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Run: Don't Run From Your Calling
April 10, 2024 · 39 min
John Mark's message focuses on fulfilling one's purpose by listening to God, using Jonah's disobedience as an example of what not to do and how to avoid repeating Jonah's mistake.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton April 10, 2024 · 39 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
John Mark's message focuses on fulfilling one's purpose by listening to God, using Jonah's disobedience as an example of what not to do and how to avoid repeating Jonah's mistake. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark's message focuses on fulfilling one's purpose by listening to God, using Jonah's disobedience as an example of what not to do and how to avoid repeating Jonah's mistake.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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101K followers
John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
101K followers
0:00 Well, are you glad you're in God's house today? Give God a hand. Man, what a blessing it is to celebrate God's grace and God's love with you on this weekend after Easter,0:12 Resurrection Sunday. And we continue a series we started last week, entitled Running With Purpose. And we said, the number 1 thing we all have to do if we're really gonna run with purpose, if we have to run to the empty0:22 tomb. We saw Peter and John, and Mary as they made their journey to that empty tomb and it says, John saw and believed. And that ultimately sets us on a journey with0:34 God where God continues to call us and challenge us to move beyond where we are to where ultimately God wants us to be. I don't know if you know this, but there's a little celestial event0:46 gonna take place. How many of you know we're gonna have an eclipse tomorrow? Yeah. Just just like all of us. Right? And this is a pretty big eclipse apparently because in Dallas this was a once in a lifetime event.0:58 And that eclipses, you may not know this, aren't actually all that uncommon. They just don't happen here and most of them happen over the water because 74 71 percent of the1:10 earth's surface is covered in water and so every 18 months or so, there's actually a total eclipse. Most of the time, we just don't get to see them on land, but they're pretty important. I will tell1:22 you, eclipses aren't really that big of a deal for me, just in case. I get to see them every Sunday. You say, do mean? Every Sunday, I start preaching and y'all start off the service and you're really bright eyed.1:35 But as my word count increases, it's like y'all dim out just a little bit. And when I get to end, about the time I say amen, all of a sudden you're wide awake again. So I see them1:47 every day and I'm gonna point at some today. I'm like, you're full eclipse right now. And so someone's gonna nudge you along the way from home. The reality of it is, and this is a big event, And a lot of times, and I've1:59 had a lot of people give me even some books and some articles and send me some emails because there's a lot of people who believe, and and rightly so, as you look in God's word, when we see what happens in the2:11 sky, it also has to do with the end times. Jesus, over Luke chapter 21 says, listen, when you see the day coming, you're gonna see it in the sun, and the moon, and the stars.2:23 If you look over Matthew 24, Jesus is really talking about the end times in Matthew 24, as well as he's kind of quoting from Isaiah 31 where he says, listen, as we come to the end of the great tribulation, you're gonna2:35 see a great eclipse take place. And so eclipses have a lot to do in the Bible, and they're talked about all the time in the Bible. And so as we journey through tomorrow, understand it's a powerful and exciting and a real2:47 event, but also understand that there is going to come a day when Christ returns and there will be some celestial fireworks along the way. But as long as you're out there tomorrow, just enjoy it and celebrate it2:58 and be reminded of God's goodness and God's grace. Now, many have said that this is a very unique, obviously it is a unique eclipse. 1, because it goes right over Dallas. The largest city3:10 in its path, it's gonna go right over Dallas. We've got an image of it there. But others have been making the connection of this eclipse and they are calling it the eclipse that has taken the path to3:22 Nineveh. And that's the book that we start today. We're gonna start looking at Jonah, and guess what? Jonah was supposed to go on a path to Nineveh, but he didn't. You say, pastor, why are they calling3:34 this eclipse that goes over, goes through Mexico, Mexico City, and up through, the United States, and up off into Nova Scotia? Why do they call it the path of Nineveh? Well, are 83:45 cities including 1 in Texas and 1 in Nova Scotia. That's the yellow dots or the orange dots that you see up there that are all named Nineveh. These cities named Nineveh. So some people in bible prophecy are saying,3:57 this is going to be a significant eclipse. Maybe it is the path to judgment or the path to Nineveh. I don't know the answer to that. But what I do wanna encourage you with is you step back and think4:09 about God who created the heavens and the earth. Don't forget about his power. And if someone sends you an article which they've done to me, he says listen this is the beginning of the end times. The truth is we4:21 don't know. Man, we are told in scripture that we don't know the seasons or the times or the dates when the Lord is going to return. As a matter of fact, Jesus told his disciples that. Say then how4:33 should we live pastor? Exactly the way Peter told us to live in second Peter chapter 3 of verse 10 11. He says listen, when you look towards the end times, your job is not to look only4:45 for the end times, but live every day, and these are the 2 words that he uses, live every day in holiness and godliness. So you say in spite4:57 of the meaning, whatever the meaning is of this eclipse tomorrow, how should a believer live? We are supposed to live with holiness and godliness. You say okay then that leads to a question. How5:09 can I live pastor in holiness and godliness? Well that's the point of this whole series is that we would run with purpose. It starts with salvation, but then the second thing we're gonna see5:20 from Jonah today is don't run from your calling. I truly believe that every person in this room that God is calling you to something. Some to salvation, some to ministry,5:32 some to reach your friends in your neighborhood, some to just grow deeper in your faith. And so we don't want to miss God's calling on our life. So, let's open up this book and start reading it today. We're5:44 just gonna look at the first 3 verses today. Over the next couple of months, we're gonna go verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and notice what it says. Here's what it says in Jonah chapter 1 verse 1, don't ever run from5:56 your calling. It says, the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai and here was what God said. Go to the city, the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it. Why? Because6:08 its wickedness has come up before me. But notice verse 3, but Jonah ran from the Lord and he headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa where he found a6:19 ship that was bound for that port and after paying the fare, he went aboard it. He sailed to Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Alright. So God shows up, calls6:31 Jonah, says Jonah, want you to leave where you are and I want you to go to this great city, this place called Nineveh. And Jonah says, no, no, no, no. I'm not gonna do it. It it You may not know this. Jonah is6:43 a great children's bible story. How many of you know that? It's a wonderful VBS story, but I will tell you the back story. We're gonna look at this over the next couple of weeks. Joni was Jonah was a terrible prophet.6:54 Alright? I I will submit to you, he's the worst prophet in the bible. He is AWOL, he heads in the wrong directions, he's a prodigal prophet, and the sad thing is we never7:06 actually see Jonah repent and come back to God. So here it is, Jonah, you say, what's unique about Jonah? Well, first of all, he is the 1 prophet that is known more for what he does than what he says.7:18 That's number 1. Number 2, he is the only prophet in all of God's word that we see when God calls him, he runs the other direction. Now, some of them push a pause and7:29 wonder. Third thing, Jonah never comes to a place where he repents. Yes, God threw a large fish. We're gonna look at that in the next couple of weeks. God7:41 gets his attention and gets him where he wants to, but Jonah goes kicking and screaming. And you never see at the end of the book Jonah say, Lord, I am sorry. In my brokenness, I7:53 am sorry because your grace over overbounds and your compassion to God. Beyond that, at the end of the day, Jonah preaches 1 message in a wicked city and it8:05 says the entire city repents, and Jonah has no joy. It's almost as like Jonah hates the Assyrians so much that he8:17 would rather see them not repent than actually repent. And so what it When you think about Jonah, let me just tell you, I I think, boy, he he's the worst prophet in all of God's word, but the message is8:29 powerful. Man, because Jonah was called to go to the Assyrians. And let me tell you what, Jonah hated the Assyrians as a nation in general, but he absolutely hated the8:40 Ninevites specifically. Man, he had 0 desire to see God show his grace and his compassion and his love and offer salvation to them. Instead, Jonah wanted God to judge8:52 the city but God says, no Jonah, I want you to go preach to the city. You say, how could Jonah be that way? Well, bigger question for us is, are we that way?9:04 Do we have a heart desire and a longing desire to see people who are far away from God come to God? Now now compare Jonah's desire9:16 not to see the Assyrians repent with Paul's desire to see everyone come to salvation. Look at first Corinthians chapter 9 and and let me just read it to you. Here's what it says. This is Paul's heartbeat9:28 compared to Jonah's heartbeat. Jonah didn't want the Assyrians to repent. Here's what Paul says. To the Jews, I've become like a Jew to somehow win the Jews. To those who are under the9:40 law, I became like 1 under the law, though I'm not under the law, so as to win those who are under the law. Look at verse 21. To those who are not having or they don't have the law, I became like9:52 1 who doesn't have the law. Why? So as to win those who do not have the law. Look at verse 22. He says, to the weak I became weak that I would somehow win the weak. He says, I have10:03 become all things to all people that by some means possible I might save some. Man, I I I love what Paul's example for us is. It's10:15 listen, there are times that to the weak we have to become weak. To the strong we have to become strong. To some people that they've grown up in church, man, you're gonna talk certain way as you lead them to faith.10:25 People who are far away from God and never been in church all their life, man, we've gotta speak to them in in another way. And so here's what we want. We want the heart of Paul, not the heart of Jonah. We want the heart10:36 of people of seeing people who are far away from God to come to God. And so as we think about running with purpose, last week we said you have to run to the empty tomb and see and10:47 believe. Today is we can't run from our calling, but instead we run toward our calling. You say, alright pastor, how do we run toward our calling? We're just gonna walk verse by verse through it. It starts by10:59 listening to God's voice. And I truly believe that God is speaking to anyone and everyone in this room. And here's the question, are you listening to the word of the Lord? Look at verse 1. Let's pick it up.11:11 Here's what it says. It says, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. You might wanna insert your name. I truly believe through this book and through this verse that God is reminding you, whatever your name is,11:23 that God wants to speak to you. So it says, the word of Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai. And this is a call of God on this prophet named Jonah. Now, we see11:35 a lot of calls of God when we think about running towards your calling, not away from in God's word. We see a lot of callings. How many of you remember when in Acts chapter 9 when the Apostle Paul who was a persecutor11:47 of the church, hate the church, man held the held the clothes for those who threw the stones at the first martyr Stephen. Remember, God's call on him was a clear con11:58 confrontation that God showed up to Paul. He was headed in the wrong direction. He was angry and bitter at God in the church and God showed up in a bright light and confronted him.12:11 And Jesus said, Paul, why are you persecuting me? And remember Paul says, wait, who are you, Lord? So, are times in God's word, not just Paul, but there are12:22 times that God shows up and confronts people with their sin and about the direction they're going to. That happens. There are other times that we see a call of God, like in a burning bush with12:34 Moses. Remember Moses? Moses was just shepherding. He was just going about his daily task and all of a sudden, God shows up and calls him from a burning bush, and what does God say to Moses? He says,12:46 Moses, I've heard the prayers of my people, and I've seen their tears, and I've seen their cries, and I wanna take them out of slavery, and I wanna take them into a promised And Moses, my guess is, other than being12:57 enamored with the with the burning bush, my guess is when Moses heard that God was gonna take the children of Israel out of slavery and into a promised land, well, started clapping.13:09 And then all of a sudden, God says, and I'm gonna use you to do it. And Moses went, woah. And remember what Moses did? He felt inadequate. He says, God, I I want13:21 the children of Israel to go from slavery into the promised land, but he says, Lord, I can't speak well, I can't do this, I will what will I say to them? In in the Hebrew it says, I may stutter a little bit,13:33 I'm just not eloquent of speech. And maybe there's some here today that God is not confronting you today, but God is calling from you, calling you from the message of Jonah and God speaking to you13:45 and says, listen, I want you to be so much more in my kingdom. Dads, I want you to step up and begin to lead your children and lead your families in godly ways and powerful13:57 ways and and you might feel like Moses that you're inadequate. So you know, I think that ship has sailed. I've just had so many mistakes and so many failures and so many sins in my14:08 life. Man, I don't know that I'm capable of leading my family. Can I tell you God says you are? And if God calls you to it, he will equip you for it. And so wherever you are in any season, in14:20 any space, whatever it is, I wanna encourage you, even if you feel inadequate, I believe there are guys in here and some ladies in here and some families in here, God's calling you. Boy, if you just journey forward and14:32 think there were lots of other calls. Remember Joshua after Moses had died? Joshua was supposed to lead the children into the promised land and and Joshua was concerned and he was14:44 fearful. And what am I gonna do? I was a great number 2 but now I'm number 1. And and Joshua was like can I lead these people and God showed up and reaffirmed his call and says yes? Let's acknowledge the14:55 reality. Moses is dead. But he says, you're gonna lead these people into the promised land, so I want you to be strong and courageous. And I can only imagine that Joshua's like, yeah, be strong and courageous,15:07 right? But then God God followed that call up by saying, I promise my presence, I will be with you. And so maybe if you or some here that you are a little fearful of following15:19 God, then man, I just wanna encourage you. God's presence will be with you. Remember Elijah? Mount Carmel Elijah, a great prophet, when it was time for Elijah's prophecy to be over or15:31 seasons on this earth to be over, he he had a guy named Elisha. Not quite the same name, similar name, and he says, you know what Elisha, it's time for me to pass the mantle and literally he gave him the mantle.15:43 Elijah had been his mentor and Elisha had been the mentee and Elijah said listen, it's time for me to go back and to be with the father and be with the heavenly father but you have to still go on. So here's what I want15:55 you to know. When we think about the word of the Lord coming to anyone and everyone in this room, wherever you are, if you're like Paul and you hate the church and you hate God, I believe God's gonna show up and confront16:06 you. Maybe there's someone like Moses that you doubt your own ability, you don't feel like you're capable of doing what God has called you to do, God will equip you. Maybe there's some folks in here, you are like Joshua,16:16 you are afraid and you are fearful, God's presence will help you as you make your journey. Maybe there's some in here today that it's time. Boy, you've been long in your faith, you are spiritually16:27 mature. It's time for you to take someone under your wing. So there'll come a season, maybe a son or a daughter or a friend or or somebody else that you then will pass the mantle along to them.16:39 But it all starts with listening to God's voice. If you look in verse 1, it says the word of the Lord came to Jonah.16:50 If you just underline that phrase, the word of Lord came over 100 times in the Old Testament. You see that phrase, the word of Lord came to this. The word of Lord came to this. The word of the Lord came to the Man, 10017:02 times we see that over and over again. And what we see are natural responses just like us. Some people, when they hear the word of the Lord Lord, they say, yep, I'm gonna do that. There17:14 are a lot of other people when they hear the word of Lord, they just kinda put a pause on this and say, God, can we talk this out? Can we can we negotiate a little bit? And that's very common. We do that. Right?17:25 Sometimes we accept, sometimes we put pause, but you'll see this 1 guy, Jonah, he turns and runs in the opposite direction. Why? Because the word of the Lord came to him17:36 and he knew it, and we're gonna read in verse 2 what that word of the Lord was. Now, when God speaks to you, just so you know, if you wanna write this down, there are 2 things that God will tell you.17:49 Alright? 1, he will tell you the words you're supposed to say, and number 2, he will tell you the actions you're supposed to take. Those usually come in tandem with the word the Lord came18:00 to. The word of the Lord came to Joel or this prophet or that prophet, and it's always go to, there's the action, and say this. Go to and say this. In the Old18:12 Testament, there was a king named David. He's the greatest king of of all times if you look in Davidic history and that's what you see. But he had a prophet named Nathan. Now, it's interesting if you18:24 follow Nathan, there were there were a time when Nathan and and David were were attached at the hip. They were buddies. There was another time when God showed up to Nathan and said, you better go to David and you call18:35 him out for his sin. But in second Samuel chapter 7, David has been fighting the Philistines. Saul is dead and all of a sudden he gets rest from18:47 his enemies. And so in the midst of it, things are really good for the children of Israel. David builds a palace. Alright? He lives in a palace, finally lives in a king's palace, and here's what happened.18:58 David calls Nathan, the prophet in and go he goes, you know, I don't I don't think this is right. You gotta kinda like David's art. David says, here I live in a palace, but God19:10 dwells in a tent. See, God was still in a tabernacle. David says, wait, the king that God called, remember David was a little shepherd boy, God called him, God empowered him19:22 to slay Goliath, to defeat the Philistines, to do all of those things. Now, all of a sudden, David's achieved everything he wanted to achieve and he's gone out and built him a king's palace and he lives in19:34 the palace and then he kinda gets a guilty complex. He says he says, Nathan, come here. He says, you're the prophet of God. He goes, I just don't feel right about this. The God's house is still in the19:46 tent, is still in the tabernacle, and here I live in a palace. He looks, David actually looks at the prophet and the and says to the prophet, I'm gonna build God God's house.19:58 Nathan's immediate response was, it's pretty clear that God's hand has been with you. You do what's on your heart. But God shows up and the word of Lord comes to Nathan20:10 and God gives Nathan a different opinion. Look at second Samuel chapter 7 verse 3. Let me just show it to you. This The word of God typically comes with words to say and an action to take. So here it is, second20:22 Samuel chapter 7 verse 3. It says, Nathan replied to the king, whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it for the Lord is with you. So here, David says, I'm gonna build him a pal I'm gonna build God a house. I've got20:34 my palace. Notice Nathan's immediate response. This is the man of God or so this could be for you as a man of God or woman of God. Nathan immediately looks at David and say says, I20:46 think you're the guy to do this. God clearly called you, from the shepherd's field. He gave you and empowered you, gave you the victory over Goliath. He's giving you the victory over20:57 the Philistines. Saul is no longer around to attack you. You handled Saul honorably. So listen, if you think you need to build God a house, I love what Nathan says. He21:09 says, you ought to go ahead and do what's on your heart because the Lord is with you. Nathan is acknowledging the obvious, that David was a man who God21:20 loved. But then notice what happens. It says, but that night, verse 4, the word of the Lord came. That's the exact same phrase over 100 times in the Old Testament. But21:32 that night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying, go, there's your action. Go and tell my servant David what? This is what the Lord says,21:44 are you the 1 to build me a house to dwell in? So it's kinda interesting. So here's what happens. David says, listen, I live in a palace. I want God to have a home, so I'm gonna build a home. Nathan says, that is21:56 a great idea. Man, it's good not to be selfish. Let's go build God a temple. And then all of a sudden that night, God shows up and speaks to the prophet. Now, what the prophet had said before wasn't necessarily bad,22:08 but God wanted to redirect it. So now there's a way sometimes you and I are heading away from God, the way we walk, our direction, and God wants us to come back. Sometimes God wants us to change22:20 what we said because it wasn't in accordance with his will. So Nathan's faced with basically a dilemma. Do I go back into David, the king? It's not always a good thing to by by the way, go in and correct the22:32 king, if you didn't know that. And so God says, I want you to go in and tell him you're not the 1 that's gonna build me the temple. But Nathan is obedient,22:44 he takes the action, he goes back into David and says listen, this is what the Lord said. The word of the Lord came to me and said, you're not to build the temple, but I have good news. That was the bad news. The22:56 good news is your son Solomon will do it. And he goes beyond that, God wants to remind you even though he's not gonna allow you to build him the temple, God chose you and selected you and you are23:08 gonna have someone on the throne who is of the Davidic line all the way through the Messiah. And so yes, God tells him, he can't tells David he can't do something he23:20 wanted to do, but God also tells him don't ever doubt my love for you. And see a lot of times what we do is when we think we wanna do something or we wanna do this or head in this direction or that direction and all of a23:31 sudden God shows up and says I don't want you to do that. A lot of times we think it's because God doesn't love us but often times it is because God loves us and he wants to redirect us. And so I love23:43 this idea that God shows up to Nathan and says go back and tell him that you're not the 1 that is gonna build this temple, but instead I'm gonna do it.23:55 You say pastor, I wanna listen to the word of God. I wanna hear the word of God today. You say how many how come in the old testament we see all this, the word of the Lord said, the word of the Lord24:07 said, the word of the Lord said. Now remember, in the old testament it wasn't like they were walking around with bible Bibles all the time. They didn't have an iPad or an iPhone that they could just go to their bible app24:17 and they could read and they could hear from God. But in the new testament, Paul says something about us. How do we hear the word of God? Look at second Timothy chapter 3. Here's what it says in second Timothy chapter 324:29 verse 16. Paul says, all scripture is God breathed. In other words, every time you read God's word, it is the word of the Lord insert your name. The word24:41 of the Lord comes to you. He says all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Why? So that the servant of God, everybody say that's all of us.24:53 The servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So that what happened in the Old Testament, God would speak to a prophet, give them an25:04 action to take and words to say. When you and I read God's word, what does God's word do? It is the word of God that comes to me teaching me, rebuking me, training me, and correcting me. So25:16 what? I can take an action and do what God has called me to do. So that's the beauty of it. So here's what we do. Every time we do a spiritual growth campaign or walk through a Bible, we always put together a daily Bible25:27 reading plan. And we've got a run with purpose daily Bible reading plan that we're gonna walk every day verse by verse through the book of Jonah. Over 4 4500 people are are25:39 on this bible reading plan already. The daily we will get a bible verse, we will read the bible verse, and a short devotion comes with it. If you haven't text the word plan to 7 7 9 7 8, man, this25:50 is the way that you can actually have the word of God, not John Mark's word, not Cottonwood Creek's word, but the word of Lord text to you each and every day where you can read it and open it. Why? Because all scripture26:02 is God breathed. When we read through Jonah's life and this story, we're gonna be challenged, we're gonna be corrected, we're gonna be encouraged, we're gonna be told stop heading in the wrong direction, head back to the26:13 right direction. Those are all commands and conversations that God wants to have with you. So thought number 1, if you and I are not are gonna run toward our calling, away from it, we have to listen for26:24 God's voice. Number 2, we have to be willing to go to hard places and say hard things. It's both. It's not an either or. We have to be willing to26:36 go to hard places and say hard things. You say, what do you mean pastor? Well, let me just read it to you. Here it is, verse 2. God shows up, the word of the Lord came to him and says, go26:48 to the great city, it's a large city. We'll say that 4 times. To the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. In other words, God is saying, Jonah, I want you to go to a hard place,27:00 but when you go to the hard place, you're gonna have to say some hard things. You're gonna have to preach against it. Alright? Now, notice why. He says, go to the great city of Nineveh, preach against it. Why? Because27:10 its wickedness has come up before me. Now interestingly, God calls it a great city over and over again. And it was Israel, the Assyrians were27:21 Israel's most hated enemies. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. And ultimately sometime after Jonah's story and and Jonah's prophetic27:33 season is over, it's actually the Assyrians that come in and overthrow Israel and just destroy everything. But notice what it says. He says, I want you to go to this hard place and I want you to27:45 say hard things. You're gonna go into this sinful place and you're gonna preach against the sin. Hard Say hard things. You know, a lot of times we we only talk today about, yeah, we have to go into hard places, we have27:57 to love, and we do need to go into hard places, and we do need to love, but we also need to understand that we have to preach against wickedness. Because what does it say? He says, preach against it because the28:07 wickedness has come up before me. If you look at that Hebrew translation, it really means that the stench has come up into my nostrils. Anybody28:19 ever been to a place that you're like, what's that smell? That it just stinks. If you drive, you've lived in Texas all your life, you can drive to28:31 cities. How many of you know this? And there are certain cities that that just have a smell. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Now, you live in those cities, you will say, that's the smell of money. Right?28:42 Because if you go to 1 of these cities in Texas that they are it's cattle and meat processing, it's got a distinct smell. How many of you know? You lived in Amarillo? You know. Grew up where I did, down around28:54 Houston. You drive south of Houston, go to Texas City. You can just smell the chemicals in Texas City as you come close into it and you're like, nobody light a match. Alright? Why?29:05 Because you can just sense it. Now, if you live if you live in Texas City, you're saying it's the smell of money. There are some, oil rig. You have to go out there in Odessa, in different places. You can just drive into29:16 a town and you just smell the petroleum products. If you go to Texarkana, how many of you been to Texarkana? There's a paper mill out there. They have a special smell of money.29:27 Right? There is actually just south of Houston where I grew up, a place called Pasadena. Anybody know, if you're from Houston, you know what the nickname for Pasadena is.29:39 Stinkadena. Right? And and they would say it just smells like money, pastor. Here's the reality. Same Hebrew idea is that God says, Jonah, you're going to go29:51 to Nineveh because its stench has come up before me. It smells like a wicked dump. It is a dump of wickedness. It is horrid. And so30:02 I want you to go and preach against it. You say, pastor, surely this place isn't that bad. Let's just go over to Nahum. Let me tell you how Nahum describes Nineveh. Here it is.30:14 Chapter 3 of Nahum verse 1. He says, woe to this city of blood, full of lies, full of plunders. Talk about Nineveh. He says, never without victims.30:26 He says, never have lacked victims. He says, the crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, the galloping of horses, the jolting of chariots, charging cavalry, flashing swords, and glittering30:38 spears. He says, many casualties, piles of dead bodies without number, people stumbling over corpses. How many of you would love to just go take a bus bus tour of30:50 Nineveh? I mean, just piles of dead body, all the problem they have. Look at verse 4. All because of wanton lust of a prostitute alluring a mistress of sorceries,31:02 enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft. Let me tell you what. Nineveh was a horrible place. And God says,31:13 you're gonna go preach against it because I am sick and tired of the smell of wickedness in that city. And Jonah says, I have 0 desire to go that way.31:25 Now, want you to know, we also challenge you not only to read God's word and listen to God's word, but we we encourage you to go to hard places and say hard things. We're in the middle of April. April is what we refer to31:37 as our abundance month month, Where we choose a lot of mission organizations. We can put it up there and if you wanna know a list of hard places you can go to that your church already31:48 sponsors, all you have to do if you want the daily devotion text plan to 7 7 9 7 8. If you wanna know all the options of hard places you can go to this month and minister to someone who's in a hard32:00 place, text the word abundance to 7 7 9 7 8. Why? Because we always want those first 2 things to answer God's call. We have to listen to God's voice. We always wanna be reading God's word.32:12 And number 2, we wanna be willing to go to hard places. Here's number 3. If you're gonna embrace your calling is don't ever ever run from God. He's faster than you32:24 are. You will never get away from him. You will never get out of his sight. Look at what it says in Jonah, chapter 1. Pick it up. Verse 3 verse 1, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. Verse 2,32:35 I want you to rise, I want you to go to this city, and I want you to preach against it. Here's verse 3. It says, but Jonah ran away. Now, are a lot of times in God's32:47 word, I I could sit sit here and preach a series on it, may do it again because I love it. There are a number of verses in the Bible where that transition to the but is a great 1. For the wages32:59 of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. So, it's not always negative. But in this instance, it says God says, Jonah, I want you to head toward33:11 Nineveh, but it says, but Jonah said, no, don't think I'm gonna do that. So, Jonah ran away, notice the action he's taken from the Lord. He headed in the wrong direction. He headed for Tarshish. He33:23 went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port, and after paying the full price, he what? He went aboard and sailed to Tarshish. Why? Because he wanted to flee from the33:34 Lord. Remember I told you, when the word of the Lord comes to you, typically there are 3 3 things we do. 1, we accept it and embrace it and say, God, I'm in. 2, we might push a33:46 pause and say, you know, God, I'm gonna need to work through this. That was kinda where Moses was at the burning bush, had an ongoing conversation with God. Number 3 is you could run-in the wrong direction. You say, was33:57 this truly in the wrong direction? We'll put a map up here for you And you can look at this map. Nineveh was 500 miles to the east. So all he had to do was get up, make a journey. It wasn't an34:09 easy journey, but 500 miles to the east. Tarshish over in Spain was 2500 miles to the west. He was headed 5 times further in the wrong direction. Not only34:20 that, notice the action steps. What was told to him in verse 2? God said 3 imperative verbs. You're only translated with 2 of them. He says, arise or get up,34:32 go and preach. Those are the 3 verbs that are there in verse 2 of Jonah chapter 1. Arise, go and preach. Now, in the NIV and34:44 several other translations, they translate those 2 verbs arise and go as just 1. Your translation may have them all, but there are 3 words in there. But notice what Joe what Jonah does. He doesn't arise,34:56 go and preach. In other words, he heads the wrong direction and he doesn't walk, he runs. He goes down, not up, and he pays full price to do what? To head away from God.35:10 And you say, Jonah, what are you thinking? How many of you kinda have that thought right now? Right? What are you thinking? I think the bigger question today35:22 to close is what are you thinking? I believe God's called me to do something and I believe God's calling everyone in this room to do something. Are35:34 you getting up? Are you going? Are you heading in the right direction? Are you turning and going in the wrong direction? Are you heading down instead of up? Are you paying the35:45 price? Because I promise you wherever you're headed, you're paying the price. Wherever. If you're heading toward God, you're paying the price but God's gonna bless you beyond. If you're heading away from God, you are35:56 paying the price but I'll tell you the discipline is difficult. You say, well, I'm not gonna run the opposite way, I'm just gonna hide.36:08 How'd that turn out for people in the bible? Because I believe God is walking through this place right now both in person and online and he's saying you know the bigger question is not where is Jonah.36:21 The bigger question is where are you? See hiding from God is not new. Child of God, hiding from God is not new. As a matter of fact, if you go all the way back to Genesis, in Genesis36:33 chapter 3, when Adam and Eve had been placed in this wonderful garden, an amazing relationship and community and fellowship, not only with with the garden but with God. And God says36:45 listen, can eat of any tree but don't even eat of that 1 and they sinned. Do you remember what happened? Says God came walking in the cool of the evening through the garden and then all of a36:57 sudden it says Adam and Eve heard and they hid. Remember that? They tried to hide from God. And as God's strolling through instead of having that same37:09 closeness and that fellowship that they've had in the past, they're hiding from God. I've almost often thought about this. He put the trees there. He knows where you're37:21 hiding. Right? I mean, it's just you it's like playing you ever played hide and go seek with your kids? And they like stand in the middle of the room and they do this and you're like, yeah, don't know where they are.37:35 It's exactly where God is with you right now. Some of you have your hands over your face hoping God can see you. And he's saying, where37:47 are you? And he knows exactly where you are because let me tell you what, when it comes to answering your calling it's all about God not wanting to leave you where you are37:59 but instead to take you where he wants you to go. So I invite us all just to bow our heads right now and as we embrace this idea of running with purpose and last week we said run to the38:11 empty tomb. This week we say run toward your calling. Whether you're in person or online, I wanna invite you. Join me, join our church, not in being38:23 perfect, but running toward God and running toward our calling. God my prayer38:34 right now for our church is that there are many last week and even this week who did do what John did which is saw and believed for salvation.38:46 God, pray that there are many here in this room and online today that we are willing to say, God, we will embrace your calling.38:58 Direction. We're not gonna go down the wrong path and we're not gonna pay the wrong bills. But we're gonna believe God and simply say yes.Show more
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Blessed: Be a Peacemaker John Mark Caton
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