WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.679 Super glad you're here with us this morning. 00:00:01.820 --> 00:00:05.360 Just love getting the opportunity to be together. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:09.220 I think we neglect how important it is to just 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:13.599 be together with people that have one goal, and 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.780 that goal is to live a good life. We all want 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:20.440 to live a good life, and for some it's different 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:23.559 than others, but many of us in this room agree 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:27.280 that to live a good life, we have to have God 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:32.219 in it. And so we're talking about this being 00:00:32.219 --> 00:00:35.359 called by God. Last week, we talked about listening 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:38.759 for God's voice, recognizing when he's speaking 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:41.659 and responding like Samuel did by saying, speak, 00:00:41.859 --> 00:00:45.320 Lord, for your servant hears. But maybe you know 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:48.560 exactly what God's been saying to you. You're 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:50.979 not in the speak, Lord, I'm trying to listen. 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:54.159 You've been listening and you've heard him. You 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:57.359 know exactly what he's asking from you or for 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:01.329 you. And still, deep down, there's a part of 00:01:01.329 --> 00:01:05.109 you somewhere in there that just wants to run. 00:01:06.189 --> 00:01:09.530 That wants to hide. You know what God wants. 00:01:09.769 --> 00:01:12.969 You know what needs to change. You know the step 00:01:12.969 --> 00:01:15.090 that you've been needing to take, that God's 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:18.209 been calling you to take. You know exactly what 00:01:18.209 --> 00:01:22.750 God is asking you to do. But you've got a boat 00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:29.500 ready and waiting. For you to jump on it. Today 00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:31.219 I want to talk about what happens when we get 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:33.560 on that boat and what happens when we run and 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:38.620 why running never works. I want to share a story 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:42.180 with you. When I was little, one time, we were 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:46.439 all sitting out on the front porch and I don't 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:48.439 know what happened. I was probably not being 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:53.140 a good kid. And my mom told me to stop doing 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.140 whatever it was that I was doing or I was going 00:01:55.140 --> 00:02:00.120 to get a spanking. And like my kids, I said, 00:02:00.340 --> 00:02:05.620 that doesn't scare me. So I did it again. And 00:02:05.620 --> 00:02:10.580 guess what happened? No, mom tried to spank me 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:13.560 and I took off running. Here's the problem. My 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:17.979 mom is actually quite athletic. Well, was. She's 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:21.669 old now. But she was. She's not actually old. 00:02:22.409 --> 00:02:27.169 She's quite athletic. And I didn't realize how 00:02:27.169 --> 00:02:31.430 fast my mom was. Now, let me just say, I was 00:02:31.430 --> 00:02:34.009 a fast kid. I mean, I was always the fastest 00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:36.090 kid on my football team, fastest kid, whatever. 00:02:36.289 --> 00:02:40.449 I was a fast kid. But I was also a kid, and you 00:02:40.449 --> 00:02:43.830 know this. Kids are fast for kids, but adults 00:02:43.830 --> 00:02:48.129 are fast in general. And so my mom... Hawks me 00:02:48.129 --> 00:02:51.150 down, tackles me in the neighbor's yard. And 00:02:51.150 --> 00:02:53.669 right there in front of everyone in the neighborhood, 00:02:54.050 --> 00:02:56.889 I got a spanking out in the neighbor's yard. 00:02:57.930 --> 00:03:00.650 Running doesn't work, does it? Especially not 00:03:00.650 --> 00:03:02.590 with a parent. Not with a parent that's more 00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:05.830 capable than you. And so today, I want us to 00:03:05.830 --> 00:03:08.069 talk about somebody that tried to run. Somebody 00:03:08.069 --> 00:03:11.650 that thought, I can get away from the parent. 00:03:12.689 --> 00:03:16.789 Jonah. You have this guy named Jonah, and what 00:03:16.789 --> 00:03:20.370 we're going to hear in Jonah's life is the same 00:03:20.370 --> 00:03:23.969 truth that we just read from David in Psalm 139, 00:03:23.990 --> 00:03:29.550 that you cannot run, or you can run, but you 00:03:29.550 --> 00:03:32.849 cannot run, God. You can try. You can try to 00:03:32.849 --> 00:03:36.430 get away. You can try to find the good hiding 00:03:36.430 --> 00:03:39.610 spot. You can try to get your early start. Maybe 00:03:39.610 --> 00:03:41.069 you're going to run away in the middle of the 00:03:41.069 --> 00:03:45.729 night when nobody's looking. You can try. But 00:03:45.729 --> 00:03:47.729 it'll be unsuccessful. So I want us to start 00:03:47.729 --> 00:03:51.949 in Jonah 1, verses 1 -3. Now the word of the 00:03:51.949 --> 00:03:54.430 Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, 00:03:54.669 --> 00:03:57.750 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call 00:03:57.750 --> 00:04:00.719 out against it. for their evil has come up before 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:05.419 me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the 00:04:05.419 --> 00:04:08.860 presence of the Lord. So Jonah, he hears God's 00:04:08.860 --> 00:04:11.979 voice loud and clear. He knows what God's telling 00:04:11.979 --> 00:04:16.579 him to do. God said it very plainly. And this 00:04:16.579 --> 00:04:19.139 isn't Samuel needing help. to figure it out. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:22.740 This isn't Samuel having to go and say, is this 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:25.579 God calling me or is it you? Who is it? What's 00:04:25.579 --> 00:04:29.000 he want? This is pretty clear. Jonah knows exactly 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:32.259 what God wants. But instead of saying, here I 00:04:32.259 --> 00:04:36.579 am, Lord, Jonah says, I'm out. He buys a ticket 00:04:36.579 --> 00:04:39.319 for the opposite direction. And what's fascinating 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:42.699 is Jonah doesn't just run from Nineveh. The text 00:04:42.699 --> 00:04:46.000 says he tries to run from the presence of the 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:50.930 Lord. You know, the God that created the universe, 00:04:51.430 --> 00:04:55.170 the God that formed the world in his hands, that 00:04:55.170 --> 00:05:02.350 same God, Jonah thought, I can escape him. How 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:07.129 often do we do the same thing? How often do we 00:05:07.129 --> 00:05:10.389 hear God? We know what he wants, but we think 00:05:10.389 --> 00:05:13.509 if we just change the scenery. If we change the 00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:16.129 people we're with, if we change the job, if we 00:05:16.129 --> 00:05:18.269 fill the calendar, if we stack the schedule, 00:05:18.370 --> 00:05:21.110 if we just drown out the silence, and if we will 00:05:21.110 --> 00:05:24.129 make ourselves so busy, if we'll occupy ourselves 00:05:24.129 --> 00:05:26.610 with so many other things, whatever we try to 00:05:26.610 --> 00:05:31.910 do, we try to make God's call fade away. We try 00:05:31.910 --> 00:05:35.610 to run from His presence. I've done it. I told 00:05:35.610 --> 00:05:37.730 you a little bit about my story. Running from 00:05:37.730 --> 00:05:40.389 ministry to the military, from the pulpit to 00:05:40.389 --> 00:05:43.269 the stage. from where I knew I belonged to where 00:05:43.269 --> 00:05:46.209 I thought I'd rather be. And every time I ran, 00:05:46.470 --> 00:05:49.370 guess who was waiting for me when I got there? 00:05:50.589 --> 00:05:54.910 God. Like I said, David understood this long 00:05:54.910 --> 00:05:57.310 before Jonah ever booked his ticket to Tarshish. 00:05:57.470 --> 00:06:00.290 Listen to what David says there in Psalm 139, 00:06:00.370 --> 00:06:03.029 verses 7 through 10. Where shall I go from your 00:06:03.029 --> 00:06:07.430 spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 00:06:08.189 --> 00:06:12.750 If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make 00:06:12.750 --> 00:06:18.129 my bed and shield, you're there. If I take the 00:06:18.129 --> 00:06:20.350 wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost 00:06:20.350 --> 00:06:24.410 parts of the sea, even there your hand shall 00:06:24.410 --> 00:06:28.649 lead me and your right hand shall hold me. Did 00:06:28.649 --> 00:06:33.050 you catch that? Even there, in the deep, dark, 00:06:33.449 --> 00:06:38.790 farthest place you can imagine, in the belly 00:06:38.790 --> 00:06:43.980 of the sea, Even there, God is waiting. I want 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:47.819 you to just picture a child playing hide and 00:06:47.819 --> 00:06:50.860 seek. My boys and I, by that I mean they love 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:53.259 to play hide and seek. It is my pleasure to play 00:06:53.259 --> 00:06:57.259 with them. When a child plays hide and seek, 00:06:57.420 --> 00:06:59.459 they aren't really that good at hiding, are they? 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:03.410 But they're convinced that... They found the 00:07:03.410 --> 00:07:06.029 perfect hiding spot. Maybe they're just standing 00:07:06.029 --> 00:07:07.850 in the middle of the room with their hands over 00:07:07.850 --> 00:07:09.889 their eyes and they just believe because they 00:07:09.889 --> 00:07:12.930 can't see you, you can't see them. Or they're 00:07:12.930 --> 00:07:15.449 behind the curtains, but you can see their feet. 00:07:15.550 --> 00:07:17.410 Or they're standing behind the tree, but they 00:07:17.410 --> 00:07:19.670 don't realize the tree is just that big and they're 00:07:19.670 --> 00:07:22.509 a little bit wider than that. And as a parent, 00:07:22.649 --> 00:07:25.449 you could laugh at them because you can actually 00:07:25.449 --> 00:07:29.649 see them plain as day. But they think they're 00:07:29.649 --> 00:07:37.069 hidden. They're not. They're just out there waiting 00:07:37.069 --> 00:07:39.750 to be scooped up. In fact, when we play hide 00:07:39.750 --> 00:07:42.089 and seek, Easton loves to hide under a blanket. 00:07:42.889 --> 00:07:45.230 The problem is, is Easton doesn't quite understand 00:07:45.230 --> 00:07:47.310 the concept of putting the whole blanket over 00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:49.949 his body. So his feet or his arms or something 00:07:49.949 --> 00:07:52.189 will be sticking out or he's like in a cluster. 00:07:52.449 --> 00:07:54.709 And so you're like, that doesn't look like a 00:07:54.709 --> 00:07:56.509 pile of blankets. That looks like a kid under 00:07:56.509 --> 00:07:59.769 a blanket. And then you'll say, you know, you'll 00:07:59.769 --> 00:08:01.889 play along. You're like, Easton, where are you? 00:08:02.750 --> 00:08:07.730 And he'll go, I'm right here. Or I'm under the 00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:12.129 blanket. And then I'll grab him and he'll laugh. 00:08:12.310 --> 00:08:15.290 And it's like this deep sense of excitement. 00:08:16.629 --> 00:08:19.410 Because that's what he's waiting for. He's waiting 00:08:19.410 --> 00:08:23.449 for me to grab him. And sometimes with us, we're 00:08:23.449 --> 00:08:27.819 hiding. we're really not trying to run away from 00:08:27.819 --> 00:08:30.120 God exactly. What we're trying to do is we're 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:32.019 waiting for God to say the words we want Him 00:08:32.019 --> 00:08:34.639 to, right? We're waiting for Him to do the thing 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:37.419 that brings us joy. I'm going to put joy in air 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:40.179 quotes there. We're waiting for God to do the 00:08:40.179 --> 00:08:42.940 thing that brings us excitement. And so it's 00:08:42.940 --> 00:08:44.799 not that we're trying to run from what God is 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.120 calling us to do. We're waiting for God to call 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:51.250 us to do something fun. I heard somebody the 00:08:51.250 --> 00:08:54.009 other day was talking about a guy at his church 00:08:54.009 --> 00:08:57.610 went up to him and said, I feel like I'm being 00:08:57.610 --> 00:09:00.409 called to preach. And he said, okay, well, if 00:09:00.409 --> 00:09:02.809 you're feeling the call to ministry, what I need 00:09:02.809 --> 00:09:06.269 you to do is on Sunday morning around 7 a .m., 00:09:06.269 --> 00:09:08.090 I need you to get to the church building, make 00:09:08.090 --> 00:09:10.230 sure the Lord's Supper is ready, and then I need 00:09:10.230 --> 00:09:12.470 you to take the church van and go pick up the 00:09:12.470 --> 00:09:15.169 people in the inner city. And the guy said, no, 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:17.649 no, no, no, no. You didn't hear me. I felt the 00:09:17.649 --> 00:09:22.539 calling to preach. And he's like, I heard you. 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:27.899 If you want to minister, you got to do the unfun 00:09:27.899 --> 00:09:31.399 stuff. It's not about the stage. It's not about 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:33.860 the mic. And sometimes we're being called to 00:09:33.860 --> 00:09:36.179 serve at the soup kitchen or we're being called 00:09:36.179 --> 00:09:39.500 to go to the poor and the needy or we're being 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:41.759 called to do the things that we don't exactly 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:47.940 love doing, right? And it's not really fun, but 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:51.990 it needs to be done. And so we're being called 00:09:51.990 --> 00:09:54.409 to do things that we may not exactly want to 00:09:54.409 --> 00:09:57.210 do. And what we'll find, though, is if we'll 00:09:57.210 --> 00:09:59.850 do the things that we don't want to do, we will 00:09:59.850 --> 00:10:06.610 and others will be blessed by it. So you have 00:10:06.610 --> 00:10:12.269 this child hiding, waiting for the fun. And that's 00:10:12.269 --> 00:10:15.509 us with God sometimes. We think our hiding places, 00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:19.480 our distractions, our excuses. our Tarshish tickets. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:23.340 We think that they keep God from seeing us, that 00:10:23.340 --> 00:10:26.519 they keep us hidden. But He sees us the whole 00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:30.580 time. He knows exactly where we are. And God 00:10:30.580 --> 00:10:36.259 is not out to punish us. He's waiting, arms ready 00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:38.799 to scoop us up when we stop pretending that we're 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:43.019 hidden. And if we'll let Him find us, let Him 00:10:43.019 --> 00:10:47.149 find us. We'll find the blessing. We'll find 00:10:47.149 --> 00:10:49.210 the excitement. We'll find the fun. It will come. 00:10:51.690 --> 00:10:53.850 But Jonah tries to outrun the presence of the 00:10:53.850 --> 00:10:57.610 Lord by sailing across the sea. And what does 00:10:57.610 --> 00:11:01.269 David say? Even there, God is there. Jonah ran 00:11:01.269 --> 00:11:03.590 from God's command, but he sailed right into 00:11:03.590 --> 00:11:06.309 God's storm. The storm and the fish, they weren't 00:11:06.309 --> 00:11:11.669 punishment. It was a lesson. It wasn't about 00:11:11.669 --> 00:11:14.840 God getting payback. It was about... God bringing 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:19.120 him back. God bringing him back into his redemptive 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:23.879 mission. Because God's will always supersedes 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:27.200 our desires. God's will. God's will is going 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:29.940 to take precedent over what I want. It's going 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:32.600 to take precedent over what I think I need. It's 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.879 going to take precedent over my desires. God's 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:40.980 will always comes first. His will will be done. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.620 He'll send a storm. He'll send a fish. He'll 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:47.279 block your escape. God will do what He needs 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:50.100 to, not because He wants to control you. It's 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:53.000 not because He wants to ruin your plans. It's 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:54.960 not because He wants you to live a boring life. 00:11:55.159 --> 00:11:58.120 It's because God wants to redeem your plans. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:01.980 Because God wants to use you to be a redemptive 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:08.820 piece of His mission to rescue His people. And 00:12:08.820 --> 00:12:11.070 let's be honest. I went and played basketball 00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:13.049 the other night, and it was the first time that 00:12:13.049 --> 00:12:16.450 I'd run up and down a court or really done any 00:12:16.450 --> 00:12:18.470 running up and down anything in a long time. 00:12:19.269 --> 00:12:24.169 Running is exhausting. I played one game and 00:12:24.169 --> 00:12:26.750 was ready to die. And I'm not being funny. Like, 00:12:26.750 --> 00:12:28.470 I actually thought I was going to fall out on 00:12:28.470 --> 00:12:30.850 the court. I told Noah after, I was like, dude, 00:12:30.950 --> 00:12:32.690 like, my heart felt like it was about to just, 00:12:32.750 --> 00:12:34.549 like, implode. He was like, why didn't you just 00:12:34.549 --> 00:12:36.350 sit down? I was like, well, because I wanted 00:12:36.350 --> 00:12:39.110 to keep playing, right? But it's exhausting. 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:41.919 And sometimes it can be painful and you can be 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:46.039 running and you'll feel like you're dying. And 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:48.759 for some of us, we know we need to just stop 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:51.320 and take a breather. But for others, we just 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:54.240 keep running. We keep going and we keep going 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:58.460 until eventually we collapse. Until eventually 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:04.399 something says stop. And it's not a willing stop. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:09.289 It's a you have no choice but to stop. Running 00:13:09.289 --> 00:13:11.889 is exhausting. Some of us, we're not physically 00:13:11.889 --> 00:13:17.129 on the run from God, but our hearts, our spiritual 00:13:17.129 --> 00:13:21.029 lives are sprinting away from Him every single 00:13:21.029 --> 00:13:24.789 day. We're running from the apology that we know 00:13:24.789 --> 00:13:28.049 we need to give. Or we're running from the forgiveness 00:13:28.049 --> 00:13:30.210 that we need to give to someone who's just been 00:13:30.210 --> 00:13:33.029 waiting for our forgiveness. We're running from 00:13:33.029 --> 00:13:36.320 the call to serve instead of to just sit. We're 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:38.940 running from surrendering our time, surrendering 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:41.179 our money, surrendering our talent, surrendering 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:46.259 our pride. And the problem is, is we cannot run, 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:50.460 God. We cannot run ourselves either. We will 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:57.480 run, but eventually we will stop. Because we 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:03.179 get tired. We start to hurt. And we miss out. 00:14:03.980 --> 00:14:06.139 And we realize that we're missing out on the 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:10.240 goodness that God wants for our lives. See, Jonah 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:12.379 didn't stop running until he was buried in darkness. 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:17.419 And then finally, Jonah prayed. And I want you 00:14:17.419 --> 00:14:20.480 to listen to David's prayer there in Psalm 139. 00:14:22.940 --> 00:14:29.220 Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and 00:14:29.220 --> 00:14:33.009 know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous 00:14:33.009 --> 00:14:37.490 way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. 00:14:38.649 --> 00:14:40.629 See, Jonah's prayer in the belly of the fish 00:14:40.629 --> 00:14:44.549 was basically that. It was, God, I'm done running. 00:14:45.769 --> 00:14:49.149 I'm done trying to hide. I'm done trying to escape 00:14:49.149 --> 00:14:51.889 what you've called me to do. God, I'm done running. 00:14:51.909 --> 00:14:55.230 I hear you. You've made yourself abundantly clear. 00:14:56.389 --> 00:15:00.940 I'll go where you say. So I'm asking you this 00:15:00.940 --> 00:15:02.299 question this morning, and I'm asking myself 00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:05.659 too, where are you running to? Where is your 00:15:05.659 --> 00:15:10.059 Tarshish? What boat are you booking passage on 00:15:10.059 --> 00:15:15.259 to get away? To get away from what you know God 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:17.799 is calling you to face? To get away from what 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:20.879 God has called you to do? Where are you going 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:26.559 to hide? As if the shepherd who made you won't 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:29.820 find you there. David asked the question, where 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:32.440 shall I go from your spirit? And the answer is 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:35.879 nowhere. There's nowhere you can go. Where shall 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:41.980 I flee from your presence? Again, nowhere. Do 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:45.840 you know what that means? It means this, very 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:49.860 simply. If you're tired of running, the good 00:15:49.860 --> 00:15:53.419 news, the gospel message today is you don't have 00:15:53.419 --> 00:15:56.659 to. You don't have to run from what God's been 00:15:56.659 --> 00:16:00.620 calling you for. You don't have to fight. In 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:02.679 fact, if you're tired of fighting God's voice, 00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:06.679 you can just surrender to it. If you've been 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:09.679 drifting far off course, you can turn around. 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:13.960 And you can do exactly what God has been pulling 00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:16.600 you and leading you and drawing you into. Because 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.139 the same God who met Jonah in the storm, the 00:16:19.139 --> 00:16:23.299 same God that used the fish, a fish of all things, 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:28.259 To get the message across to Jonah. That same 00:16:28.259 --> 00:16:32.039 God is the same God who waits for you here. Who 00:16:32.039 --> 00:16:34.820 waits for you with mercy. Who waits for you with 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:39.860 a second chance. Our theme right now is called 00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:42.960 together and sent out. And the truth is, I've 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:45.039 told you over and over and over again, and I 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:47.159 say it repetitively because I need us to understand 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:49.840 God is calling each and every one of us to do 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.500 something, to say something, to be someone, to 00:16:52.500 --> 00:16:55.559 go somewhere. And in that calling, we're going 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:58.340 to have to do that together. We need each other 00:16:58.340 --> 00:17:01.879 to fulfill the calling. And not only do we need 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:04.319 to be together, but we have to actually go and 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.660 do it. God is going to send you somewhere with 00:17:06.660 --> 00:17:09.039 your calling. It may be to Blairsville. It may 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.279 be to Blue Ridge. It may be to Union County Schools. 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:13.240 It may be to the hospital. It may be to the bank. 00:17:13.299 --> 00:17:15.839 Wherever it is, God is calling you to do something 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.000 and sending you somewhere because He is on a 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:24.859 mission to redeem His people. And with Jonah, 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:28.480 God said, go help me redeem my people. Jonah 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:30.940 tried to avoid it. And God said, you cannot hide 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:33.460 from me. You cannot run from me. I need my will 00:17:33.460 --> 00:17:35.240 to be done and you're going to be a part of it. 00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:39.059 And so Jonah has to go. And from it, God is glorified. 00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:43.559 And in this church, in this congregation here 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:46.019 at Blairsville, God is going to be glorified 00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:48.640 one way or another. The question is, do you want 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:52.339 to be a part of that redemptive mission? Are 00:17:52.339 --> 00:17:54.539 you going to accept the call? He's calling you 00:17:54.539 --> 00:17:56.220 to do something. He's calling me to do something. 00:17:56.380 --> 00:17:59.119 Am I going to run from Him and wear myself out 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.559 and tire myself out over nothing? You've done 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:04.180 it before, haven't you? Where you've tried to 00:18:04.180 --> 00:18:06.839 run. You've tried to hide and you have found 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.359 yourself waking up in a cold sweat wondering, 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:13.140 why is it that I'm hurting? Why is it that I'm 00:18:13.140 --> 00:18:15.859 in pain? Why is it that I'm struggling? Why is 00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:17.960 it that everything seems to be falling apart 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:24.980 around me? God will use a storm to teach a lesson. 00:18:28.740 --> 00:18:33.950 Are you going to be a part of the calling? Or 00:18:33.950 --> 00:18:36.970 are you going to run? Are you going to wear yourself 00:18:36.970 --> 00:18:44.569 out? When all you have to do is trust and obey. 00:18:44.849 --> 00:18:48.250 I think I've said some version of trust and obey 00:18:48.250 --> 00:18:51.750 a million times in this series. And it's crazy 00:18:51.750 --> 00:18:54.369 that we haven't sang trust and obey yet. Because 00:18:54.369 --> 00:18:57.329 that feels like Church of Christ, we've got to 00:18:57.329 --> 00:19:00.990 sing trust and obey. But there's some truth there. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:06.960 That if we will just trust and obey, we will 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:11.059 have a blessed life. We will have a good life. 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:14.480 We're all trying to live a good life. Amen? We 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.279 want comfort. We want peace. We want love. We 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:22.880 want purpose. And if we will just do what God 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.859 is calling us to do, we'll have that good life. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.880 Here's how I know that. Adam and Eve live in 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:31.019 this beautiful place that God created perfectly 00:19:31.019 --> 00:19:34.500 for them to live with Him. Now let me ask you 00:19:34.500 --> 00:19:37.460 this. If I told you, hey, you can live in the 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:40.119 presence of a good God who gives you everything 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:43.200 you need and a perfect home, would you accept 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:46.619 that offer? I would hope so because that sounds 00:19:46.619 --> 00:19:49.839 pretty nice. It sounds like a good life. And 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.640 so that's what God created us for. That's what 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:58.650 He intended for us. He called us. To just trust 00:19:58.650 --> 00:20:01.450 Him. Everything in this garden you can have except 00:20:01.450 --> 00:20:04.049 this one thing. If you will just leave that one 00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:07.670 thing alone, it'll be a good life. But as we 00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:11.630 do, we don't listen. Because we're hard -headed. 00:20:13.230 --> 00:20:18.630 And so, thus began our running. Running away 00:20:18.630 --> 00:20:22.650 from God's instruction. And ever since then, 00:20:22.730 --> 00:20:27.269 our life has not been good. It's not been abundant. 00:20:27.289 --> 00:20:31.390 It hasn't been peaceful. Sometimes I'll think 00:20:31.390 --> 00:20:34.769 about what that life in the garden will be like 00:20:34.769 --> 00:20:39.950 one day. How peaceful it's going to be. There 00:20:39.950 --> 00:20:42.390 won't be any more suffering. There won't be any 00:20:42.390 --> 00:20:46.109 more sorrow. There won't be any more hurt. There 00:20:46.109 --> 00:20:49.490 won't be any more middle of the month, spent 00:20:49.490 --> 00:20:51.490 all the paycheck, paid all the rent, and now 00:20:51.490 --> 00:20:52.549 I'm trying to figure out what we're going to 00:20:52.549 --> 00:20:54.740 eat for the rest of the month. There won't be 00:20:54.740 --> 00:20:57.400 any more cars breaking down and I'm not sure 00:20:57.400 --> 00:20:58.759 how I'm going to fix it. There won't be any more 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:02.160 cancer diagnoses. There won't be any more miscarriages. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.740 There won't be any more lost family members. 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:06.500 There won't be any more houses burning down. 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:09.619 Do you realize how great that will be? And all 00:21:09.619 --> 00:21:12.579 we have to do for us to get there and to bring 00:21:12.579 --> 00:21:15.920 other people with us is just go where God says 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:21.250 go and stop running away from His call. That's 00:21:21.250 --> 00:21:24.130 all we have to do. And I know it may not be glamorous 00:21:24.130 --> 00:21:26.630 in the moment. It may not be the most fun thing. 00:21:26.750 --> 00:21:33.349 It may even be dangerous. But I'll take momentary 00:21:33.349 --> 00:21:38.289 danger for an eternity of splendor every time. 00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:44.049 That's what I want for me. That's what I want 00:21:44.049 --> 00:21:45.829 for you. That's what I want for the people outside 00:21:45.829 --> 00:21:49.890 of this building. And that's what God wants. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:54.599 See, yeah, we can try to run. We can try to get 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:57.220 away. We can try to hide. And we can try to cover 00:21:57.220 --> 00:21:59.440 up our eyes because if we can't see God, He can't 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:06.880 see us, right? But it's all for nothing. Because 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:12.319 we can't hide from it. God can even use your 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:18.500 running to show off His rescue. Here's the truth. 00:22:21.099 --> 00:22:26.279 We don't have to wait for the storm. We don't 00:22:26.279 --> 00:22:29.099 have to wait for the fish. We don't have to wait 00:22:29.099 --> 00:22:32.079 for life to break down, for things to get difficult. 00:22:32.099 --> 00:22:35.539 We don't have to wait for everything to feel 00:22:35.539 --> 00:22:41.299 like it's crumbling around us. We don't have 00:22:41.299 --> 00:22:45.700 to wait for suffering before we come back to 00:22:45.700 --> 00:22:50.579 the one who never left you. So maybe this morning 00:22:50.579 --> 00:22:53.140 you feel like Jonah and you feel like you've 00:22:53.140 --> 00:22:54.759 been running, you've been hiding, you've been 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:56.680 avoiding whatever it is that God has been calling 00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:59.140 you to do. Or maybe you feel like David. You've 00:22:59.140 --> 00:23:01.299 known all along that you can't hide and you're 00:23:01.299 --> 00:23:05.039 ready to pray. Search me, know me, lead me. My 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:09.599 call for us this morning is that we stop running, 00:23:09.740 --> 00:23:14.259 we stop hiding, we just go home. We get on the 00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:19.609 road towards home. You cannot run God's presence. 00:23:20.730 --> 00:23:23.430 And the good news is you don't need to. Because 00:23:23.430 --> 00:23:26.710 God's presence is where you will find rest. It's 00:23:26.710 --> 00:23:29.009 where you'll find comfort and peace and abundance. 00:23:29.269 --> 00:23:31.789 His presence is where you'll find forgiveness. 00:23:31.970 --> 00:23:34.470 His presence is where you'll find the purpose 00:23:34.470 --> 00:23:36.130 that you've been longing for. It's where you'll 00:23:36.130 --> 00:23:39.450 find belonging. So today, if you need to come 00:23:39.450 --> 00:23:44.019 back to God, don't wait. If you need to stop 00:23:44.019 --> 00:23:46.920 running and start surrendering, today is the 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:50.000 day. If you need to let God search you, to ask 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.019 Him to know you, to lead you, He is ready. He's 00:23:53.019 --> 00:23:57.740 here. There's nowhere to hide. There is nowhere 00:23:57.740 --> 00:24:01.940 to hide. And that is the best news. That is the 00:24:01.940 --> 00:24:06.059 gospel. That God knows exactly where you are 00:24:06.059 --> 00:24:10.900 and He is ready to bring you home. If you need 00:24:10.900 --> 00:24:13.960 to respond to God's call, to follow Jesus for 00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:16.619 the first time, to come home again, or just to 00:24:16.619 --> 00:24:19.460 lay a burden down and let the church here pray 00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:25.500 for you, please, don't wait. Stop running and 00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:26.099 just come now.