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Since 2000 Every Man Ministries has been activating men worldwide to live out their truest identity in Christ through its discipleship resources, live events, and steaming platform.
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Jonah's Journey: Intercepted, Captured, Returned 0:01 Welcome to More Than Grateful, the final session. You know, to get us thinking in the right direction when it comes to this topic about gratitude and being grateful. I want to talk about just seeing0:13 something counterintuitive. I mean, you see 2 athletes, and 1 is running for the finish line, the other crashes, and then the 1 who's gonna finish0:25 ahead stops, comes back, helps the other athlete finish. That's what happened in the 20 16 Summer Olympics in Brazil when Nikki Hamblin and Abby Agostino,0:38 were racing in the 5000 meter semifinals. Augustino falls, and Nikki Hamlin comes back, picks her up, helps her finish the race. And0:50 listen to this, the race officials advance them both to the final heat in a counterintuitive moment. I have seen on YouTube,1:02 maybe you have, how lionesses who have lost their cubs, they care for baby antelopes. Totally counterintuitive. Right? And this is 1 of my favorites. It's when the1:13 last guy on the field that can prevent a touchdown in football delivers a crushing tackle, like a kicker or a punter. Right? Who has1:25 really no shoulder pads or no thigh pads or but that's counterintuitive, and we just go, woah. That's different. Right? Now it's 1 thing to see something1:36 counterintuitive, and it's a whole another ball game to do something counterintuitive in any given moment. Right? And as we talk1:48 about more than grateful, what we're gonna see is that biblical gratitude is counter intuitive. And I think you know what I mean. It's easy, even natural, right,2:00 to thank God for things that benefit us. But when people and circumstances conspire, right, and it causes pain, somebody hurts you, things don't2:12 turn out the way that you had planned, it messes with the 1 thing that can sabotage all gratitude, Our expectations. Right?2:24 We expect that we're gonna live a certain way in a certain place, at a certain time. We expect things are gonna happen. Then all of a sudden, people and circumstances or 1 or the other conspire2:36 to sabotage the life we thought we would be living, and then we are living a life that God is calling us to live. And there's gonna be a lot of moments like that.2:48 So this is such an important subject because I think for many of us, there is a life that we thought we would be living or felt like we deserved to live. And then in some,3:01 I don't know, unwelcome twist, there is a life that God is now calling us to live. What now? Right? So we're going to look at Biblical gratitude,3:13 specifically gratitude in the darkness, and we're going to pick an unlikely character, from the Bible that that's going to show us, how this actually is done.3:25 We're going to see in the person of Jonah, a guy who from the belly of the beast prays these words. Jonah chapter 2 verse3:37 9 says, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation3:49 is from the Lord. Are you kidding me? This is so counterintuitive, and we can kinda understand why. I mean, it really the curtain has dropped.4:01 The show is over, but here is a guy from the belly of the beast praying a prayer of thanksgiving, declaring victory4:13 from the darkness, and declaring salvation is from the Lord. So let's make 3 simple observations in our final session of More Than Gratitude. Number 1, Jonah was intercepted with4:25 the storm. If you read the story of Jonah, you see that he was fleeing from the will of God, and god intercepted Jonah while he was fleeing. You ever had that happen? You're like, give god the4:36 highest men. You're like, I'm going the exact other way and then god interrupts your flight from his will to bring you back to his will. I can remember many many4:48 times after after sinning, after doing what I know. God didn't want me to do. God just kind of intercepting me and taking me to a spot or5:00 a place or around a community where he just said, okay, that's not gonna happen, and then he just relocates me. That's what's happened with Jonah. Number 2, Jonah5:12 was captured and put in darkness. Okay? Not not only was he intercepted through a storm, but then the the the the gets thrown out of the5:24 boat, right, and then he gets put into the ocean. Right? Imagine. Okay? An open ocean. Okay? Just have you ever been out on open ocean where you can't see a thing around you? I mean,5:36 endless in every direction. That's Jonah. He gets thrown out of the boat in open ocean, And then after being intercepted by the storm, the next step in God's master5:48 plan is that he captures him and puts him into the darkness, like, can't see a thing, like like that inside the gastrointestinal6:00 system of a fish. Right? And then third, and this is the most miraculous thing ever, after being intercepted and captured, Jonah, write this down, was returned6:12 to his mission. Okay. That all is counterintuitive. That all is the least likely thing you could have. But with6:24 God, that's what happens. Counterintuitive things. You see, Jonah was returned to his mission after giving thanks to God in the6:36 belly of the fish, not after the fish put him safely on land. You'd think, you know, the the fish spits him up in the shallow shallow part of a beach, and he just6:47 kinda comes out, and she's like, oh, thank you, god. No. That's not how it works. Jonah starts giving God thanks in the darkness of the belly of the fish.Gratitude Expresses Faith, Anticipates Deliverance, Pierces Darkness 7:01 Wow. Now, I don't know what's going on in your life, but my guess is there's a lot of us that are listening to this message. You could be7:13 behind bars. You could be in the middle of a massive financial meltdown. You could be on the edge of7:25 divorce. You could be on the cusp of losing it all. Maybe you have lost it all, And you are in a circumstantial or relational7:37 or professional or financial or emotional darkness. I'm gonna encourage you to pray7:49 this prayer. In fact, if you're listening to me right now, can you just say this with me? Lord, I will sacrifice to you8:03 with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed, I will pay up. Salvation8:16 is from the Lord. You see, that's the prayer of gratitude in the darkness. Now I don't know if something magical happened. Probably8:27 not. All I know is is that you put your faith in my encouragement for you to prayer to pray a biblical declaration of faith and gratitude8:40 in the darkness. And you did what biblical faith is. In fact, you did you did what what the Bible says is the highest form of faith. Look8:52 at what it says in Hebrews 11 1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.9:04 You don't have a crystal ball, and I don't have a crystal ball, but we know that god who created us and who is the CEO of everything and who has power over9:16 what he's created, and he can create something that doesn't presently exist in your life circumstantially, emotionally, professionally, financially. That's his prerogative9:29 because he has the power to do it. God can create, even from the darkness, a situation that you can't see, and you just put your faith9:41 in that. And I think that's what we need to talk about next. What is gratitude? What does Jonah really model for us from the belly of the beast after being intercepted, captured, and put into darkness?9:53 This is what he's modeling. You see in Jonah, right, gratitude in the darkness expresses faith. It expresses faith. You don't know the outcome. In10:05 fact, the outcome's looking rather bleak when you're in the darkness, at least that's what your feelings said. But faith and a right view of God can10:17 be expressed by thanking God with your voice, making commitments in the darkness, and declaring deliverance in the darkness.10:29 That's what we see Jonah modeling. Gratitude expresses faith. Second thing that we see in Jonah is that gratitude anticipates deliverance.10:40 Jonah's praying prayers, the prayers of a person who's gonna be alive, not a person who's dead. He says, what I vowed, I'm gonna pay. And you can't you can't10:52 pay up on your commitments when you're dead. He's like, you know the commitments I made to you, Lord? I'm gonna I'm gonna make good on the commitments that I made to you. Have you ever done that? Have you ever made11:04 commitments to the Lord? Remember when you got saved? Remember when you made a profession of faith? Remember the the prayers that you prayed? Remember the desires that you had? Remember the vows perhaps that you made?11:16 And you're now in this place of darkness, and those commitments, instead of being dead, are very much alive. And the way we resurrect our faith and the ways we resurrect our commitment is that we11:28 thank God, we raise a voice of thanksgiving in the darkness, and then we say, God, I am going to fulfill my noblest intentions for you. I'm gonna11:39 fulfill the commitment I made maybe when I came out of that baptism. When when when when the pastor said, and now raised anew to live in him.11:52 Right? And here is the third thing we see in Jonah. We see him gratitude expresses faith. Gratitude anticipates deliverance. And then we see in Jonah, gratitude pierces the12:04 darkness. You know, when things are dark out, right, and you can't see light, you have to call on a deliverer, someone who can pierce the darkness, someone12:16 who can bring hope, someone who can can invade that space. It's like when the psalmist says, even even at the bottom of the ocean, surely you are there. Now at the ends of the year, surely you are there. A right view of12:28 God now raises up a right life in God, and a right life in God in the darkness says, okay, I have a right view of God. Now I'm gonna pray a prayer to God that acknowledges my view of12:39 God, which is God's with you. I don't I don't care what kind of darkness you're in. Emotionally, circumstantially, physically, professionally, God is with you, and12:51 you can pierce the darkness by praying the prayer that that Jonah prayed. But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation13:03 is from the Lord. Pray it once. Pray it twice. Pray it again, and pierce the darkness. You see, what pierces spiritual darkness is13:15 spiritual light, and spiritual light comes in the form of truth. Truth about God, truth about yourself, truth about his capacity and his13:26 character and his competence that you lack. And when we declare his capacity and his character and his competence and his power to do things, we pierce through emotional13:38 darkness, we pierce through physical darkness, and we we step into the supernatural life right where we are. Now it's a mystery for sure,13:51 but we are the doing the 1 thing that we are called to do so that god can do the supernatural things that he is called to do, and we start thanking him in advance. Gratitude in theThe Sacrifice of Praise: Affirm, Trust, Rest, Look 14:02 darkness is the highest form of biblical faith. Now, when we thank God in the midst of change and challenge and in the midst of14:14 adversity, right, versus in the absence of adversity and when life is a bowl of cherries and you're falling into a bowl of cream, alright, that kind of faith that affirms14:26 his goodness is called biblically a sacrifice of praise. Talks about this in Hebrews 13 15. It says this, through him, Jesus then, let14:38 us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, that give thanks to his name.14:50 Right? Now let's let's unpack what a sacrifice of praise is. A sacrifice of praise is something that we offer15:03 not in the midst of prosperity, and everything's exactly as we expected, because it's it's kinda natural and easy to just go, hey, god. Thank15:14 you so much. I have this and that, and I have this and that, and I have beautiful wife and 3 kids and, 2.5 children and, golden retriever and a house here, and a car, and God thank you for all. No, that is15:26 not a sacrifice of praise. Why? Because it doesn't cost you anything. It doesn't cost you your feelings, your counterintuitive feelings of like, woah. What is15:38 going on here? No. Life's a yellow brick road. Life's a bowl of cherries. Everything's going my way. Right? So when you thank God in that, that doesn't cost you really much. Right? That's15:50 not the sacrifice of praise. Let's unpack what it actually is. Sacrifice sacrifice of praise is in the midst of change and challenge. And if you have the downloaded notes, what16:02 happens? Number 1, I affirm God for his goodness in the pain and in the darkness. Woah.16:13 That is counterintuitive, and that requires authentic faith. Now what do I mean when I say authentic faith that would affirm God for16:25 his goodness? We're not affirming the circumstance, or we're not saying the circumstance is good. We're saying god's good. Cancer is not good. Divorce is not good.16:37 Custody battles with your kids, not good. Having an injury because of an auto accident, not good. K? I'm not saying you're saying that's good. I'm saying God's good in16:49 the midst of the pain, the isolation, the change, or the challenge. Secondly, sacrifice and praise, I trust17:01 in his goodness. Right? We're declaring in the midst of pain, isolation, change, challenge, delay, difficulty, trial, and tribulation. We are declaring the17:13 goodness of god, and that is what is going to pierce the darkness. That requires faith to say that in the absence of seeing it or feeling it. It takes17:25 faith to go, God, I know you're good. I don't feel your goodness right now. I don't see your goodness right now, but God, I know that I know you're good because the cross has convinced me of your goodness.17:38 And so I am going to thank you for this challenge. I receive it as a blessing to my own heart because you've allowed it to17:50 happen. You may have not wanted it to happen, but in your sovereignty, you've allowed it to touch my life. And I just wanna thank you for your goodness that there is something else inside of this that's going to bless18:01 me, and I thank you for that blessing now. I thank you for that deliverance now. Return me to my mission. Right? So I affirm God for his goodness. I trust in his goodness.18:14 And once you do those 2 things, it's like dominoes. Right? I'm affirming God for his goodness. I'm saying, God, I trust your goodness in this. And then the next domino falls18:26 in the spirit, which is then, I reach this place of I rest in his goodness. That shalom,18:38 that complete wholeness of god's presence, an awareness of his sovereignty, an awareness of his goodness, that even though we can't see the outcome, we18:50 don't know all that God has in store, we believe in his goodness, we thank him for his goodness, we affirm his goodness. And now we can justGospel Breakthrough and Closing Prayer 19:02 go, alright, Lord. I'm gonna show up to my life. I'm gonna rest in your goodness. I don't know the future, but I know you. And you're there19:13 already in my future. And you're good, and you're wise, and you act with my best interest in mind. You see me. You know me. You haven't abandoned me. And you're gonna be with me. And you're gonna show me19:25 as I show up to each day in faith. You're gonna show me my deliverance. You're gonna help me to walk with you. You're gonna open up this supernatural life19:37 that you've called me to live, not in the absence of where I am right now, but right in the midst of the challenge, of the isolation, of the upside down.19:51 Lastly, after affirming God for his goodness, trusting in his goodness, resting in his goodness, now kinda alluded to this, we're now going to look for god's20:03 goodness. Our eyes are open instead of instead of being withdrawn and self absorbed and seeing only ourselves. Now, after we affirm God for his goodness20:15 in the midst of change and challenge, as we trust in God's goodness, in the midst of change and challenge, as now we enter that rest, like, hey, God's with me. This20:27 is what's really up. Now I can look up and start looking for God's goodness and seeing blessing, seeing his purpose in the midst of20:38 it, seeing what he wants to do in me in the middle of this, seeing what he wants to teach me about myself in the middle of this, teaching me about him.20:51 Like, maybe I was thinking the wrong way about him and just projecting all of my fear and shame and guilt into this21:03 circumstance. Right? Now I'm I I'm out of that, and now I'm looking. I'm looking for God's kingdom. I'm looking for his goodness. I'm taking him for the little things and the big things.21:15 Right?21:16 So now, I wanna just kinda put this all together. Right? We're talking about gratitude in the darkness. We're talking about praying in the middle of darkness. We're talking about21:28 supernatural faith in the middle of the darkness. We're talking about anticipating deliverance and piercing the darkness. So now why a sacrifice of praise?21:40 Why affirm God, trust God, rest in God, and look to God? Well, it's the epitome of faith. It's a sacrifice of praise because a sacrifice costs me listen,21:54 the why. Sacrifice of praise cost me the why. You see, it's natural, even human, to go, God, you're loving. Why are you inflicting pain? God, you're loving. I'm questioning you now.22:06 God, you're loving. I don't wanna thank you right now. I wanna vent. I wanna erupt. Right? Which is normal. But eventually, if you have22:18 a right view of god and a right view of the gospel, you will offer the sacrifice of of praise. When you question, why would a loving God inflict pain?22:32 Think of the gospel. What is that? A loving God inflicting pain on his own son, and redeeming that22:44 pain for your salvation, and for my salvation. For your forgiveness, and my forgiveness. You see, God works22:55 counterintuitively. Nobody, I mean nobody, watching the Son of Man, the most compassionate, loving purpose person.23:07 Most compassionate man, the strongest man, tough and tender, sacrificial, and servant oriented. Right? Courageous for relationship.23:19 That guy. Why him? That's why all the disciples got so disillusioned and confused. But you see, this is the gospel. God was present in the midst of that darkness that day. I mean, even physically,23:31 Earth was dark. The clouds and darkness enveloped that hill that Jesus was crucified on. It's counterintuitive23:43 that God, the king of the universe, would leave perfect fellowship, father and son and holy spirit, and come to this broken mess called earth. But God's good,23:55 and he did it anyway. Counterintuitive. Right? Jesus on the cross paid a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not ever24:08 pay. The debt of our sin, our rebellion against God. Counterintuitive. So when we say gratitude in the darkness, when we say24:19 a sacrifice of praise, we're talking not about the things of earth, we're talking about the things of heaven. That's why we pray. Our Father, who art in24:31 heaven, hallowed and holy is your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth in the middle of my darkness as it is24:43 in heaven. This is gonna be a breakthrough. I want you to experience piercing the darkness, and the only way to do that is to offer up a sacrifice of praise. Would you bow your heads right now wherever you24:55 are? Whether you're behind bars in prison? Whether you're in an emotional pit, whether you are on the edge of divorce, whether the company has just tanked, or you've lost your job, whatever the isolation or challenge,25:06 God is present, God is with you, God is able to deliver. Salvation is from the Lord. Bow your head, and let's believe right now that god is good based on the gospel based on the gospel and that god is the god25:18 of the counterintuitive supernatural breakthrough. Father, we thank you for the gospel. We thank you that nails and hands and feet, painful ones, a bloody25:30 back whipped and beaten, crowns of thorns on a head, bleeding from the head, appears through the side, Lord, in the ultimate demonstration25:42 of love, you allowed Jesus to experience pain for us. Lord, it's counterintuitive. And in the same way, Lord, we don't know why. We don't know why you do it the way you do it. We don't know why25:54 things are happening. But, Lord, right now, we just give up the why. We're done asking questions about why we're in this moment. Why things have happened the way they have.26:06 We we reject questioning your goodness, and we're gonna move from questioning you and your character to affirming your goodness. God, we know26:18 you're good because you sent Jesus to die for us on the cross and it's that goodness and that power which is able to bring things back from the dead, lord, to create supernatural26:30 breakthrough that we pray again. With Jonah. We pray the scripture. We pray your word. We sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. Thank you,26:42 god for everything, for the challenges and the blessings. We thank you, God. And the commitments that we have made to you, God, past, present, and in26:54 this moment. Lord, we're gonna fulfill that. We're gonna move our energy and our emotions and our bodies toward your will, and and we declare with 1 voice together,27:07 salvation is from the Lord. We offer you the fruit of our lips. We give thanks to your name for everything.27:19 And so, god, we affirm your goodness. We affirm your sovereignty. We affirm your wisdom. Now help us to trust in your goodness, rest in it, and now look for your goodness in the moments and daysPromo: Every Man Promised Land 27:31 to come. In Jesus mighty name we pray and are grateful. Amen. Greetings, men. Kenny Luck, founder of Everyman Ministries. You27:43 know, after 30 years of helping men in the mental health, pastoral, and coaching context, the 1 working assumption I've operated on is this. Men, they're like icebergs. You only see the27:54 tip. Under the waterline of the image that they are projecting and the lives that they are living are28:00 massive spiritual, emotional, and relational battles they recognize, but they're28:00 just not28:15 a to eat away at their faith, eat away at their hope. It opens them up to spiritual attack and lies to the point where so many, if they were honest, would say, I believe in God and I believe his promises are true, just28:27 not for me right now. Have you ever felt that or thought that? Well, here's the thing. So many men I counsel and coach say the same thing. I'm attending church. I'm reading my bible. I'm going to men's group.28:39 I'm praying. But I'm not sensing or experiencing God the way I see it promised in the bible. You know that abundant life that Jesus speaks of. I'm I'm not breaking through, and I know there's28:51 more. I just don't know how to get there, and it's confusing me. It's affecting my relationships with God and other people. Now if you've ever felt the same way, if you've ever had any of those thoughts,29:03 welcome to the club. As men, we go through different seasons of personal, professional, and, yes, spiritual life. And listen, that calls for new29:15 Christ formation, new faith steps, new discoveries, and new thinking. You see, there's no big mystery here. The big wheels of life, of relationships, Christ formation,29:26 and of fulfillment turn on the hidden axles of what the bible calls your inner man. So when the bible says, watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow29:38 the springs of life, it's not calling for new outer spiritual behavior management. It's calling for a new you. You say, how do you know, Kenny? Because God called me personally29:51 into a new season of Christ formation after 25 years as a pastor and counselor. And you know what I needed? I needed a community of brave brothers, of professional men who were30:02 spirit filled, and I needed a solid process and godly coaching to walk me into a new place of strength, a place of powerful sacrifice, a place of complete tenacity30:14 in my purpose, a place of growing authentic generosity, and a place of meaningful insight into myself first and for other people.30:26 That's my promise lane. What's yours? If you're like me and you want a new place of growth, if you want the dissonance to go away, if you want an inner breakthrough in Christ, if you want to discover what is it that is30:38 holding you back spiritually versus continuing to say some narrative to yourself and other people, just lean in right now. There is a next adventure in God and in30:50 life waiting for you. But the old thinking, the old victories you cling to, the old patterns of living, just the old thought processes are not going to cut31:02 it in this next adventure God has for you. The promised land that he has for you. And that's why I'm inviting you into the every man promised land living experience, where Christ formation31:14 advances in new ways, where the language of the heart is spoken. And where the enemy, he takes it on the chin and strongholds are broken. You want your next adventure in Christ31:26 to begin? Then fight the good fight like I did. Believe. God is at work. Register. Get into an every man promised land group. Our team of trained coaches are eager to31:37 meet you and to start getting you prepared for the greater works of Jesus in and through you for this next season and adventure of life.In this video 0:00 Jonah's Journey: Intercepted, Captured, Returned7:00 Gratitude Expresses Faith, Anticipates Deliverance, Pierces Darkness14:00 The Sacrifice of Praise: Affirm, Trust, Rest, Look19:00 Gospel Breakthrough and Closing Prayer27:30 Promo: Every Man Promised Land
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