1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,760 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church Henley and thanks so much for tuning 2 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,000 into our podcast. 3 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,680 Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:22,800 change your life. 5 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:28,840 And now get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team. 6 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:34,200 As a teenager I had person after person and I felt like endless numbers of people tell 7 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:39,040 me that I was going to be a pastor when I grew up. 8 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:40,600 Yeah I showed them, that's right. 9 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,520 I felt like every man, woman and dog had this opinion of my future. 10 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,000 And my response was always, I don't want to do that. 11 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,760 Part of the reason was my dad is a pastor. 12 00:00:53,760 --> 00:01:00,040 And as people began to say this to me more and more, it went from I don't want to do 13 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:06,160 that to here are the 57 reasons that I would be a terrible pastor. 14 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:11,480 Because growing up as a pastor's kid I saw how awful Christians can be to each other 15 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,840 and to their pastors from an early age. 16 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:16,200 No you guys though, alright. 17 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:17,360 You guys are great. 18 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:18,360 No you guys. 19 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:23,360 I saw the spiritual way and the long hours and all the expectations people put on you 20 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:28,080 about who you should be and what you should be like and what you should do as a pastor. 21 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,240 And I just wanted none of that thanks. 22 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:32,240 Absolutely none of it. 23 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:37,720 There were 103 professions I wanted to do more than be a pastor. 24 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:42,560 It ranks somewhere between telemarketing and costing strangers in supermarkets trying to 25 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,560 sell them in those shopping centers trying to sell them products. 26 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,240 Apologies if you do any of those jobs. 27 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,320 But they're just not for me. 28 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,280 Sometimes I go outside of the shopping center and walk around just so that I don't have to 29 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:55,280 have that interaction. 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:00,640 I'm just going to be honest with you, really is one of our core values here at Encounter. 31 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,480 So I resisted and resisted and resisted it. 32 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:08,200 I found myself working as a youth pastor and I was still resisting it. 33 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:14,640 Whereas Ash, my wife, she felt like day one of her journey with Jesus which began as a 34 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,480 17 and 18 year old. 35 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:22,080 She had this crystal clear sense of call that she was called to be a pastor, called to vocational 36 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:23,080 ministry. 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,040 And I just thought people thought that I should be a pastor because I was intentional about 38 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:32,080 my faith and I was in my 20s. 39 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:37,360 But God kept chipping away at me and slowly and slowly he unpicked like a big old ball 40 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,360 of knotted crochet or something. 41 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,840 I don't know what it is. 42 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:48,160 All the 57 reasons that I had that I was not called to be a pastor, he just unpicked them 43 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,040 one by one slowly and gently. 44 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:51,040 And so I relented. 45 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:56,080 And now I have the honor of being ordained as a minister in a couple of weeks time, which 46 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,640 is a great, a great, a great thing. 47 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:04,720 What do you do when you're asked to do something that you really don't want to do? 48 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,320 Do you suck it up and just do it? 49 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:09,320 Push through? 50 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,600 Do you reject the premise? 51 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,160 Lay around it, push it off, avoid it? 52 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:20,080 Do you do what Judah did yesterday when I asked him to put his washing away and had a meltdown 53 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:26,920 screaming, but I just don't want to do it, dad. 54 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:32,320 And I was like, I don't want to do it either, mate. 55 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:38,520 What do you do when God asks you to do something and you don't want to do it? 56 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:44,440 We're in the second week of our series, which is titled called looking at how people in 57 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:49,720 the Bible respond to the call of God on their life and what we can learn from them about 58 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,040 responding to the call of God on our lives. 59 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:56,120 And in the hot seat this week, we have Jonah. 60 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:00,560 The Lord comes to Jonah and tells him to go to Nineveh, a huge bustling city and announce 61 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,720 God's judgment against it because he's had enough of how wicked the people are. 62 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,080 And Jonah's response is absolutely not. 63 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,600 He runs to the docks, gets on a boat, the head in the opposite direction to where Nineveh 64 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,200 is. 65 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:19,360 God calls Jonah to go and preach against the wickedness of Nineveh to tell them he's had 66 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:25,080 enough that their violence and abuse and corruption in the city can't be allowed to go on any longer. 67 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,760 If they don't change their ways, then he's going to have to destroy them. 68 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,720 And Jonah's response to the call is to run in the opposite direction. 69 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:37,880 Running away from the God who's just said he'll destroy a city, not a good strategy, 70 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:39,200 not the best strategy. 71 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:44,800 He's not making a really informed, rational, considered judgment, a considered decision. 72 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,080 He's making an immediate reactive decision. 73 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,360 Why does Jonah run? 74 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,520 Does he hate public speaking? 75 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:54,960 I mean I can empathize with that a little bit. 76 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,320 I used to hate public speaking and even today I find it difficult that you guys are going 77 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,520 to just be looking at me for the next 25 to 30 minutes. 78 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:03,160 It depends, it might be longer. 79 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:04,560 Who knows? 80 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,600 Does he fear for his own life? 81 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,240 Going and crying against a city who got his judging for its wickedness? 82 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:13,840 I mean that's kind of understandable. 83 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:16,080 Does he have more important things to do? 84 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,440 He didn't want to miss his underwater basket weaving course? 85 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:21,440 Right Carmen? 86 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:22,680 Yeah. 87 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:24,760 Very reasonable. 88 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,720 All possible explanations. 89 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:33,200 But the deeper reason that Jonah runs becomes apparent, it unravels as we hear more of his 90 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:34,200 story. 91 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:35,880 Jonah sails away from the Lord. 92 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:40,200 And so God sends us a storm so great that the men on the boat are praying to their gods 93 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,120 and throwing stuff over boards in the hope of survival. 94 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,800 All the while Jonah is taking a nap in the hold of the boat, obviously just thinking 95 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:52,880 to himself, yes, this was a very good plan. 96 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,680 The captain comes down, he wakes him, they've prayed to everyone else's God but the storm 97 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:57,800 still threatens all their lives. 98 00:05:57,800 --> 00:05:59,040 Can you pray to yours? 99 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:00,960 He says. 100 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:05,680 And the man of the ship, they cast lots to find out who's fault this storm is and it 101 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:07,320 lands on Jonah. 102 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:12,360 And now Jonah is probably thinking, hmm, perhaps this was not the best plan. 103 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,160 The man demanded an explanation and Jonah tells him that he's running from his God and 104 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:21,000 that the storm would appear, probably has something to do with it. 105 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:26,720 And so your best bet is to, you know, just chuck me off the side of the boat, which is 106 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:27,720 kind of astonishing. 107 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:33,000 Jonah would rather die than ask God to pray to God, to ask God to calm the storm and to 108 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:34,760 go to an inniver. 109 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:36,640 And the men, they don't throw him off right away. 110 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,400 They try everything else to escape this storm, but the storm just gets rougher. 111 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,760 Jonah won't pray to his God. 112 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:47,520 So they pray to Jonah's God and ask him not to hold it against them and then they throw 113 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:48,520 him off. 114 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:53,280 Now, growing up hearing this story and even the way the story is written, I always thought 115 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:58,080 that the fish immediately swallows Jonah up. 116 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:02,640 But listen to the prayer he prays after three days and three nights of being in the digestive 117 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,960 system of a big fish. 118 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:07,800 This is Jonah two. 119 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:12,000 I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble when he answered me, I called to you from 120 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,440 the land of the dead and Lord, you heard me, you threw me into the ocean depths and I sank 121 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,760 down into the heart of the sea, the mighty waters engulfed me. 122 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,720 I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. 123 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:27,440 Then I said, oh Lord, you have driven me from your presence, yet I will look once more towards 124 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:28,960 your holy temple. 125 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:34,560 I sank beneath the waves and the sea waters closed over me, sea we'd wrapped itself around 126 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:35,560 my head. 127 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,760 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. 128 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:43,920 I was imprisoned in the earth whose gates lock shut forever, but you, oh Lord my God, 129 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,040 snatched me from the jaws of death as my life was slipping away. 130 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:54,800 I remembered the Lord and my earnest prayer went up to you in your holy temple. 131 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,560 Jonah's had a near death experience. 132 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,440 Jonah's hit rock bottom of the ocean. 133 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:06,600 Jonah is thrown off a boat and down and down he sinks, sea we'd wraps itself around his 134 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:11,040 head and down he goes so deep he feels like he's in the heart of the earth and he's blackened 135 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:16,600 out and just as he feels his life is slipping away, he finally prays to God to save his 136 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:23,560 life and good Lord, there is a very large mouth, snatches him away and he sits there 137 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,640 three days and three nights, probably just feasting on some fresh prawns, just hanging 138 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:32,920 out in that digestive system and then he prays his prayer. 139 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:36,400 And it's the last bit, verse eight and nine of chapter two, which is most significant. 140 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:42,800 This is what he says, those who worship false gods turn their back on all of God's mercies, 141 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:48,320 but I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise and I will fulfill all my vows for 142 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:53,400 salvation comes from the Lord alone. 143 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:58,640 Jonah has a moment where he acknowledges that God is God and he is not. 144 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:04,520 The Yahweh is God, the true God is the true God and to turn your back on the true God 145 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,800 is to turn you back on the only one who is merciful, worthy of praise and the only one 146 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:10,300 who can save. 147 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:15,560 So he says, I will fulfill my vows, I will follow you, I will do what you ask for, salvation 148 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:16,560 comes from you. 149 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:22,720 And so the fish immediately vomits Jonah back onto dry land, which is just a great image 150 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:24,880 in your mind. 151 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:30,200 So God asked him again, would you go to Nineveh and preach my message? 152 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:36,040 And so the world's most reluctant prophet barely gets inside the walls and he preaches 153 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,440 a seven word sermon. 154 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:44,560 I like to think it's Jonah's love of efficiency that causes him to preach a seven word sermon. 155 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:46,680 It's history's most efficient sermon. 156 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:51,840 There's no 50 minute Mike Wardrobe bangers here. 157 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,880 If I could have the same impact in seven words, I would do it just so you know. 158 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:58,720 But it won't be today. 159 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:01,760 Jonah declares 40 days from now, Nina will be destroyed. 160 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:02,760 That's his sermon. 161 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:03,760 It's great. 162 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:04,760 It's good stuff. 163 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:05,760 And the people listen. 164 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,280 They turn away from their wicked ways. 165 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:13,920 They go into mourning and fasting and God relents and decides not to destroy the city. 166 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,040 And Jonah is angry about it. 167 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:23,360 He's preached a seven word banger and a whole city is radically converted and he's angry 168 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:24,360 about it. 169 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,440 Now the truth of why Jonah ran comes out. 170 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,000 Jonah hates Nineveh. 171 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:31,560 He's prejudiced against them. 172 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:33,880 He wants to see them destroyed. 173 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:39,400 He says to God, didn't I say to you before I left home that you would do this Lord? 174 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:40,600 That's why I ran away to Tarshish. 175 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:42,720 I knew you were merciful and compassionate God. 176 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:44,680 Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 177 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:46,960 You're eager to turn back from destroying people. 178 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:47,960 Just kill me now Lord. 179 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,600 I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen. 180 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,240 Jonah knows that God called him to pronounce judgment against Nineveh. 181 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:02,360 Not because God wanted to destroy Nineveh, but because he wanted to save Nineveh. 182 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,800 And Jonah doesn't want Nineveh saved. 183 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:10,160 He would have rather died before, and he almost did, and he would rather die now than see 184 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,240 the city which he hates be saved. 185 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:17,280 God had called him to help save the people that he hated. 186 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:19,680 He was angry about that. 187 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:23,680 So he storms off and sits where he can watch the city hoping that they might return to 188 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:28,160 their wickedness and he would get to see some fire from heaven kind of action. 189 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,040 But God decides to lovingly teach him. 190 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,600 He grows a plant to give Jonah shade and then Jonah begins to love this plant. 191 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:40,760 But then God sends a worm that causes the plant to wither away and Jonah, who's just 192 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:46,440 been a beacon of joy and happiness up until this point becomes just an absolute sad Sally. 193 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:51,240 He's baking in the sun and he's just wishing he would die. 194 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,880 And this is God's response. 195 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,000 You feel sorry about the plant? 196 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,200 Though you did nothing to put it there. 197 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:05,400 It came quickly and died quickly, but Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual 198 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:06,400 darkness. 199 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:07,960 Not to mention all the animals. 200 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,200 Shouldn't I feel sorry for such great a city? 201 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:17,360 So the whole book of Jonah is about God's compassion towards Nineveh and also his compassion 202 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,520 towards Jonah. 203 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:25,160 God's desire to save Nineveh from their wickedness, but also to save Jonah from his own prejudice. 204 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:28,680 I want us to flip this now and think about this story from God's perspective because 205 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:34,000 I think it can help us to understand a little more about God's calling on our own lives. 206 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:40,680 There is this wicked, intolerably wicked city and the evil being perpetrated within those 207 00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:43,960 walls and outside those walls cannot be allowed to continue. 208 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,320 Where would be the justice in that? 209 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:50,840 For God is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and filled with unfailing love. 210 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,000 He's eager to turn back from destroying people. 211 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,440 And then there's this Hebrew man, one of his chosen people. 212 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,240 People he chose to be a light of salvation to the rest of the world. 213 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,060 This man who God loves. 214 00:13:03,060 --> 00:13:06,040 This man who was a deep prejudice against this wicked city. 215 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:08,800 And we don't know why Jonah has this. 216 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:12,760 Maybe people from the city did something to him that was evil. 217 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:17,560 Maybe it was just the done thing for a Hebrew man to hate Nineveh. 218 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:20,680 You see, God has a will. 219 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:22,480 Like you or I have a will. 220 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,800 My will is constantly for ice cream. 221 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,400 And I often make plans for how I can get ice cream. 222 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,320 And in a similar way, God has a will. 223 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:32,320 God has a plan. 224 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:33,920 He has a mission. 225 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:35,200 But that will is not for ice cream. 226 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:36,200 It might be, I don't know. 227 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:41,040 But it's to reconcile all things to God to himself. 228 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:46,080 In a world that has been broken and fractured by sin, God is on a mission to restore and 229 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,240 make it new. 230 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:49,760 God's will is perfect and good. 231 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:54,800 And for the good of all of us, of individuals, communities and the whole of creation. 232 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:56,960 God's will is to save Nineveh. 233 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,840 And his will is also to save Jonah. 234 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,040 But God has given humanity free will out of love for us. 235 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,320 We get the power to choose because love preserves choice. 236 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:11,000 If he knew someone loved you because they had to or felt obligated to, it would save 237 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:12,000 us. 238 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,000 It would suck. 239 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,000 It would not be the kind of love that we want. 240 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:19,720 Because true love requires the choice to love of someone's own free will. 241 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:23,280 And for God to override that free will would be to cause violence to us. 242 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:24,880 So here's the dilemma. 243 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:29,280 You have about a bajillion human wills, human plans, human choices. 244 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,320 And you have the will of God, God's plan. 245 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,600 These two things are not aligned. 246 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,480 I'm not good at maths, but it seems to me like an impossible equation. 247 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,240 They do not equate each other. 248 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,960 God wants to restore all of creation and do away with suffering and pain and tears. 249 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:50,960 And people want to destroy the earth for profit, exploit people for their own sexual gratification, 250 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:56,240 take people's lives and dignity out of prejudice, murder innocent people for political games 251 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:57,960 and profit and on and on and on. 252 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,040 The human will is obsessed with self. 253 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,600 And God's will is permeated by self-sacrificial love. 254 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,200 These two things are not aligned. 255 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:06,720 And that is the dilemma. 256 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,360 So what's God's options here? 257 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:16,040 Option A. He gives up on his mission to renew all of creation. 258 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:18,960 Option B. Destroy creation and start again. 259 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,800 He toyed with that. 260 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:29,440 Or option C, but A2, I guess. 261 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:30,440 There's a third way. 262 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,440 This is what Second Peter 3 says. 263 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,760 The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise as people think. 264 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,080 No, he's being patient for your sake. 265 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:42,880 He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent. 266 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:49,600 God doesn't want A or B. And so he opts for C slash A. 267 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:54,840 Which is to work with and through the human will to bring about his will. 268 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,120 God's will is to save Nineveh from their wickedness and Jonah from his prejudice. 269 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:03,840 And so God plays nine D chess in the book of Jonah. 270 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,800 He calls Jonah to go and preach against Nineveh. 271 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,960 And Jonah chooses to run, which is a bold choice. 272 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:15,600 So God's going to storm to let him know he's not just going to give up on this. 273 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:17,480 Jonah could pray and turn around, but he chooses not to. 274 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,560 So God keeps the pressure on until something changes. 275 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,560 And it does. 276 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,480 The men throw him overboard at his request. 277 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:24,600 It's a clever move. 278 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:25,600 So God waits. 279 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:26,800 Are you really going to go through with this, Jonah? 280 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,800 You would rather die than go to Nineveh. 281 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,720 But Jonah cries out and God sweeps in and saves him. 282 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:40,120 Three days and three nights, God lets Jonah digest what's happened. 283 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:44,640 Doesn't this for one show us that God is far more comfortable with our uncomfortability 284 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,120 than we are? 285 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,280 Far more comfortable with our uncomfortability. 286 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,600 Jonah surrenders his will to God and God sits him back on dry land and he says, let's try 287 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:55,600 this again. 288 00:16:55,600 --> 00:17:01,560 And so Jonah goes, he preaches and the people change their ways, which is just a great success. 289 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,880 But Jonah is angry about it. 290 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,560 And so God uses Nineveh and a plant and a worm to teach him about the love of God for 291 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,960 all his people, even the people that Jonah hates. 292 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:16,880 Can you see how in the book of Jonah, God has used human choice as an instrument to 293 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,600 accomplish his will? 294 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:21,240 Friends, God has a mission. 295 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,640 He launched that mission with Jesus' life, death and resurrection and the pouring out 296 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:26,960 of the Holy Spirit and the creation of the church. 297 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,600 And that mission is to reconcile all things to God, to put the world right. 298 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:35,400 And within that mission, God will have assignments for you. 299 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:39,480 Not in a, you're getting marked on this kind of assignment sense, but in a, I want you to 300 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:44,320 participate in my plan kind of sense. 301 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,280 He will call you, he will ask you to do things. 302 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,760 Some of them will be easy and fun and some of them will be the most difficult, uncomfortable 303 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:52,480 things you've ever done in your life. 304 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,320 But these calls do not exist in a vacuum. 305 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:59,960 You live in a world where you've got a bajillion humans centered, self-centered human wheels 306 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:03,480 that are doing what they want, regardless of whether it hurts another, justifying it 307 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:04,480 to themselves. 308 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:10,480 But you also live in a universe where a loving God is painstakingly, patiently working everything 309 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:12,240 for his plan. 310 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:16,920 Every good choice and every evil one committed by you and against you. 311 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:23,720 Every trauma, every sin, not God's will, hear this, not God's will, but used by God as an 312 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,200 instrument to accomplish his will. 313 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,360 So our call, our assignments in this life can be hijacked by sin and bad choices, ours 314 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:34,840 and theirs, but never ultimately defeated. 315 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:39,400 Romans 8, 28 says, and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of 316 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:45,760 those who love God and who are called according to his purpose for them. 317 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,600 The question is, when the call comes, how will you respond? 318 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,560 See, control is an illusion. 319 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,760 We can't control the things that happen to us. 320 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:59,080 We can't also manufacture the things that we are going to be called to, but our response 321 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:01,320 we are in control of. 322 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,520 Our response is our responsibility. 323 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,800 God's calling on your life might be to be set apart to the church, by the church, to 324 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:12,720 preach the gospel with your whole life for your whole life like mine is. 325 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:16,520 Or the assignments that God has given you might be to participate in God's renewal of the 326 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:21,920 uniting church, or to nurture a wife and a family like mine, but not specifically mine, 327 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:23,920 you can go and get your own. 328 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,400 Thank you. 329 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:34,200 Let me clarify that in life there are general callings, whether every follower of Jesus is 330 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:38,720 called to, to alert the world to the good news about Jesus, to love people into the kingdom 331 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:42,640 of God, to be with Jesus, become like him and do what he did. 332 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:46,520 Then there are specific callings that God will place on your life. 333 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:50,960 The church is made up of a body, it's called a body made of many parts for a reason. 334 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,440 No one can care about all the things they are out of care about, and no one's heart 335 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,800 can break for all the things that they are out of break about. 336 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,640 God calls you to care more deeply about what other parts of the body simply cannot, and 337 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,080 that's why we need each other. 338 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,440 People are called to specific things. 339 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:12,160 And God's calling on your life might be to teach the next generation, to work against 340 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,680 a particular injustice, to give dignity to a particularly isolated community, to work 341 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:22,680 for reform in society on particular issues, to heal the sick or cure specific diseases, 342 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:29,320 to make specific things beautiful of beauty and wonder, to be a Jesus presence in a particular 343 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:36,320 industry that sorely, sorely needs it, to repair something that is broken, to serve the poor 344 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:41,280 and the homeless in a particular community, to reach particular communities who need to 345 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:42,600 hear the good news about Jesus. 346 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:49,800 On and on, there are endless possibilities in a plan to reconcile all of creation to 347 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:50,800 God. 348 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:55,640 But maybe the call of Jonah is for you. 349 00:20:55,640 --> 00:21:00,560 Maybe you see the one million people in this city of Adelaide who live in spiritual darkness. 350 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,600 One million people who don't know Jesus. 351 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:08,280 God is calling you to go to them, to call them to the light of Jesus Christ, to declare 352 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:13,560 to him that there is a better way, that there's a better kind of life and it's life with Jesus. 353 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:17,640 Or maybe you see the almost five million people in the city of Melbourne who live in spiritual 354 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:22,520 darkness and you feel a deep prejudice towards them because that's just what South Australians 355 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,880 seem to do. 356 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,840 And maybe God is calling you to go to them, to call them to the light of Jesus Christ, 357 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:33,760 to declare to him that there is a better way, there's a better kind of life and that life 358 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,200 is with Jesus. 359 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:42,160 Maybe God is calling you uniquely you, uniquely made with unique experiences and unique gifts 360 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:49,560 and skills in the same way he uniquely called Jonah for Nineveh's benefit and for his own. 361 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,440 I don't know what God's calling your life is and the assignments he'll give you, but 362 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,000 the question is how will you respond to them? 363 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,480 How will you respond when your life does not go the way that you think it would? 364 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,960 Will you respond by aligning your wheel with God's will and say yes to him? 365 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:08,880 Or will you take your wheel and run off in the other direction, resist, fight, make excuses? 366 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:14,520 I know a man who has had a specific call to vocational ministry for the last 20 years 367 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,320 and basically done nothing about it out of fear. 368 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:22,520 I know Tex touched on this last week, but we keep coming back to Jesus because Jesus 369 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,880 has the perfect response. 370 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,640 Jesus is the master in response to his assignment. 371 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,320 He doesn't run in the other direction. 372 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,720 But he feels the feelings, he's anguished and distressed and crushed with grief. 373 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,440 In the garden before he is arrested and betrayed, he prays three times, my Father, if it is 374 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:44,680 possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me, yet I want your will to be done, 375 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:45,680 not mine. 376 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,440 And then he submits to the will of God. 377 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,560 Jonah wanted to die rather than see God's mercy poured out on people that he hated, 378 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,280 but Jesus is willing to die in order that God's mercy could be poured out on people 379 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,560 that hate him. 380 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:03,880 Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale so that God could save him from the prejudice 381 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,520 and Nineveh from their wickedness. 382 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:11,000 And Jesus spent three days in the belly of the earth so that God could free and save 383 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,760 all humanity from this sin. 384 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:18,120 We can learn a lot about call from Jonah, but we can learn even more from Jesus. 385 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:23,400 If God is calling you to do something, maybe you've got an inkling or you clearly, clearly 386 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,440 know for one reason or 57, you are conflicted. 387 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,760 You are called, but you are conflicted. 388 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:31,720 We can follow Jesus' example. 389 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,120 One, feel the feelings. 390 00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:35,120 Give them space. 391 00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:38,920 Jesus prayed with such anguish that he sweated blood in the garden. 392 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,240 You do not need to hide your tears and struggle from God. 393 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:47,680 He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 394 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:49,600 You can pray for another way. 395 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:54,960 Jesus asked God three times that there would be another way for a mission that actually 396 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,680 only he could fulfill as the Son of God. 397 00:23:57,680 --> 00:23:59,600 So you can ask two. 398 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,080 If he can ask, you can ask. 399 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:10,800 And then three, do as Jesus did, submit to God's will, accept, surrender, trust, step 400 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,520 forward in faith. 401 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:19,040 I went on a silent retreat last weekend and I went there because for a number of different 402 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:24,000 reasons, it was a wonderful gift from Ash, but I went there searching for inner peace. 403 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:28,240 Because my life in a number of ways has not turned out the way that I thought it would. 404 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:33,760 And it's left me frustrated and at times angry, but there's nothing I can do about it. 405 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,320 So I wanted from the Lord, if there was nothing was going to change, I wanted to find a way 406 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:38,960 to have peace. 407 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:44,760 And the first day I wandered into the library to have a nosy because that's just my, it's 408 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,240 just Tim Behobuse. 409 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,840 And there's a book, and it's an old book, and it's sort of standing out from the rest 410 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:52,840 of the books. 411 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,800 It's called the Way of Interior Peace. 412 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,840 I was like, you're joking. 413 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,360 So I grabbed this book and I start reading it and it just like immediately uppercuts 414 00:25:01,360 --> 00:25:03,160 me to the face. 415 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:08,600 I don't have inner peace, this book says, because essentially I don't trust Jesus. 416 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,840 That everything that has happened to me and everything that will happen to me, God will 417 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,080 use for my good and for his glory. 418 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:25,880 I don't really in my heart trust Jesus, that he is good and faithful and will keep his promises. 419 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:30,480 I was fighting against the will of God, not in an overt disobedience like Jonah, but in 420 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:38,000 a subtler kind of anger at God that my will is not his will. 421 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:42,200 A subtler kind of anger that Jonah also had. 422 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,640 This is not what I want, God. 423 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,640 And so I had to repent. 424 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:50,160 I have felt the feelings. 425 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:51,160 I have wept tears. 426 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:52,160 I've cried out to God. 427 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,880 I've written some very angsty poetry that no one will ever read. 428 00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:02,000 I've prayed for another way, not just three times, but 333 times. 429 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,720 But I can now see that I never really got to the end of the Jesus prayer. 430 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:11,760 I never said I meant not my will, but yours. 431 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:14,160 And so first thing every day now, I pray this prayer. 432 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:19,400 Lord, I submit to you today in trust that whatever you have for me, good or bad, you 433 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:24,000 have willed it or will use it as an instrument for my benefit. 434 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:29,840 I accept that what will happen today is an act of love and sanctification from you. 435 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:35,080 Fill me with love, joy, peace and power, not my will, but yours be done. 436 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:36,080 Amen. 437 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:38,880 And it still has some road testing. 438 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:45,200 Yesterday was a very testy day, but submitting to God's will means that chaos can be going 439 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:50,920 on outside, but inside because I have peace with God, I am sitting on a cozy couch, snuggled 440 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:55,840 in a warm blanket, drinking a cup of tea while reading a book while it rains outside. 441 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,200 Because I am safe. 442 00:26:58,200 --> 00:26:59,200 I am protected. 443 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,880 I am held in God's hands. 444 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:08,360 See when we line our will with God, when we as people align our will with the will of 445 00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:14,920 God, when we submit to God, when we say not my will, but yours be done. 446 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:20,440 That's where we find true peace, my friends. 447 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:24,640 For some of you today, maybe you've been running in the opposite direction from what you know 448 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:26,960 God wants you to do. 449 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:32,960 And today you need to repent, which just literally means turn around and return. 450 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:37,200 That's what Jonah needed to do, needed to repent, which just meant stop running in the 451 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,160 opposite direction, turn around and come back. 452 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:45,800 So if that's you, I want to invite you to pray and a version of Jonah's prayer with 453 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:46,800 me. 454 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:51,000 And even if you are not feeling that, maybe we could all pray it as a way of giving those 455 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,080 who really need to pray it a bit of space. 456 00:27:55,080 --> 00:28:00,280 I'm hoping it's up on the screen, but it might not be. 457 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:01,280 It's not. 458 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:02,280 That's cool. 459 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:03,280 Follow with me. 460 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,080 I will be slow. 461 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:06,080 Let's pray. 462 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:17,240 Jesus, thank you that you are a merciful and compassionate God. 463 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:24,920 Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 464 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:31,360 I'm sorry for turning my back on your call. 465 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:36,920 Today I will turn around and follow you. 466 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:46,800 I will worship you with songs of praise for my salvation comes from the Lord alone. 467 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:52,760 Amen. 468 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:59,160 For some of you, you have struggled with inner peace because you have struggled like me 469 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,720 to submit to God's will. 470 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:07,160 You are following God, but you are not happy about it or at peace about it. 471 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:12,800 If that's you, as we worship again, I invite you to get on your knees, which is just, if 472 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:18,440 you can, which is just to posture your body towards God in an act of submission in your 473 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:24,560 whole body and cry out the prayer of Jesus while we sing, no one will hear you, I promise. 474 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:30,560 Father, if it's not possible, let the suffering pass from me, I want your will, not mine. 475 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,560 Not my will, but yours be done. 476 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,960 And in this time, in this worship, we're going to leave some space. 477 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,800 You can do this with God. 478 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:48,160 This is a space to come to God honestly with our whole heart wanting to seek Him and His 479 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:52,080 will to lay down the things that we keep. 480 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:58,800 To keep from God and to say sorry for the ways in which we turn away from God. 481 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:04,680 So there's some things that you can do and we can have prayer if you need it as well. 482 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:12,120 We might have some, we'll have some people come and find someone and we're going to sing 483 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,360 and worship God together. 484 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:19,520 So would you stand and let me pray as we get back into some worship. 485 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:25,640 Lord Jesus, we give you all honor and praise. 486 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,800 We give you all glory. 487 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:34,240 We thank you that you have called us to be your sons and daughters. 488 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,880 You have given your life for us. 489 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:42,120 We pray that we would be able to follow your example here, Lord Jesus. 490 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:47,640 That you would speak to our hearts, that your voice, we would hear your voice this afternoon 491 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:53,800 in worship and that the power of your presence here amongst us would change us. 492 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,960 Lord, we can do all these things with our hands and say these things with our words 493 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:06,680 and give our lives to you Jesus, but we need your presence and your Holy Spirit to change 494 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:10,240 our hearts. 495 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:17,640 We call us towards you to places in which to do things that are scary and hard. 496 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:21,520 We need your Holy Spirit to minister to us. 497 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,240 We as people can only do so much, Lord Jesus. 498 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:28,480 So we say, Holy Spirit, come, be here, Lord Jesus. 499 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:30,480 We want you here. 500 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,040 We want you to hear as we sing your praises. 501 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:35,440 So we glorify your name. 502 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:36,560 We want you here. 503 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,400 Come and be present amongst us. 504 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,640 Come and speak, Lord Jesus. 505 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:46,720 For when you speak, miracles happen. 506 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,160 People are changed. 507 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,840 Communities are radically transformed. 508 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:58,080 We pray for Adelaide and we pray for Melbourne. 509 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:04,120 They would have a Nineveh-like experience where they are ripped from the spiritual darkness 510 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:09,000 in which they live by the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 511 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:14,680 So your word would go forth, Lord Jesus, and that you would bring this city to its knees 512 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:21,440 in submission to you, onto its knees to cry out with every tribe and tongue that you are 513 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:27,040 Lord and you are to be glorified, Lord Jesus. 514 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,240 Calm Holy Spirit, we pray in your name, Jesus. 515 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:42,000 Amen.