00:25:57.440 And verse 12, as we just read a little bit ago, Jonah knew it's because of me. 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:02.039 We're going to look at how Jonah tried to run from God next week. 00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:10.880 But what we see happening to Jonah clearly reveals there are always consequences to our disobedience. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:13.420 Make no mistake. 00:26:14.120 --> 00:26:15.960 You can say no to God. 00:26:16.060 --> 00:26:17.220 You can shake your fist at him. 00:26:17.900 --> 00:26:19.660 You can try to ignore him. 00:26:20.620 --> 00:26:23.400 You can try to just get him out of your mind. 00:26:25.560 --> 00:26:27.800 You can defy God. 00:26:28.780 --> 00:26:30.820 But you cannot dismiss him. 00:26:31.540 --> 00:26:33.760 He will not go quietly away. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:36.680 And if you're his child, he will not leave you alone. 00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:40.360 Just like he didn't Jonah. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:43.160 You know, the old saying is true. 00:26:43.940 --> 00:26:49.300 Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. 00:26:51.940 --> 00:26:58.080 God has a history of calling some of his people to do unprecedented and unexpected things. 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:02.000 You see it throughout the Old Testament, for example. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:08.640 He called Moses to stand before the most powerful person in his world, Pharaoh. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:16.020 And to say to Pharaoh, the pagan leader, the Lord says, let my people go. 00:27:18.520 --> 00:27:19.660 Crazy, wasn't it? 00:27:19.660 --> 00:27:28.440 The Lord called a virgin teenager named Mary to be the mother of his son. 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:31.720 Wild, isn't it? 00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:37.079 But Moses and Mary, they weren't like Jonah. 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.180 Moses argued at first. 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:45.500 But Moses and Mary said yes to God's call. 00:27:45.500 --> 00:27:53.119 The most difficult call of all was given by God the Father to God the Son. 00:27:54.740 --> 00:27:59.980 God called his son to leave the glory of heaven that he'd always experienced as the second person of the Trinity. 00:28:01.460 --> 00:28:09.799 God called his son to leave heaven and to come into this fallen sinful world and die a cruel death on a Roman cross. 00:28:09.799 --> 00:28:23.039 The Lord Jesus, God's son, willingly obeyed his father's call because he loved and trusted his father. 00:28:24.220 --> 00:28:30.180 He knew that his father's will was always good, was always right. 00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:38.000 He also knew that part of God's goodwill was that his death would be followed by his resurrection. 00:28:39.100 --> 00:28:48.360 And the result would be that he was going to win a victory, a decisive, eternal victory over sin and death and the devil. 00:28:50.660 --> 00:28:57.660 Jesus knew that his obedience to the Father's call would provide salvation for all who believe in him. 00:28:57.660 --> 00:29:00.940 And that's us this morning if we're Christians. 00:29:03.019 --> 00:29:10.480 Jesus heard and answered the Father's call to come into this world and do everything necessary for us to be saved. 00:29:11.620 --> 00:29:19.019 And if you're trusting in him, you are eternally thankful that he was obedient to God's call. 00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:23.940 You're forgiven. You're a child of God. 00:29:23.940 --> 00:29:27.740 You have eternal life, which is forever. 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:32.160 If you're not a Christian, you can come to know Christ today. 00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:39.759 If you'll turn from your sin and trust him as your Savior and Lord, he will save you now. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:55.079 Jesus knew that his obedience to the Father was good, it was right, and it would have eternal blessings for so many people. 00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:04.339 What I want us to see here now is that Jesus, not Jonah, shows us how to respond when God calls. 00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:09.359 Even when it's something unprecedented and unexpected. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:13.959 Make no mistake, Jonah can be a model. 00:30:15.019 --> 00:30:18.899 He shows us that we can disobey God. 00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:23.139 But he also shows us, and we're going to see a lot more in the weeks to come, 00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:27.579 he also shows us while you can disobey God, you cannot dismiss him. 00:30:27.639 --> 00:30:28.599 You can't write him off. 00:30:28.659 --> 00:30:30.059 You can't get away from him. 00:30:30.059 --> 00:30:39.759 So right now, who is your model for responding to God? 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:50.619 Is it Jesus who loved his Father, trusted his Father, knew his Father's will was always good and best, 00:30:51.980 --> 00:30:53.919 even if there was pain in the process? 00:30:55.159 --> 00:30:56.639 He obeyed. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:04.420 Or are you following the model of Jonah, who thought he knew better than God, 00:31:05.080 --> 00:31:10.280 who didn't trust God and love God enough to just do what he said, 00:31:11.180 --> 00:31:13.520 and he suffered the consequences? 00:31:15.460 --> 00:31:22.000 God calls us in big ways and small ways to serve him in our church, in our world, 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.819 to serve him in sometimes easy ways and sometimes very hard ways. 00:31:27.940 --> 00:31:29.920 But the question we want to leave here with, 00:31:31.420 --> 00:31:34.059 God calls you at various times to do various things. 00:31:36.740 --> 00:31:40.759 Are you, is your track record, and is it going to continue to be, 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:42.680 are you going to follow the model of Jesus? 00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:46.960 Or are you going to follow the model of Jonah? 00:31:48.580 --> 00:31:49.519 Let's pray together. 00:31:50.360 --> 00:31:50.779 Father, 00:31:51.779 --> 00:31:58.680 I pray for people in this room who are dealing 00:31:58.680 --> 00:32:04.019 with your call about something in their life. 00:32:04.019 --> 00:32:10.200 I pray, Father, for those who are running from it, 00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:11.680 trying to disobey, 00:32:12.879 --> 00:32:15.079 trying to just put it out of their minds, 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:16.819 trying to put you out of their minds. 00:32:17.799 --> 00:32:19.819 I pray, Father, that you will use this message 00:32:19.819 --> 00:32:22.599 to let them know they can never be successful at it. 00:32:23.339 --> 00:32:26.259 They can never dismiss you and be right with you. 00:32:26.259 --> 00:32:32.480 They never know real peace in their life 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:35.859 and not obey you. 00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:39.420 So, Father, help them to give it up now. 00:32:42.180 --> 00:32:44.519 If it's something they need to stop, 00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:46.680 they need to repent of, help them to do it. 00:32:48.339 --> 00:32:50.460 If it's something that needs to change, 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:51.779 help them to do it. 00:32:52.779 --> 00:32:54.980 If it's something they need to add to their life, 00:32:54.980 --> 00:32:55.940 they need to start. 00:32:58.180 --> 00:33:01.220 Give them the faith to trust you. 00:33:06.740 --> 00:33:10.680 Father, I pray for people who are seeking to be faithful 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:14.099 but are having a hard time. 00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:16.579 Help them to see, dear God, 00:33:16.660 --> 00:33:19.039 that just because something's hard or painful 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:20.799 doesn't mean that they're out of your will. 00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:24.440 Help them to see that sometimes 00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:27.460 being obedient to your call 00:33:27.460 --> 00:33:32.500 will be everything but easy and comfortable. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:36.960 But help them, dear God, to trust you, 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:40.140 to know that you love them 00:33:40.140 --> 00:33:42.279 and that your plan for their life 00:33:42.279 --> 00:33:44.320 is what's best. 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:48.340 It's what will most glorify you, Father, 00:33:48.340 --> 00:33:52.299 and most positively impact other people. 00:33:52.299 --> 00:33:55.919 And, Father, help them to see 00:33:55.919 --> 00:33:58.139 that if they will just embrace it 00:33:58.139 --> 00:34:00.639 and trust you and love you 00:34:00.639 --> 00:34:03.899 in time, 00:34:04.460 --> 00:34:07.299 it will be meaningful to them. 00:34:08.980 --> 00:34:10.179 In an attitude of prayer, 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:11.940 just listen to God and obey Him. 00:34:13.219 --> 00:34:14.460 If I could pray with you, 00:34:14.500 --> 00:34:15.480 I'll be happy to do that. 00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:17.719 But hear from Jonah. 00:34:19.719 --> 00:34:20.880 God calls us. 00:34:21.780 --> 00:34:22.840 We can run from it, 00:34:23.260 --> 00:34:25.260 but we cannot escape Him 00:34:25.260 --> 00:34:27.000 or His call. 00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:30.260 Pray, listen to God, and obey Him. 00:34:30.260 --> 00:34:32.260 Once more or so, 00:34:32.520 --> 00:34:32.540 God says. 00:34:32.540 --> 00:34:33.180 Once more or so, 00:34:33.180 --> 00:34:33.660 There promises us 00:34:35.660 --> 00:34:36.800 that the Lord is to die 00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:38.080 and accept the help 00:34:38.580 --> 00:34:38.720 but will always be your equal 00:34:38.720 --> 00:34:39.680 and being opened 00:34:39.680 --> 00:34:39.920 and begitu. 00:34:40.340 --> 00:34:40.860 What we have done 00:34:40.900 --> 00:34:41.560 finally above 00:34:42.780 --> 00:34:43.460 is that those money 00:34:43.460 --> 00:34:43.820 or the people 00:34:43.820 --> 00:34:44.320 are on our call 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:45.260 and arising 00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:46.860 that are not 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:47.820 life 00:34:47.820 --> 00:34:47.960 in the world 00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:49.820 in the world 00:34:51.880 --> 00:34:56.220 within your tongue 00:34:56.300 --> 00:34:58.100 and being animated from God.