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Run: How Do We Run Back to God?
April 25, 2024 · 40 min
This talk on Jonah emphasizes running back to God after straying and the importance of repentance and obedience. Listeners are encouraged to embrace second chances and seek God's mercy and guidance.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton April 25, 2024 · 40 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
This talk on Jonah emphasizes running back to God after straying and the importance of repentance and obedience. Listeners are encouraged to embrace second chances and seek God's mercy and guidance. ...more Show the full description Show less This talk on Jonah emphasizes running back to God after straying and the importance of repentance and obedience. Listeners are encouraged to embrace second chances and seek God's mercy and guidance.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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0:00 How are you? Glad you're in God's house today? Man, give God a hand. Man, we are so excited. We continue a series we started a couple of weeks ago entitled Run With0:11 Purpose, and we talked about that first week. Whatever we do when we run with purpose, we don't want to run from our calling. Then we also talked about the reality we don't want to run from God, but0:22 honestly, we've all run from God. How many of you run from God from time to time? For a call on his life or something he said, we've all done it. And so, we really need to learn how to get back to0:34 God. If you are in the midst of running, maybe in person or online, how in the world do we make our way back to God? And that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to see in this passage that Jonah finally0:46 hits rock bottom. That he's gone as far as he can go, and he finally ultimately hits rock bottom. And once he hits rock bottom, we have to figure out how do we turn and come back? Unique thing about Jonah is a couple0:58 of things. First of all, he's unique because he's the only prophet that is known more for what he did than what he said. A lot of the other prophets, man, you have their great speeches and their sermons and1:10 their messages, but Jonah is known more by what he did, the fact that he headed the exact opposite direction. Because the next thing he's known for is he is the only prophet in1:22 all of God's Word who ran from God. Other prophets aren't perfect, but none of them actually ran from God. He's also unique in that he's kind of like a prodigal prophet. He1:34 does come back, but but he really never truly repents and changes his heart heart toward the Ninevites. He has a wildly successful, very short sermon where the entire1:45 city, the great city of Nineveh, repents and he actually gets mad about it. He gets angry because he hates them so much, and he has no joy at their salvation.1:57 And so, as we think about Jonah, we're gonna move into Jonah chapter 2, and I want everybody to tap in in this song. We've already seen a number of miracles, and we're about to see2:09 another miracle. But the greatest miracle of all is that there is a Jonah chapter 2. Because when you think of Jonah chapter 1,2:21 he absolutely did nothing to earn God's favor, grace, or mercy. If you look in Jonah chapter 1, it says God sent a miracle. He2:33 sent a great storm to stir the sailors up, the ship up, and that storm woke Jonah up. He had fallen asleep, headed in the wrong direction, and God sent a storm, that was a miracle. Then, then2:45 the sailors said, well, let's cast lots. This is obviously a storm that is sent by God, and the lot by miracle falls on Jonah, so they know it's you, and Jonah makes a choice, hey listen, instead of me2:56 praying or repenting to God, throw me into the deep. And when they throw him into the deep, what happens? Another miracle happens. The storm is calmed. As Jonah is beginning to sink, we're gonna see3:08 this today, God sends another miracle in the form of a great fish. Those are incredible miracles. But the greatest miracle of all is that there actually3:20 is a chapter 2. And so, you in this room, maybe there's some of you, you've been running from God for a long, long time. God has been sending some storms your way, others have called you3:32 out along the way, but you continue to run from God. Can I tell you this? God still wants to perform a miracle in your life today. He wants to give you a chapter 2.3:44 He wants to give you a fresh start and a new start. Perhaps even the miracle today is not just that He gives you a chapter 2, we're gonna see at the end of this chapter that God still3:56 uses Jonah. So wherever you are in your seasons of life, however far you've run from God, let's tap into this last verse in Jonah chapter 1 and let's make our way through. Go back and4:07 we'll just kind of reintroduce ourselves in Jonah chapter 1 verse 1, greatest miracle is gonna be chapter 2. It says, the Word of Lord came to Jonah, this is how the book started, son of Amittai, he says, go, this is4:19 your marching order, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. Just that simple, go and preach because its wickedness has come up before me. Now, verse 3, but Jonah4:31 When we get to chapter 2, we're gonna see but God. But right now, Jonah is doing all the running. It says, but Jonah instead ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa4:42 where he found a ship bound for that port, and after paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to free flee from the Lord. Now, let's be honest. Everyone in this room, I can do4:54 it as well, we can get on the wrong boat, we can pay the wrong fare, we can head in the wrong direction, but what happens most of the time when we do that, we then pray for calm5:06 seas. And God says, I'm not giving you calm seas. But we do. We sit here in our own mind, in our own thought, man, I'm gone, I'm not gonna do what God wants me to do, I'm gonna5:18 do what I want to do. I'm not gonna get on the boat that God wants me to get on, I'm gonna get my own boat. I'm gonna I'm gonna head in the wrong direction instead of the right direction. And then we're like, God bless5:27 me along the way. And then from time to time God says, I'm kind of out on that. That's your ship, that's your fare, that's your direction, that's your ticket, enjoy the storm.5:39 Right? And I want you to know, God sends storms and allows storms in our lives, not necessarily to judge us, but to correct us or perfect us.5:51 Because that's what God wants out of each and every 1 of us. So you just think about it. Now listen, we looked at this last week, if you missed it go back and look. Remember we talked about the fact if you're a man or a6:02 woman, if you're a husband or a wife, father, a son, or we never sin in isolation. Jonah's sin affected everybody on the boat. Man,6:14 we need to understand that our sin doesn't just affect us. We also said all sin is costly. Remember it cost them all the luggage and stuff even though the seas were calm, everybody that was on the boat still lost all6:26 their luggage. We also looked at the fact that sometimes the storm you're in, it's your storm. Sometimes the storm you're in, it's because of someone else's6:37 storm. All those sailors were in Jonah's storm but it cost them all. So here's the real question is, are we headed in the direction that God wants us to go? Are we headed6:49 away from where God wants us to go? Are we doing what God has called us to do or are we heading in the wrong direction? Then when they get out to a place in a space where the sailors are rolling as hard as they can and7:01 it looks like they're gonna go under, Jonah says the only answer is to throw me in. And Jonah chose to go into the abyss instead of simply asking for forgiveness, turning and repenting and heading back towards7:13 God. And if you're in a season or a place where you are so far away from God, don't make that choice. There are better options. You say, Pastor,7:24 what are the better options? Man, I paid the fare, I'm on the wrong boat, I'm heading in the wrong direction, man, I'm in the storm of my life. What are my options? Let me tell you, it starts with repentance. We're7:35 finally gonna see a little bit out of Jonah today, where you sit here and say, God, I want to stop going my direction, that's what repentance means, and instead I'm gonna start heading in your direction. I want to do it7:45 with my words and my actions as well. I want to make that journey. I wanna confess my sin. God, I am headed toward Tarshish, I should be headed towards Nineveh. Then I also wanna journey in such a way that I'm7:57 like, God, if there's any way, any any way you can use me again, use me. Say, God, I'm going to follow your will regardless. But whatever you do, don't choose the8:09 deep. Choose forgiveness. Jonah had better options. He just didn't choose them. Alright. So Jonah has now said, throw me into the water. The sailors begrudgingly do that. They they throw him in the water.8:21 He is sinking down, and notice what happens. Jonah chapter 1 verse 17. Now the Lord provided a huge fish. Question. What kind of fish? Huge8:32 1. A big 1. A monster 1. I don't know what it was. It just says it was a huge fish to swallow Jonah. That's the8:43 circumstances. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights. Now, a lot of people ask the question, well, what kind of fish was it? I I don't know. I'm just gonna go with what the Bible says. The Bible8:55 says it's a big 1. It was a huge 1. And you say, alright, how could this have happened? Well, I actually looked on the Internet today, you've probably seen this, this week. There are a couple of images that are out9:06 there. Let's show the first image up there. I'm sure this was an actual picture. Underwater photographer caught him, here's what I know, I don't know what kind of fish that is, but it was a huge fish. Other people9:18 have this wonderful idea that that that this was good for Jonah to go through the belly of the fish. Here's the glamour shot. Go to the next image. That's, I'm sure that's exactly9:29 what Jonah looked like when he got out of the fish. I don't think so at all. I, I think Jonah was beat up, all right? He had not gotten a new suit, he was9:41 worn out, and he goes, Man, that was horrible. You say, Pastor, has there ever been a time in history that a person has gone into a well's mouth or9:53 a large, huge fish's mouth and survived? I ran across an article, we'll put a picture up there. Back in 20 21, off Cape Cod, Michael Packard, right here.10:05 He was actually diving, he's a lobster diver. What they do is you have the deeps of the ocean, then it comes up on the shallower, shallower sand, and the lobster will come out of the deep, come up on the shallower land,10:17 and a lobster diver will go down and gather them up. And he was doing that, and it is believed that a well thought that his bubbles from his scuba gear were actually10:29 a school of fish, and so it came up and it swallowed him whole. He says, it closed around me and then he goes, I just knew I was dead. He said, at first I thought it was a shark and then I realized it isn't a shark, I10:41 think I'm in a whale's belly. All right? Well, apparently, he didn't taste that good. Because the whale threw him out, but he survived and so now he's up here. So you're saying, can it10:52 happen? Yeah. But listen, I I I'm doing some researches and studies, a lot of people try to say, well, you know, it could have been this kind of animal, it could have been this kind of animal. Let let me just tell you11:03 all the way through this, this is miracle after miracle after miracle. That's what it was. God sent an amazing fish. It was absolutely a miracle along the way. And11:15 so here's the next question. Was the fish God's judgment or God's help?11:26 See, lot of people think that the fish was judgment. It wasn't judgment, it was help. See, God knew Jonah was in trouble and God sent a11:38 fish to save him from himself. Hisself headed in the wrong direction. Hisself on the wrong boat. Hisself paid the wrong ticket. Hisself throw me into the11:50 deep. Hisself sink. God chose instead of judging Jonah, but instead Jonah received help in the form of a fish. Can I just tell you this?12:02 Sometimes God will allow you to go through storms and difficulties not to judge you, but to help you. Why? Because sometimes it's that storm that wakes us up.12:14 It's that hardship that says turn around. It's that difficulty in our life that says stop running away from God but instead start running to God. So as we think about Jonah12:26 and we ask ourselves the question, how do we run back to God? Well, first of all remember that the fish was God's help to Jonah. In the New Testament, Jesus is ultimately our help. Go to Matthew chapter12:38 12 verse 40. Says, for as Jonah was in, this is Jesus talking, for as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the fish, so, Jesus talking about himself, the Son of Man will be 3 days and12:50 3 nights in the heart of the earth. In the Old Testament, the fish was Jonah's rescue. In the New Testament, for us in salvation, Jesus is our rescue. And13:02 so for us, as we look at the idea of Jonah running back to God in the Old Testament, we see the fish is Jonah's rescue. When we think about it in the New Testament, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,13:12 but God loved us so much He sent help and the help was ultimately in the form of Jesus. So, you haven't made that decision, first of all, to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I want to encourage13:24 you, settle that today, in this moment, in this season, in this time, and then we can be like Jonah and we can glean some principles from Jonah chapter 2 on how we run back to God. And so13:36 I want to encourage you, take out your app, take out your notes, and let's just begin to walk through chapter 2, and let me give you a couple of thoughts on what it means to run back to God, and we see them right here13:48 with Jonah. First of all, we want to run to God in the midst of the trial. A lot of times we think, you know, God, if you'll, if you'll fix this problem,14:00 God, if you'll, if you'll take away the storm, God, if you'll get get rid of this difficulty, then I'll come back to you. Notice what it says in Jonah chapter 2 verse 1. Here's how it starts.14:12 It says, from inside Everybody say inside. From inside the fish, Jonah prayed. See, this is the turning point. Up14:24 until now, Jonah has been running away from God on the wrong boat, headed in the wrong direction with the wrong fare, and instead made the wrong decision, instead of repentance and confession, he said just throw me in14:33 the water, sink into the deep, notice what it says, from inside the fish Jonah prayed. It is about time. Right? I mean everything up until now,14:45 Jonah knows it's about him running from God. But finally, from inside the trial, inside the hardship, inside the difficulty, it says Jonah prayed to the Lord. I don't know what trial or14:57 difficulty or hardship you're going through right now, but if you look through God's Word, some of the most beautiful prayers you'll see in all of God's Word happened in a season of trial.15:10 Go back to the Old Testament, a lady named Hannah, she was barren and she was childless and others mocked her and they laughed at her, and Hannah goes and she prays and cries out to God in the15:22 midst of the difficulty, and you go read her prayer. It is 1 of the most beautiful, poetic prayers you can imagine of a mom who literally is in the belly15:33 of infertility. She is childless, she is mocked, she is laughed at, and she cries out to God. And so, want you to know, it is okay to pray in the midst of the trial. That's what we see over and over again.15:45 Boy, you look in the New Testament, the Book of Acts. Peter begins to pray from prison. Peter doesn't say, God, when you get me out, I will start praying. But instead, Peter prays to God. David is in15:57 a season of guilt and regret after his adultery with Bathsheba. And finally, the prophet calls him out, and David delivers this prayer, God, forgive16:09 me, create in me this clean heart. Man, some of the most amazing prayers you will ever pray won't happen outside the fish, they'll happen inside the fish. Boy, if you look at Hezekiah, there16:21 were 2 monster prayers in Hezekiah's life, and maybe you need to pray 1. 1 is when he was surrounded by the enemy. I mean, the enemy was overwhelming, that he knew he was gonna leave and16:33 going to lose, and he just cried out this cry of prayer in the belly of the fish and the direction of the enemy. Prayed, God, help us. A little bit later16:45 in Hezekiah's life, he gets diagnosed and he knows he's gonna die. And in the midst of that trial and that hardship and that difficulty, he cries out to God16:57 and he prays. So child of God, if you're going through a storm, you're going through a season, in person or online, man, this may be the perfect time to pray. As you begin to make your way back to God, don't17:08 wait until you get out of the trial, out of the fish, start praying right now. Look at Romans chapter 8 verse 28, Paul talks about this in the New Testament. He says, and we know that in all17:20 things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose. Man, here's what Paul says. Listen, what you might be going through right now, hardships we might17:32 be going through right now, they're not good. But we know that God can make good out of bad. The hard seasons we go through, even the disobedient seasons we go through, God can turn them to17:44 into our testimony. And that's what Paul says. He says, listen, the biggest miracle in the book of Jonah is that chapter 2 exists. The bigger miracles we're gonna see is God still17:56 wants to use you. So whatever trial you're going through in life, man cry out to God, pray to God, believe God that is gonna, He's gonna turn this bad into something good and God will still use you regardless. So18:08 thought number 1 is this, man run to God in the midst of the trial, don't wait for it to be over. Here's number 2, we just pick it up in verse 2, he says, no God hears you wherever you are.18:19 There are times that I will sit in my office or have a cup of coffee or have breakfast somewhere and someone, a man will be going through something. They'll acknowledge that,18:31 man, this is all my fault. This is all my fault. I'm crying out to God. I don't feel like God hears me. And maybe this is your experience right now. You're like, how come, you know, God doesn't seem to be listening to18:42 me? I love what Jonah reminds us of, is that regardless of where you are, however deep you've gone, however far you've run, when you cry out God18:54 hears you. Look at verse 2. He said, in my distress I called to the Lord and He answered me. He'll just stop you right there. There's19:06 no place you can run from God that's too far for Him to hear you when you turn back to Him in prayer. It doesn't matter. And let me give you some better news. Maybe there's some parents19:18 out here that you have a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter and you're wondering if they've run too far, if they've gone too far, they've hidden too much, if they've gotten on the wrong can I tell you they've19:29 never ever ever gone too far for God to hear them really? He says, In my distress I called to the Lord and He answered me. He says, From the deep in19:41 the realm of the dead I called for help, and God, You listened to my cry. Now notice there's a little light bulb moment where Jonah finally says, You hurled me into the deeps. It wasn't the sailors.19:53 See, God had to get him to a place where he'd finally come back and pray. God knew if if I leave him on the boat, he's just gonna go. Now, picture this, you say, why would God do this? Alright.20:05 Let me ask you a question. Let's say that Jonah had gotten on the boat headed to Tarshish in the wrong direction and God would have given him calm seas. What would have happened? He'd have made his way over to Tarshish,20:16 had gotten off the boat, he had gotten him a little job, he'd found a wife, had got a family, and he'd have been fine not being where God wanted him to be all the way through. And that's what we pray for. Sometimes we go20:27 in the wrong direction, pray for calm seas. God says, No, not at all. He says, I'm gonna put you through some difficulties, I'm gonna put you through some hardships, and when God does, don't ever doubt that God's20:39 accessible. When we start praying, when we start repenting, when we start asking for forgiveness, man, God is immediately accessible. Don't ever20:51 doubt if God listens to you. Even in your sin, even in your disobedience, when you and I begin to cry out to God, God hears us. If you're here today and21:03 you're on the mountaintop, you're at the peak of your life, it seems like everything is going good with your kids and your family and your job and your career and this and that, and you are just killing it in life, can I21:13 tell you when you pray to God, He hears you? If there's some others you're in the deepest, darkest valley you've ever been in, maybe you look back and you know I'm in this dark valley, I'm in this difficult21:25 season or this difficult space because of my action, my sins, my words, my deeds, can I tell you God hears you? Maybe there's some here that you know I am in the belly of the fish.21:38 And today I'm gonna start believing that the belly of the fish is not God's judgment on my life, it's His help to bring me back. So child of God, don't ever ever doubt whether21:50 God can use you and whether God can hear you. I love the way Paul the Psalmist put it in Psalm 139 verse 7. He says, where can I go from your spirit, Lord? Where22:02 can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the highest heavens, you are there. What'd he say? You pray from the mountaintop, God hears you. He says, if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.22:14 He says, if I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Everybody see even there. Even there. Doesn't matter where you are. Even there Where's22:25 there? Where you are right now. The mountain? The valley? As close to God as you can be, as far away from God as you? Even there, even here,22:37 even now, your hand will guide me and your right hand will hold me fast. So thought number 1, don't wait for the trial to be over to pray to God. Don't ever number 2, don't ever think I'm too22:49 far gone. No one's too far gone to pray to God. Here's number 3, just pick it up in verse 4. Acknowledge the consequences of your sin. The storm was Jonas. The loss of luggage was Jonas'23:01 fault. The difficulties, the hardship, all that he went through, those were consequences to his disobedience, so we need to acknowledge him. And Jonah actually does, if you pick it up, God would prefer, you always need23:13 to remember this, God, when you begin to head in the wrong direction, God would prefer to whisper to redirect you. But if you don't listen to the whisper, He will use23:25 the weather. He will send a storm. So God's sitting there going, Jonah, I didn't want to do this all along, even to the fish, but it's not judgment, it's help. The help is what? To move you back down course. Here23:36 it is, verse 4. Here the, here the, here's where Jonah just acknowledges the consequence. He says, I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again towards your holy temple. Now notice the23:48 consequences. He said, danger, the engulfing waters that threaten me. He says, I'm sinking fast, the deep surrounded me. These are all consequences of his disobedience. Says, not only that, I couldn't think24:00 straight. He said, seaweed was wrapped around my head. Think about it. You think, was Jonah thinking straight when he said, when they said, hey, what should we do? The lot has fallen on you, you're running from God.24:12 Jonah had already told them. They could have said, hey, how about this? We start rolling back towards shore, you go instead to Nineveh and not Tarshish, and everything will be okay. But remember what Jonah said? No, I24:23 got an idea, God. Throw me in the water. That's a terrible idea. There are better options. And so Jonah acknowledges here that I wasn't thinking straight, man,24:35 think there's a reason that God put this seaweed wrapped around my head. And then it says, he hit rock bottom. Look at it, verse The roots of the mountains I sank down to. Hey, where are the roots of the24:47 mountains? Those are way down in the bottom of the ocean. Let me tell you what, Jonah was down. He was heading the wrong direction. Jonah had finally gotten to a place that he had hit rock24:59 bottom. He was down at the roots of the mountain. Maybe there are some of you here today that you feel like you've hit rock bottom. That you're in the deep, as seaweed's wrapped around your mind and you can't think25:11 straight. Can I just encourage you with this begin to look up? See, Jonah chose this, not God. See Jonah25:23 chose this path all the way through that had the consequences of him ultimately ending up being in the deep. God didn't want that. God just simply wanted to redirect it. But Jonah simply chose25:35 this and ultimately he hit rock bottom. You say, pastor, alright, I've hit rock bottom. How do I come back? Well, turn to back turn back to God in repentance. Man, just start in this moment of the season, know25:46 that God hears you. Maybe maybe in this in this moment right after right after this service, you just come up and pray with somebody at our altar team. Say, listen, I have been on the run from God for a long, long time25:55 and I feel like I'm in the belly of a fish. And today I finally realize that the belly of the fish is not God's judgment, it's God's help. God wants to take and bring me back to where He wants to bring me26:07 to. Man, that's how you get back from rock bottom is you turn to God in repentance, you ask for forgiveness, you make sure that worship is a priority in your life, you start reading God's Word so you'll know how to live26:18 and how to act, and then you can bounce back from rock bottom. Here's number 4, just pick it up as we continue to read, how do we run back to God? Remember that regardless of how far you've run, that God still has a26:30 plan for your life. Remember what God's plan for Jonah was. Arise, go to Nineveh, and preach. That was God's plan.26:41 Now, Jonah has been in the midst of disobedience, been through a storm, been tossed overboard, and here's the struggle, God still has a plan for his life. You see it in verse 6, But you, Lord my God26:53 Now, let me just stop you if you've got your app open, highlight that. Remember in chapter 1? It says God said, Arise and go to Nineveh and preach against it, and remember those 2 words, but Jonah?27:05 Everything up until this moment has been about Jonah doing what Jonah wanted to do. Now, all of a sudden, Jonah acknowledges, yes, there was a but Jonah in chapter 1, but there's a but God in chapter 2.27:17 And so, lot of us need to understand that God wants to show up in your life and change your direction, pull you out of the storm. He may use a fish, but to help27:29 you, not to hurt you. And so, I love this. Jonah is starting to figure it out. He says, but God But God did what? God brought my life up. Here's the directional change. Circle27:41 that word up. That is the first preposition we see going anywhere but down. Chapter 1, Jonah ran away. He went down to Joppa. He went down in the belly27:53 of, of the boat and he fell in a deep sleep. Ultimately, they threw him overboard. He began to sink. He went down, he went down, he went down. But right now, all of a28:04 sudden, since he's cried out to God, he's called out to God, he's understand God wanted to hear him, now we finally see up. And some of you have been heading down for so long that the only28:16 way you're gonna enjoy life again is to butt God. Allow Him to start lifting you up. And so I love this idea. I love this idea. It says, But You, Lord, but God,28:28 You brought me up from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered, now circle that word, remember that, I'm gonna come back to it here in a second, Lord, and my prayer rose up to28:40 You in Your holy temple. So everything up until this moment has been about down and away, down and away, down and away. Now we start seeing through prayer that his28:52 prayers rise up and God begins to lift him up and raise him up. This is a shift in direction. And God is just waiting for a shift in direction in your life.29:04 Maybe you've been heading the wrong direction, you've been headed down for a long, long time. You say, Pastor, how long will it take for God to hear me and begin to move on my behalf? About that29:16 long. You might still have some lingering consequences of difficulties and hardship and sin. Saw that image a few minutes ago of Jonah coming out of the well with a suit29:28 and briefcase. It did not look like that. There are some times we beat ourselves up on the rock of our own sinfulness and our own disobedience and hurt ourselves so much that there29:39 will be some lingering scars and some lingering effects, but once we turn back to God, He will begin to use you again. I love what Paul said in Philippians chapter 3. He says, Brothers and sisters, everybody say that's29:51 us. This is Paul talking to everybody in this room and everybody online. He says, Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But this 1 thing I do know:30:03 forgetting what is behind, I strain forward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.30:15 Some of you right now in this moment in season, you need to forget what you've done. You forget what's behind. You need to turn away from that and begin to press on and move towards God and cry out to God in prayer and30:27 let Him take you from going down and away and down and away to up and forward. And that's exactly what Paul says. Here's here's an extra here's number 5. How do you run back to God? Commit to30:39 obedience regardless of the outcome. We love to talk about grace and we should and we do. We love to talk about mercy and we should and we do. But there is a reality once you begin to move back towards30:50 God, there are some habits we need to develop that are habits of obedience that we need to say, God, I'm gonna make these part of my life. And that's what we see. Remember I I pointed out the word remember a few31:02 seconds ago. When you when you look at that word remember, throughout God's Word, you see over and over the idea of remembering is a mental focus on something God has done that then31:14 informs an action you will take. Did you get that? That that word remember doesn't sit here as a mental exercise only. That word remember means that I need to look31:26 and remember God, but that remembering always leads me to take action. And so we're gonna see Jonah says, here are some actions that I'm gonna take. He said, I remember you God, now here's what I'm gonna do.31:38 Look at this, verse 8, Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. Stop. He's talking about the Ninevites. He says, you know what? The Ninevites that I'm supposed to go31:50 preach to, they cling to these worthless idols. That word worthless means empty. There's nothing there. The idol of self and sinfulness and immorality, man, he32:01 says, they cling to these empty idols, these worthless idols. We live in a culture, how many of you know, that are clinging to empty and worthless idols, that32:13 everybody steps back and says, That's not good for our kids. That's not good for our people. That's not good for our country. That's not good. But they cling to these things, and then they double down. That's what he's32:23 basically saying. He's saying they double down on emptiness and hurt. And he says, listen, those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. What does that mean? God still loves them even32:35 though God has a love for the Ninevites. Man, we are becoming Ninevah. Do you understand that? That's our culture. God loves us, and what is the prophet supposed to do? Not be32:47 quiet, stand up and talk. And so notice, as you continue to read on, here's his act of obedience. He says, they cling to worthless idols that will bring them no no good, but I, here it is, but32:58 I with shouts of number 1 grateful praise. Hey, you want begin to walk God's path? Man, you need to spend time in worship with some grateful33:10 praise. Show up early, and from the first downbeat get after it. Jonah says, I'm gonna worship, I'm gonna give some grateful praise, I'm gonna walk in here, why? I'm gonna come into33:22 worship the house of God either Saturday night or Sunday morning. Why am I gonna do that? Because I'm not in the belly of the fish. You just come in and you say, Man, God, thank you for your grace and your goodness and33:34 your love and your worship. Worship is the thought. Number 1, he says, I'm gonna make worship a priority in my life. Number 2, he says, I'm gonna make a sacrifice to you. Boy, that means I need33:46 to understand that God has been increasingly generous to me and graciously generous to me, and I need to be a good steward. I need to sacrifice. What did it mean? When a children, the children of Israel would come to the33:56 temple or whatever, they would come and they would bring a sacrifice. They would bring some of their own goods, their own animal, their own money, and they would sacrifice it back to God. And so if you and I are gonna34:06 walk in obedience to God, man, worship has to be a priority, but we also need to be willing to give back to God in a powerful and real way. He gives us a third 1. He says, and I will do what? What I have34:18 vowed I will make good. He says I'm gonna do what I said I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do what I said I'm gonna do. And then number 4, notice what he says. He says I'm gonna say34:30 salvation is from the Lord. So if you think about those, those are 4 key ingredients if you're gonna walk in obedience to God. Worship needs to be a priority. You need to make sacrifices for God. You need to take action.34:41 You need to make good. Where are you serving? What are you doing? Who are you going to? Who are your Ninevites that you need to share with? And then finally, you need to watch what you say and make sure you say and talk34:52 about God's love and God's grace. Those are the obedient things that he says. Man, there's just 4. You want to please God? There it is. Worship wholeheartedly, be generous and sacrifice to God,35:04 serve God, make good your vows, and then finally, as you talk, let the words and the conversations that we have be words and conversations that draw others to God35:16 and don't push them away from God. And that's a challenge for each and every 1 of us, and we get to be blessed in the middle of it. Remember that word remember? Exodus chapter 20. Remember remembering is a mental focus35:27 or a thought that leads us to action. I said all through God's Word it is remember and then do something. Exodus chapter 20 verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. What is he35:39 saying? Remember the day of worship and make sure it's a day of worship. Jump down a little bit further. Numbers chapter 15 verse 40. He says, then you will remember, everybody say remember. It's a35:51 thought that I have about God's goodness to me in the past that drives me to action. So he says, Then you will remember to obey there's your action all my commands and will be consecrated36:02 to your God. Obedience. Let me ask you a question. Are you being obedient to what God has called you to36:14 do? Or at least in just those 4 areas that Jonah mentions. Are you obedient to make worship a priority in your life? Are you willing to make a sacrifice of generosity back to God and back to36:26 others? Number 3, are you serving God somehow, some way, in some place? And number 4, do your words honor God in every place and every space? When people hear you36:38 talk, do they say, you know, there's just something about the conversation they have. There's something about the words that they say, and they constantly hear you praising God and honoring36:50 God and loving God along the journey. Here's the final thought. Here's verse 10. Verse 10: Embrace your God given second chance. Remember the37:02 greatest miracle is not the fish, it wasn't the storm, it wasn't the lot, it's that there's a chapter 2 at all. Jonah didn't deserve any part of chapter 2 and chapter 1,37:14 But in God's mercy and God's grace, He gave it anyway. So I want to encourage you, just like Jonah, embrace your second chance. That's what God wants for37:26 us. Look at verse 10. It says, and the Lord commanded the fish, the fish that God had appointed as something a fish to help Jonah, not die and not to hurt and judge Jonah, and it vomited37:37 Jonah up onto dry ground. I looked at that Hebrew word vomit. It means vomit. There isn't37:49 some hidden sweet perfume meaning. It's not Chanel or something like that. Or for the guys in the room, Brute. How many of you remember Brute? Yeah. That's probably what he smelled like. Right38:01 there. But it says he vomited him out. This wasn't a great thing. Right? This wasn't a great thing. He had gone through difficulties. He had gone through a storm. God didn't want to sin.38:13 He found himself in the belly of a fish that God had to sin. And now he's up on shore and God's saying, are you ready to follow me now? See, you can run from God,38:25 but you can never hide. Child of God, in this room or online, God will always, always, always get your attention. And the38:37 further you run, the harder the return might be, but God will still bring you back. Let's pray. God, thank you so much38:49 for your word that just reminds us that even in the life of 1 of your called prophets, we can run from you but we can't hide. We can cry out to you in the middle of the trial.Show more
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