WEBVTT 00:00:04.140 --> 00:00:06.540 You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:09.339 podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:12.060 Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:14.140 Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:16.480 strengthens your faith and draws you closer to 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:20.100 Christ. Let's dive in. All right. With that being 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:24.800 said, let's dive into Jonah. Jonah is a short 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.359 book. Even those who aren't familiar with the 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:32.700 scriptures would say, Know what Jonah's about. 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:36.079 It's the impossible tale of a whale eating a 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:40.200 man You know all that good stuff was it a whale? 00:00:41.020 --> 00:00:44.700 Don't know maybe Could have been I actually think 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:49.240 if with God making everything and everything 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:55.619 obeying him He can make a sea monster For the 00:00:55.619 --> 00:00:59.719 moment for Jonah does that make sense so? Gosh 00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:01.460 darn it, I said does that make sense? My family 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:03.399 has been making fun of me all week about that. 00:01:03.939 --> 00:01:07.359 I figure out something else now. But I truly 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.019 think that if it wasn't a whale, there's no impossibility 00:01:10.019 --> 00:01:14.180 to it. But what you need to know is that Jesus 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:17.340 quotes Jonah because his life foreshadows Jonah. 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:23.239 But he's a better Jonah. Because Jonah looks 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:26.329 a lot like me and you. And we're going to get 00:01:26.329 --> 00:01:28.750 into that in just a second, but what is Jonah 00:01:28.750 --> 00:01:35.069 about tell me? Don't get quiet you guys know 00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:45.230 you know what Jonah's about yes, sir He lied 00:01:45.230 --> 00:01:54.340 Yeah, good job you got Eden by a whale because 00:01:54.340 --> 00:01:57.340 he didn't go where he was supposed to go. What 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:25.090 else do we know about it? That's exactly right. 00:02:25.830 --> 00:02:28.169 Who is the central character of the book of Jonah? 00:02:32.990 --> 00:02:36.030 Right. So who's the central character? Who's 00:02:36.030 --> 00:02:44.629 it about? God. Here's why I say that. Some people 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:46.710 would say it's about a fish. Well fish, the word 00:02:46.710 --> 00:02:50.110 fish only is four times and used only four times 00:02:50.110 --> 00:02:52.900 in the short book. The Ninevites are that great 00:02:52.900 --> 00:02:56.060 city or Nineveh only nine times. Jonah the prophet 00:02:56.060 --> 00:02:59.460 is only mentioned 18 times, but God is mentioned 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:04.159 38 times. If you eliminate God from the story, 00:03:04.939 --> 00:03:07.900 you have a story that makes no sense. You just 00:03:07.900 --> 00:03:12.259 have some weird dude that goes and gets on a 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:14.939 boat, right, and swallowed up, and then he goes 00:03:14.939 --> 00:03:18.789 and he's pouting, right? So it makes no sense 00:03:18.789 --> 00:03:22.270 if you take God out of the central story. But 00:03:22.270 --> 00:03:25.169 what Jonah is ultimately about is it talks about 00:03:25.169 --> 00:03:27.550 the will of God and His love for the nations. 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:30.870 But let's start from the beginning as we set 00:03:30.870 --> 00:03:35.150 this up. So who is Jonah? In 2 Kings 14 .25, 00:03:35.310 --> 00:03:37.430 it tells us that Jonah ministered during the 00:03:37.430 --> 00:03:40.789 reign of King Jeroboam II. Why is that important? 00:03:40.930 --> 00:03:43.520 Because here's what you need to know. Jonah tells 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:46.199 us nothing about himself. Why? Because he was 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.879 actually really well known already. He didn't 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.259 have to explain who he was, because everyone 00:03:53.259 --> 00:03:57.259 already knew who he was, and here's why. If you 00:03:57.259 --> 00:04:01.719 read in 2 Kings about Jonah, it talks about him 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:04.240 and he ministered to the royal administration. 00:04:04.699 --> 00:04:07.539 Now here's why that's important. Because Amos 00:04:07.539 --> 00:04:11.159 and Hosea, other prophets, other minor prophets, 00:04:12.200 --> 00:04:16.240 were actually very critical of the administration 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:21.560 of Jeroboam because they were not godly. But 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:26.699 not Jonah. Jonah was not that way. He would puff 00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:30.779 up Jeroboam. Was he a prophet? Absolutely. But 00:04:30.779 --> 00:04:32.300 here's what you need to know and here's why I 00:04:32.300 --> 00:04:37.360 say he looks a lot like you and I. Jonah not 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:41.879 only supported the royal administration, But 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:45.819 Jonah loved the fact of how their military might 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:51.079 was so strong He loved their policy and Jonah 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:55.420 was intensely patriotic Now let me just stop 00:04:55.420 --> 00:04:58.860 for a second before anyone would get upset or 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:03.220 offended Myself and others in this room have 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:07.100 served in the military here. I know all of us 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:10.430 in this room love our country There is nothing 00:05:10.430 --> 00:05:12.689 wrong. I believe it is an absolute blessing to 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:17.089 live in the United States of America Okay the 00:05:17.089 --> 00:05:21.449 problem becomes when we get we we begin to blur 00:05:21.449 --> 00:05:26.889 the lines between Our nation is our God and our 00:05:26.889 --> 00:05:33.550 president is our God That's called idolatry that's 00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:39.399 not Christianity That's called nationalism not 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:45.480 Christianity. You follow me? So, we can very 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.120 easily, and I'm talking about myself, listen, 00:05:49.420 --> 00:05:51.279 we know where we are going in the book of Jonah, 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:55.120 okay? So I'm just, I'm skipping ahead, but we're 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:57.180 only gonna do three verses. But I'm gonna say 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:01.680 this, when I see videos on Facebook of people 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:05.779 that are like Antifa, and a patriot punches them 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:09.040 in the face, I'm like, oh yeah daddy got what 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:16.079 he deserved I like that and when I read through 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:19.699 Jonah preparing for this the Lord goes tell me 00:06:19.699 --> 00:06:27.639 about Antifa again that stings so when we walk 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:31.459 through Jonah you have to understand Jonah looks 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:35.899 so much like us because he believes he is a Jew, 00:06:36.339 --> 00:06:39.720 he loves God, he loves the law, he loves all 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:41.439 things that are right, but he believes that they 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:44.800 are special and everyone else around them, including 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:52.220 their enemies, do not deserve grace. And so as 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:56.720 we dive into this, we've got to know that the 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.360 Lord, though Jonah is about God, It's God's heart 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.600 for the nations and those who don't look like 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:09.139 us. Those that don't believe like us, those that 00:07:09.139 --> 00:07:11.800 are in the darkness and desperately need light, 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:15.259 God is saying, go be light, don't just hate the 00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:21.540 darkness. So why does all this matter? Because 00:07:21.540 --> 00:07:25.779 this is who God chooses to call to speak repentance 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:28.660 and grace to his biggest enemy. That's why it's 00:07:28.660 --> 00:07:32.470 so ironic. God could have called Hosea, he could 00:07:32.470 --> 00:07:34.329 have called Amos, he could have called anybody 00:07:34.329 --> 00:07:39.589 else, but he calls Jonah to go and preach repentance 00:07:39.589 --> 00:07:44.009 to his biggest enemy. People who he legitimately 00:07:44.009 --> 00:07:50.670 hates. Does God not have a sense of humor? Pretty 00:07:50.670 --> 00:07:56.110 funny, eh? So who is his enemy? The Ninevites. 00:07:57.670 --> 00:08:00.399 Nineveh. Let's talk about Nineveh for a moment, 00:08:00.459 --> 00:08:03.040 because if there was a reason to hate somebody, 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.300 it's this. So who are they? Well, they are technically 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:10.459 in history. This isn't Pastor Logan calling them 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:14.060 this. This is what historians call them. They 00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:18.300 were one of the original terrorist states founded 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:21.120 by Nimrod. You guys recognize that name? Old 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:23.939 Testament. Did you know if you read about Nimrod, 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:28.529 which I've done a lot of reading about, A lot 00:08:28.529 --> 00:08:30.709 of those who are mentioned early in Genesis, 00:08:30.990 --> 00:08:34.009 Nimrod was considered, not just in scripture, 00:08:34.730 --> 00:08:36.789 but we're talking about throughout all Mediterranean 00:08:36.789 --> 00:08:40.509 history, Nimrod is known. He's considered a titan. 00:08:40.649 --> 00:08:42.590 You guys know what a titan is? One of the great 00:08:42.590 --> 00:08:48.570 warriors of the day. He is a half blood, meaning 00:08:48.570 --> 00:08:54.019 he comes from a line where fallen angels procreated 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:57.240 with human women and created things called Nephilim. 00:08:57.259 --> 00:08:59.259 Nephilim being giants. You can be like, alright, 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:01.000 Pastor Logan, you're getting into crazy stuff. 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:03.840 I'm just telling you the Bible covers a lot of 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:05.620 crazy stuff and a lot of supernatural things 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:10.899 that are just insane. Actually, I spoke at the 00:09:10.899 --> 00:09:15.960 little Christian school on Wednesday and they 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:21.480 asked me to speak on the two bears that Elisha 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:25.220 tells to come out and eat the children. They're 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:27.440 like, well, you preach on that. And I was like, 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:30.139 can honestly say no one has ever asked me to 00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:33.759 preach on that text. And so I was like, well, 00:09:34.100 --> 00:09:37.100 it's the week of Halloween. Why not? But what 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:39.600 I told them was, if you think that this story 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.340 is scary, there's a lot of scary stories. And 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:45.440 that made me go, back when I was in elementary 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:50.070 school, my third grade teacher after lunch time 00:09:50.070 --> 00:09:53.429 would always read us this book called Scary Stories 00:09:53.429 --> 00:09:56.409 to Read in the Dark. It's a pretty famous book. 00:09:57.210 --> 00:09:59.649 And I was like, you know what? There's a lot 00:09:59.649 --> 00:10:01.490 of scary stories in the Bible. I'm going to write 00:10:01.490 --> 00:10:04.149 something called Scary Stories to Read at Sunday 00:10:04.149 --> 00:10:06.710 School, because the Bible's got some creepy, 00:10:06.850 --> 00:10:10.730 scary stuff. But some of that, when it comes 00:10:10.730 --> 00:10:13.960 to Nimrod, Nimrod is strong. He's known as a 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:16.259 hunter before God, but that is not meant to be 00:10:16.259 --> 00:10:18.879 like he is godly. That's meant to be actually 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.159 a slam. Because who is Nimrod? Nimrod would kill 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:25.559 those who would think about even trying to have 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:27.399 other ladies in their life because Nimrod wanted 00:10:27.399 --> 00:10:32.419 to claim all women for himself. Nimrod was a 00:10:32.419 --> 00:10:38.570 cannibal. Nimrod did a lot of bad things, and 00:10:38.570 --> 00:10:41.570 so therefore when he built Babylon and he built 00:10:41.570 --> 00:10:44.950 Nineveh, Nineveh came before Babylon. So the 00:10:44.950 --> 00:10:47.309 Ninevites, what are some of the things that they 00:10:47.309 --> 00:10:52.450 would do? Well, they were cannibals too. But 00:10:52.450 --> 00:10:54.370 they're also known as the Assyrians, by the way, 00:10:54.450 --> 00:10:58.350 in this time period. This is the Assyrians. But 00:10:58.350 --> 00:11:00.370 the Assyrians were known as the cruelest, most 00:11:00.370 --> 00:11:04.159 violent empire of ancient times. They would burn 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.659 children alive. They would pull out the tongues 00:11:07.659 --> 00:11:11.679 of their enemies. They forced families to hold 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:14.840 poles of their family members who had been decapitated 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:19.279 and parade them through the city. And then they 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:24.720 would kill them. They would cut off the legs 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.879 and one arm of their enemies and then as the 00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:30.580 army marched by, they would high -five them. 00:11:32.259 --> 00:11:37.840 That's kind of funny and also really sick. I 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:39.860 mean think about that. That takes a lot of thought. 00:11:40.460 --> 00:11:45.340 Like their mockery was so deep. And so who were 00:11:45.340 --> 00:11:50.179 they? They were pagan worshiping cannibals and 00:11:50.179 --> 00:11:56.440 they hated everyone that was not them. And so 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.639 the book of Jonah shows us that God views the 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:06.899 Jews, he begins to judge them, and he goes, you 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:10.240 know what, Jonah, you so don't understand me, 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:12.340 and the rest of the Jews in the nation of Israel 00:12:12.340 --> 00:12:14.940 so don't understand me, I'm actually gonna have 00:12:14.940 --> 00:12:17.820 you go and preach repentance, and I'm going to 00:12:17.820 --> 00:12:20.059 save the nation that you hate the most. So this 00:12:20.059 --> 00:12:27.220 is an indictment on the Jews. But this is also 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:30.960 our origin story, brothers and sisters. Why do 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:37.919 I say that? Are we not Gentiles? This is our 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:41.580 origin story, the foreshadowing of Christ going 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:45.940 to come and preach that Gentiles are going to 00:12:45.940 --> 00:12:49.539 be grafted in. By the way, what did God say? 00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:52.059 What did Jesus say? What did Paul say about the 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:55.919 Gentiles? We would be a stumbling block, right? 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:04.059 You're an Assyrian. not from the demographic 00:13:04.059 --> 00:13:06.240 standpoint, but just from a sinful standpoint. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:09.879 You are a nation, and God loved you enough to 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:16.019 graft you in. So, let's read the text. After 00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:18.399 all of that, Pastor Logan's finally into the 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.000 text, and we're only gonna go three verses. Actually, 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:23.320 we're not even gonna go all the way through verse 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:27.779 three. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah, 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:33.620 son of Amittai. Get up. Go to the great city 00:13:33.620 --> 00:13:38.419 of Nineveh and preach against it because their 00:13:38.419 --> 00:13:45.539 evil has come before me So Jonah got up But he 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:49.179 flee to Tarshish From the Lord's presence now 00:13:49.179 --> 00:13:50.779 if you remember the verse of the week. What did 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:53.580 the verse of the week say you guys remember? 00:13:55.620 --> 00:13:57.240 Can you can you pull that up for me real fast? 00:13:59.870 --> 00:14:03.570 Yeah, where shall I go not even to she'll if 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:05.649 I go there where she'll the place of the dead 00:14:05.649 --> 00:14:10.269 I can go there and you and you're there I Shared 00:14:10.269 --> 00:14:12.970 that because Jonah knows that God is everywhere. 00:14:12.970 --> 00:14:16.830 He's all present and yet he still in his complete 00:14:16.830 --> 00:14:22.929 fear and his just unwillingness runs Trying to 00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:27.230 get away from God Now real quick if you'll pull 00:14:27.230 --> 00:14:30.950 up the map for me Dustin, please Want to show 00:14:30.950 --> 00:14:35.110 you where Nineveh is see where Babylon is no 00:14:35.110 --> 00:14:38.870 now Jonah is from right here where it says Gath 00:14:38.870 --> 00:14:42.230 heifer That's where Jonah is currently and that's 00:14:42.230 --> 00:14:48.809 where he is from So Nineveh is up here and He 00:14:48.809 --> 00:14:54.110 gets on a boat in Joppa down here and he flees 00:14:54.110 --> 00:14:58.889 to Tarshish The Tarshish isn't even on the map 00:14:58.889 --> 00:15:04.220 right To him this is this is this is what's funny 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:07.700 about it He's going to try to flee to essentially 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:10.360 what we know as modern -day Spain to the Jews 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:14.399 at that time That was the end of the world So 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.360 he was literally willing to go Anywhere but over 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:22.399 there now how far is Gath heifer to Nineveh? 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:29.580 500 miles 500 miles imagine walking that's like 00:15:30.110 --> 00:15:33.029 starting in Lincoln and then going to Rapid City, 00:15:33.690 --> 00:15:38.549 walking. So when God said go, it wasn't probably 00:15:38.549 --> 00:15:40.210 just the people, it was probably even thinking, 00:15:40.309 --> 00:15:43.370 man, that is a trek by myself through the desert, 00:15:43.470 --> 00:15:48.590 me and a camel. But God calls him and he goes 00:15:48.590 --> 00:15:54.149 the opposite direction. I want you to think about 00:15:54.149 --> 00:15:57.289 this for a second. I also, it says that great 00:15:57.289 --> 00:16:01.259 city, Nineveh. I wanted to know how big Nineveh 00:16:01.259 --> 00:16:04.179 was, so I went and started doing some research, 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.779 and it lays out exactly how big Nineveh was. 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:10.480 And I was like, because it's talking about it 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:12.799 in biblical terminology, so I'm like, I don't 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:19.100 know what that means. So I went and asked the 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:22.399 wonderful chat GPT, what is the equivalent, if 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:24.340 this is how big this is, what is the equivalent 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:28.580 of a US city? And it said, it came back and it 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:32.870 said, The equivalent of this city, because Nineveh 00:16:32.870 --> 00:16:35.990 is in one big circle, it's a circumference, it 00:16:35.990 --> 00:16:39.909 would be as if New York, the entire state of 00:16:39.909 --> 00:16:42.990 New York, half of Connecticut and half of New 00:16:42.990 --> 00:16:47.370 Jersey were one city. That's how big Nineveh 00:16:47.370 --> 00:16:54.169 was. Now, think about this. Jonah is going to 00:16:54.169 --> 00:16:56.029 not only go there and we know how wicked they 00:16:56.029 --> 00:16:58.649 were, How welcome do you think it would be for 00:16:58.649 --> 00:17:02.990 a rabbi in 1941 to go preaching to the Nazis 00:17:02.990 --> 00:17:08.049 to repent on the streets of Germany? Think that's 00:17:08.049 --> 00:17:12.170 welcomed? That's the equivalent of what he's 00:17:12.170 --> 00:17:14.670 going through. So now you kind of see when God 00:17:14.670 --> 00:17:17.569 spoke, he's like, no, no, you obviously missed 00:17:17.569 --> 00:17:26.279 that. So. With all of the context that we have 00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:28.880 that's all been set up now. Let's get to the 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.720 first point The first point is this God's call 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:40.819 transcends our boundaries and biases God's call 00:17:40.819 --> 00:17:49.900 transcends our boundaries and biases God's mission 00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:58.410 doesn't stop where our comfort does So many times, 00:18:00.609 --> 00:18:06.170 I've heard people say, I would never do that. 00:18:07.430 --> 00:18:10.250 And I always go, especially now, I always go, 00:18:10.950 --> 00:18:13.890 brother, sister, that's hilarious. Because I 00:18:13.890 --> 00:18:15.890 would have said, and my wife would have said, 00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:18.170 we were just talking about this the other day, 00:18:19.650 --> 00:18:23.490 when we first got married, and I was talking 00:18:23.490 --> 00:18:27.420 about ministry and everything, my wife, I brought 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:31.759 up the idea of moving out of state and she's 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:35.500 like, no, we will never live anywhere but Florida. 00:18:35.579 --> 00:18:37.680 Do you realize how cold it is in other places? 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.799 If someone would have said to us, God is going 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.720 to call you to the state of Nebraska, we would 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:49.490 have been like, not so fast, nope, never. And 00:18:49.490 --> 00:18:52.130 God always laughs at that. And so what my spiritual 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:53.849 mentor used to always say, never say that because 00:18:53.849 --> 00:18:55.309 God will send you there. Now I'm not going to 00:18:55.309 --> 00:18:58.470 go that far. But I've said this before and I'm 00:18:58.470 --> 00:19:01.549 going to say it again. There are many times where 00:19:01.549 --> 00:19:04.230 God will call you to go somewhere and you will 00:19:04.230 --> 00:19:09.089 refuse. Because you're like, God do you not even 00:19:09.089 --> 00:19:12.750 know me? I'm not going to do that. That sounds 00:19:12.750 --> 00:19:16.380 awful. And the funny thing is, is God does know 00:19:16.380 --> 00:19:17.960 you and He knows you so well that He's like, 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:19.759 you have no idea how much you're going to like 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:23.299 it. You have no idea how much you're going to 00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:24.519 enjoy it. And then other times, there's going 00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.059 to be things just like Jonah where you still 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:29.200 should go. You're going to hate every second 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:36.859 of it, but it's for your own good. When I decided 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:41.500 to go into the military to be a chaplain, I remember 00:19:41.500 --> 00:19:46.670 after the third night, I called my wife in boot 00:19:46.670 --> 00:19:49.210 camp and I said, I've made the biggest mistake 00:19:49.210 --> 00:19:53.470 of my life. This is awful. Do you realize how 00:19:53.470 --> 00:19:56.730 early they make me get up and move my body around? 00:19:58.990 --> 00:20:01.549 I'm like, and why does every meal come with gravy? 00:20:03.049 --> 00:20:06.069 I'm Southern and every meal should have some 00:20:06.069 --> 00:20:10.130 gravy, but not breakfast, not brown gravy, white 00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:13.910 sausage gravy maybe, but not brown gravy. Can 00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:15.609 somebody tell me, by the way, why does every 00:20:15.609 --> 00:20:18.750 meal come with gravy in the military? It's ridiculous. 00:20:20.990 --> 00:20:22.910 Yeah, yeah, to hide the fact that everything 00:20:22.910 --> 00:20:26.230 else tastes terrible. But I'm like, this is terrible. 00:20:26.509 --> 00:20:32.730 And my wife goes, calm down. You sound, you sound 00:20:32.730 --> 00:20:37.049 crazy. Calm down. You need to go to sleep, and 00:20:37.049 --> 00:20:39.089 you need to realize, and this was so crucial 00:20:39.089 --> 00:20:43.200 to me, she goes, this isn't forever. It's just 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.339 a season and God obviously has something for 00:20:46.339 --> 00:20:53.599 you So stick it out be a man and go to bed And 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.000 that's what I did and I and and I made it through 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:01.400 ended up having a fantastic time After that when 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:04.339 I stopped having a bad attitude and decided you 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:06.420 know what there's a whole lot of stuff going 00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:10.740 on around me I need to just accept this experience 00:21:10.740 --> 00:21:12.700 and just go do it and end up having a great time. 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:17.720 But in the moment, I was like, no sir, no sir. 00:21:20.019 --> 00:21:25.319 And so, again, his mission does not stop where 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:28.740 our comfort does. So if God calls you, let's 00:21:28.740 --> 00:21:30.779 just say right now, like we were just in a meeting 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:33.579 with the missions committee, and they were talking 00:21:33.579 --> 00:21:35.559 about doing an international missions trip at 00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:41.480 some point. God's gonna tell some of you to go 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:44.599 and your initial reaction is gonna be, I didn't 00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:48.180 hear that right. I'm not doing a squatty potty. 00:21:48.980 --> 00:21:50.980 If we're gonna go to Aruba and stay in a really 00:21:50.980 --> 00:21:53.539 nice hotel and then I get to maybe do some stuff 00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:55.519 in an orphanage for a day, that might be nice. 00:21:56.779 --> 00:22:02.359 Nah. Go get uncomfortable for Jesus. Because 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:05.220 it's in that uncomfortableness that God does 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:09.890 his greatest work in you. You'll see miracles 00:22:09.890 --> 00:22:12.809 let me just this isn't in my notes, but I want 00:22:12.809 --> 00:22:18.130 to share this because Because my next note is 00:22:18.130 --> 00:22:20.869 Jonah felt that this was a suicide mission with 00:22:20.869 --> 00:22:24.970 zero chance of success One of my friends who 00:22:24.970 --> 00:22:27.069 was my manager when I worked at a grocery store 00:22:27.069 --> 00:22:30.329 years and years ago He was a devout Southern 00:22:30.329 --> 00:22:34.799 Baptist man devout Southern Baptist And he's 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.359 about six foot three tall and he had the tightest 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:40.319 flat top in the world. You can land a helicopter 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:43.420 on that thing. And he had these big glasses and 00:22:43.420 --> 00:22:47.380 he still looks that way today. And he says to 00:22:47.380 --> 00:22:50.339 me, I show up for work one day and he's tossing 00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:53.019 cans on a shelf and he says, you'll never guess 00:22:53.019 --> 00:22:54.640 what I'm about to go do. And I said, what's that? 00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:58.440 He said, I signed up, our church is doing a missions 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:03.240 trip to Mexico. And I said, cool, you going? 00:23:03.549 --> 00:23:06.210 He said, yeah, but I don't want to. And I said, 00:23:07.170 --> 00:23:12.349 why? He said, because. That just sounds terrible. 00:23:13.410 --> 00:23:14.690 And he goes, I said, well, then why are you going? 00:23:14.869 --> 00:23:17.670 He goes, because my daughter wants to. And he 00:23:17.670 --> 00:23:19.930 goes, I've seen the movie Taken. Ain't nobody 00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:22.289 taking my daughter. You guys know what Taken's 00:23:22.289 --> 00:23:24.990 about, right? Girl gets kidnapped. And he goes, 00:23:25.150 --> 00:23:28.329 no. He said, I'm going and protecting my daughter. 00:23:28.410 --> 00:23:31.130 I said, how about you go and just serve people 00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:33.900 for the Lord? And he goes, meh. I'm just making 00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:36.960 sure my daughter is going to be safe." I said, 00:23:37.339 --> 00:23:43.079 okay. He comes back from this trip, and he goes, 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:45.119 I said, how was it? He had the biggest smile 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:49.119 on his face, and he goes, I saw miracles. Now, 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.420 when I say he was deeply Southern Baptist, I 00:23:51.420 --> 00:23:55.700 mean he did not believe in miracles. And I said, 00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:57.180 what do you mean you saw miracles? He said, oh, 00:23:57.180 --> 00:23:58.940 I'll tell you what. He said, we went into this 00:23:58.940 --> 00:24:00.720 gymnasium with all these kids. And he said, we 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:02.220 were there to do some sort of thing. And he said, 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:05.720 you know how you can buy Starburst in the bag 00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:09.160 and they're individually wrapped? He said he 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:13.480 had a fanny pack just full of Starburst for himself, 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:18.859 not to share. And he said that as one little 00:24:18.859 --> 00:24:21.099 boy comes up, I hear you over there. You're like, 00:24:21.220 --> 00:24:26.150 that's a mistake, buddy. He said that he's in 00:24:26.150 --> 00:24:29.130 this gymnasium and he goes to pull one out and 00:24:29.130 --> 00:24:30.230 eat it. And he said the next thing he knows, 00:24:30.329 --> 00:24:34.730 he's like, all these kids just like are around 00:24:34.730 --> 00:24:36.910 him. And they were just like, he goes, I don't 00:24:36.910 --> 00:24:38.349 even know what they were saying, but he's like, 00:24:38.349 --> 00:24:40.950 they just had their hands up. And I go, so what'd 00:24:40.950 --> 00:24:43.190 you do? He said, man, he's like, I'm sitting 00:24:43.190 --> 00:24:45.809 there going, I don't have enough for all these 00:24:45.809 --> 00:24:47.869 kids. He said, because they were literally, it 00:24:47.869 --> 00:24:50.430 was all the kids that filled up this entire gymnasium. 00:24:51.789 --> 00:24:53.250 He said, I don't have enough. And he's like, 00:24:53.250 --> 00:24:56.289 I'm going to feel terrible. If I don't have enough 00:24:56.289 --> 00:24:58.250 for all these kids, and I said, and you're gonna 00:24:58.250 --> 00:25:01.410 feel terrible because they're yours. And he was 00:25:01.410 --> 00:25:06.849 like, that's somewhat true. But he's like, and 00:25:06.849 --> 00:25:08.529 I said, so what'd you do? He said, I just went, 00:25:08.730 --> 00:25:11.630 Lord, I don't know what to do, but all I'm gonna 00:25:11.630 --> 00:25:15.410 do is just reach in and I'm gonna give one. I'm 00:25:15.410 --> 00:25:16.690 gonna reach in and I'm gonna give one. And I 00:25:16.690 --> 00:25:19.029 said, okay, and he goes, and I decided I'm not 00:25:19.029 --> 00:25:22.910 gonna look in my fanny pack. I'm just gonna keep 00:25:22.910 --> 00:25:25.839 reaching in. I said, so what happened? He said, 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:30.420 I kid you not. He goes, I got to the last kid 00:25:30.420 --> 00:25:35.259 and there was one left. And I said, you were 00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:39.160 like the whole two lobes, all that jazz, right? 00:25:39.220 --> 00:25:43.799 And he's like, exactly. And he goes, and then 00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:45.859 there was another time where we're on the street 00:25:45.859 --> 00:25:47.599 and he said, I got really caught up in watching 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:51.099 the street performer. And he goes, and I had 00:25:51.099 --> 00:25:53.299 no idea that the entire group had already left. 00:25:53.500 --> 00:25:59.359 and we're in this very big city, and he says, 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:02.960 and I can't speak any Spanish. I had no intention 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:06.119 to share the gospel with anybody, so I didn't 00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:09.359 bother trying to learn Spanish. He said, so when 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:12.660 I turn around, everyone's gone, and I have no 00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:16.359 idea where anyone is. And I go, so what did you 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:21.799 do? He said, I went to ask this guy, like, I 00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:23.180 was trying to explain, because I didn't know 00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:24.740 the address, I was trying to explain where my 00:26:24.740 --> 00:26:27.039 hotel was. And he said, and as I opened my mouth, 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:30.500 I began to speak in Spanish. And then he goes, 00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:32.000 and then the guy talking back to me, speaking 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.460 in Spanish, and I understand everything he's 00:26:33.460 --> 00:26:37.119 trying to say. He goes, I was able to get directions, 00:26:37.180 --> 00:26:40.099 get back to our hotel, and then I could not do 00:26:40.099 --> 00:26:42.240 any sort of Spanish and speak anymore ever again. 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:47.859 And I'm like, that's a miracle, buddy. Those 00:26:47.859 --> 00:26:51.789 are miracles. He went away. going, that's not 00:26:51.789 --> 00:26:54.309 the last trip I'll ever do. He's like, it changed 00:26:54.309 --> 00:26:56.950 my life. And so that's what I'm saying. We can 00:26:56.950 --> 00:27:00.470 be like Jonah and have the wrong heart and the 00:27:00.470 --> 00:27:04.089 wrong mindset about reaching other people. And 00:27:04.089 --> 00:27:06.410 God goes, you have no idea. This isn't just about 00:27:06.410 --> 00:27:08.750 them. This is about you too. And I'm going to 00:27:08.750 --> 00:27:10.589 show you some really neat things along the way. 00:27:13.089 --> 00:27:17.210 And so why doesn't God ask Jonah if he's comfortable 00:27:17.210 --> 00:27:21.809 with his plan? Why doesn't he ask him? Because 00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:25.069 I've heard this before, God's a gentleman. He'll 00:27:25.069 --> 00:27:27.269 never ask you to do something you don't want 00:27:27.269 --> 00:27:40.009 to. Why doesn't God ask him? If that's true, 00:27:40.910 --> 00:27:43.829 why doesn't God ask him? Jonah, are you comfortable 00:27:43.829 --> 00:27:46.269 with going to Nineveh? I mean, I can ask somebody 00:27:46.269 --> 00:27:48.670 else. It's totally cool if you don't want to. 00:27:48.670 --> 00:27:59.849 Why doesn't he? Come on Yeah, and also it's right 00:27:59.849 --> 00:28:06.029 in front of you. He doesn't care Jesus doesn't 00:28:06.029 --> 00:28:08.269 care about your feelings. He only wants you to 00:28:08.269 --> 00:28:12.690 be obedient Because again as is already stated. 00:28:12.690 --> 00:28:22.700 He knows what's best Because And he doesn't care 00:28:22.700 --> 00:28:26.319 because he wants not only to show mercy to the 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:28.359 Ninevites, but also he's pronouncing judgment 00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:34.559 upon Jonah and the Jews. Point number two. God's 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:39.940 call doesn't need explanations. It comes with 00:28:39.940 --> 00:28:45.039 expectations. God's call doesn't need explanations. 00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:48.640 It comes with expectations. What do I mean by 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:51.819 that? God doesn't have to explain Himself or 00:28:51.819 --> 00:28:54.359 give you all the answers. You're expected to 00:28:54.359 --> 00:28:58.259 just trust and go. How many of you guys has God 00:28:58.259 --> 00:29:00.240 called you to do something? And it doesn't have 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:02.240 to be some going on an international mission 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:04.660 trip. It doesn't have to be anything big and 00:29:04.660 --> 00:29:08.779 grand. But how many times has God called you 00:29:08.779 --> 00:29:12.259 to do something and you say, well Lord, is this 00:29:12.259 --> 00:29:16.359 all going to work out? Have you ever done that? 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:23.400 Yeah, and does God say yes? No, he doesn't say 00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:27.660 anything Because he's like it's all about trust 00:29:27.660 --> 00:29:31.019 It's all about trust and when what did I tell 00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:33.640 you guys a couple of weeks ago to trust? The 00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:36.819 only way you can trust is by knowing you got 00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:41.599 to know him to trust him He's never going to 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:46.460 give you the answer or the end he's only going 00:29:46.460 --> 00:29:48.940 to tell you We're going to take small steps of 00:29:48.940 --> 00:29:51.880 trust towards me. If you're in this room and 00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:54.000 you don't believe in God, and you say, well, 00:29:54.220 --> 00:29:56.519 I don't believe in God because it's just blind 00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:59.759 leaps of faith. No, it's not. It's daily small 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:04.000 steps towards Jesus of just trust. It doesn't 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.619 matter how small the steps are. You just keep 00:30:06.619 --> 00:30:09.460 gaining and looking at Him. And by the time you 00:30:09.460 --> 00:30:11.559 turn around, you'll go, oh, my Lord, look how 00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:15.750 far God has brought me. It's small steps of trust, 00:30:15.890 --> 00:30:18.710 but you have to understand when you say yes to 00:30:18.710 --> 00:30:22.509 the Lord and you say yes to his will You better 00:30:22.509 --> 00:30:29.210 put on a seat belt Because it gets crazy I mean 00:30:29.210 --> 00:30:32.269 I Know I joke about it, and I say this stuff 00:30:32.269 --> 00:30:35.049 all the time But I would have never ever thought 00:30:35.049 --> 00:30:39.450 that I would be here right now I would have never 00:30:39.450 --> 00:30:41.529 thought that my daughter would get in the car 00:30:41.529 --> 00:30:44.230 one day and go, Dad, look at all the cow goo 00:30:44.230 --> 00:30:50.630 from the calf I just birthed. And I'm just like, 00:30:50.690 --> 00:30:52.650 that's disgusting, baby, but I'm glad you enjoyed 00:30:52.650 --> 00:30:59.109 it. He didn't ask me, he just said, trust me. 00:31:05.420 --> 00:31:07.720 God doesn't have to explain himself or give you 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:09.539 all the answers you just expected to trust and 00:31:09.539 --> 00:31:12.480 go as I said There are times when God will call 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:15.259 us to something that makes no logical sense, 00:31:15.259 --> 00:31:21.019 but if he calls us we go So my question is this 00:31:21.019 --> 00:31:25.680 There will be times when God calls you to something 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:30.500 Henry Blackaby talks about this in in knowing 00:31:30.500 --> 00:31:34.599 God Have any of you guys ever read that book, 00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:37.579 Knowing God, by Henry Blackaby? One person? Okay, 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:39.200 cool. We're gonna actually, I think we should 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:41.400 do that on a Wednesday night together. We'll 00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:43.539 read through the book together. It is a fantastic 00:31:43.539 --> 00:31:45.400 book on knowing the will of God for your life. 00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:50.200 But Henry Blackaby, he passed away in the last 00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:52.740 five years. I actually had the awesome opportunity 00:31:52.740 --> 00:31:56.559 to meet him towards the end of his life. Just 00:31:56.559 --> 00:32:00.119 the most amazing godly man. But he tells this 00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:02.500 story in Knowing God where, He was pastoring 00:32:02.500 --> 00:32:04.940 a church in California that was a pretty large 00:32:04.940 --> 00:32:09.579 church and he's originally from Canada and one 00:32:09.579 --> 00:32:12.519 day the Lord begins to speak to him that he's 00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:15.599 going to call him to Canada and he was like okay 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:17.880 you know he's not opposed to it but they were 00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:19.740 really happy in California and his family and 00:32:19.740 --> 00:32:23.279 he has young kids at this time and this church 00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:26.359 calls a mission church. What is a mission church? 00:32:26.910 --> 00:32:29.890 It's essentially a small gathering group of people 00:32:29.890 --> 00:32:33.589 who have no money at all, may not even have a 00:32:33.589 --> 00:32:35.450 building, but I believe this church did have 00:32:35.450 --> 00:32:39.569 a building. But it was less than 10 people, elderly 00:32:39.569 --> 00:32:42.069 people, and they said, Henry, we feel like God 00:32:42.069 --> 00:32:43.890 is calling you to come here and be our pastor. 00:32:45.630 --> 00:32:48.410 And he's like, OK. And they said, here's the 00:32:48.410 --> 00:32:51.390 thing, though. We have no money. We can't pay 00:32:51.390 --> 00:32:54.589 you. We can't even pay to get you here. But we 00:32:54.589 --> 00:33:00.380 believe God is calling us here. logically anyone 00:33:00.380 --> 00:33:05.039 would go that's dumb that's not God you've got 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:06.500 little kids to think about what are you going 00:33:06.500 --> 00:33:08.779 to do about insurance how are you going to support 00:33:08.779 --> 00:33:13.259 yourself right all natural things those are good 00:33:13.259 --> 00:33:16.599 questions but God had already spoke to Henry 00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:21.619 and then he gets a call so he just says okay 00:33:21.619 --> 00:33:26.829 Lord he said they pull in to the church He said, 00:33:26.849 --> 00:33:28.309 we don't even have any idea where we're going 00:33:28.309 --> 00:33:31.069 to sleep that night. We don't have any idea of 00:33:31.069 --> 00:33:33.769 anything. And he said, I don't even know how 00:33:33.769 --> 00:33:36.490 this association even knows I'm in town because 00:33:36.490 --> 00:33:39.650 nobody knew. He said, but I get a call from an 00:33:39.650 --> 00:33:42.890 association that said, at the church, right as 00:33:42.890 --> 00:33:46.769 they're pulling up, and they say, Henry, we have 00:33:46.769 --> 00:33:51.410 a church in Texas that wants to give to our association. 00:33:51.910 --> 00:33:54.109 We just heard that you're in town, that you're 00:33:54.109 --> 00:33:56.190 going to pastor this church. They want to pay 00:33:56.190 --> 00:34:01.230 your salary for the next five years. And just 00:34:01.230 --> 00:34:03.289 crazy things like that continue to just like 00:34:03.289 --> 00:34:07.630 happen to Henry all the way through. And now 00:34:07.630 --> 00:34:09.510 it's not when you read Knowing God, there's other 00:34:09.510 --> 00:34:14.469 things that come up that don't exactly work out. 00:34:14.789 --> 00:34:17.550 But Henry's whole thing is he's never going to 00:34:17.550 --> 00:34:20.909 give you the end. He's only going to just say, 00:34:21.369 --> 00:34:26.960 be present with me and trust. So my my question 00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:29.320 to you is this if God calls and when he calls 00:34:29.320 --> 00:34:34.340 because he will Are you gonna say yes? No matter 00:34:34.340 --> 00:34:39.000 what it looks like point number three This is 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:41.219 where I'm gonna kind of camp out for just a moment 00:34:41.219 --> 00:34:44.960 Point number three is this God God's call exposes 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:50.099 our rebellion and our religious hypocrisy God's 00:34:50.099 --> 00:34:52.420 call exposes our rebellion and our religious 00:34:52.420 --> 00:34:55.630 hypocrisy now. What do I mean by that? So if 00:34:55.630 --> 00:34:57.690 we go back to our text that says that Jonah heard 00:34:57.690 --> 00:35:00.530 him and went the opposite direction When you 00:35:00.530 --> 00:35:02.530 know the story of Jonah, we're getting a little 00:35:02.530 --> 00:35:05.369 ahead of ourselves. We see Jonah be both ways 00:35:05.369 --> 00:35:09.050 He full -on rejects God in rebellion just says 00:35:09.050 --> 00:35:12.469 nope. I want nothing to do with it and then later 00:35:12.469 --> 00:35:16.929 on in the story We see his religious hypocrisy 00:35:16.929 --> 00:35:22.329 play out And so like Jonah We can run from God 00:35:22.510 --> 00:35:24.829 And so as I said, the first way we run from God 00:35:24.829 --> 00:35:28.829 is simply by rejecting God completely. I want 00:35:28.829 --> 00:35:32.329 nothing to do with you. You can be in this room 00:35:32.329 --> 00:35:34.409 and be somebody who just has completely rejected 00:35:34.409 --> 00:35:38.789 God fully, and God still is calling out to you 00:35:38.789 --> 00:35:43.070 to come home. But that's completely rejecting 00:35:43.070 --> 00:35:46.369 and living in rebellion. But then, there's many 00:35:46.369 --> 00:35:50.090 of us in this room that are the other way. We 00:35:50.090 --> 00:35:54.179 use works and religion to keep God at a distance 00:35:54.179 --> 00:35:59.079 and ultimately be like, oh no God, you owe me, 00:35:59.460 --> 00:36:05.239 I don't owe you anything. Does that sound like 00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:08.739 a classic story that plays out in the New Testament? 00:36:10.019 --> 00:36:13.780 Where do we see two people, two brothers to be 00:36:13.780 --> 00:36:16.860 exact, where one completely rejects and the other 00:36:16.860 --> 00:36:23.239 one gets angry? The prodigal son. So in Luke 00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:25.400 15, we see the two sons, the younger brother 00:36:25.400 --> 00:36:30.039 tries to escape his father's control by getting 00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:33.159 his inheritance and leaving and rejecting his 00:36:33.159 --> 00:36:38.260 father and living however he wants, right? And 00:36:38.260 --> 00:36:42.119 then we have the older brother who stays and 00:36:42.119 --> 00:36:44.559 he works for his father and he does all the things 00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:46.739 that his father asked of him. And then when his 00:36:46.739 --> 00:36:49.360 brother comes back and what does the dad do, 00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:54.199 right? He meets him out. Gives him a ring, puts 00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:56.139 a coat on him, does all the things and brings 00:36:56.139 --> 00:36:57.880 him back into the fold and he weeps and he's 00:36:57.880 --> 00:37:01.500 like, you're back, I'm so happy, right? We're 00:37:01.500 --> 00:37:04.000 gonna kill a fattened calf, we're gonna have 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:07.579 a party, let's do this. What does the older son 00:37:07.579 --> 00:37:14.960 do? He gets angry. He's like, what are you doing? 00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:19.159 He stole from you, he left, he lived however 00:37:19.159 --> 00:37:21.559 he wanted. And you're going to welcome him back 00:37:21.559 --> 00:37:23.539 into this family, not only welcome him back in, 00:37:23.659 --> 00:37:25.320 but you're going to give him more inheritance? 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:29.199 That inheritance is mine. What are you doing? 00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:33.099 I've stayed here. I've done everything you asked 00:37:33.099 --> 00:37:36.380 of me. And you're going to give him what's mine? 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:43.460 What does that sound like? That sounds like my 00:37:43.460 --> 00:37:50.599 prayer time. What do you mean? You're just gonna 00:37:50.599 --> 00:37:53.880 allow this murderer to come into the kingdom 00:37:53.880 --> 00:38:00.559 on his deathbed. I've served you my entire life. 00:38:01.179 --> 00:38:05.659 My family has done ministry for 20 years. Financially, 00:38:05.699 --> 00:38:09.840 we've been in poverty. I've done everything for 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:14.420 you. I've always said yes. You owe me. I don't 00:38:14.420 --> 00:38:25.139 owe you. Yeah, I've said that. Both ways are 00:38:25.139 --> 00:38:31.199 rebellious. Both ways are sinful. Flannery O 00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:35.059 'Connor, she's a Catholic woman who wrote some 00:38:35.059 --> 00:38:37.440 incredible thriller books, but they have like 00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:41.039 Christian themes to them. But Flannery O 'Connor 00:38:41.039 --> 00:38:46.280 says this, the way we avoid Jesus is to avoid 00:38:46.280 --> 00:38:52.119 sin. Catch that? The way we avoid Jesus is to 00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:57.260 avoid sin. What is she saying? What do you think 00:38:57.260 --> 00:39:05.360 she's trying to say? Yeah. You want to be able 00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:07.659 to control. If you didn't hear what my wife said, 00:39:07.860 --> 00:39:09.900 if you don't have to repent, you don't need Jesus. 00:39:10.260 --> 00:39:13.880 And she's meaning that in a negative way. Right? 00:39:13.900 --> 00:39:18.199 We know we can't get to heaven through works. 00:39:18.719 --> 00:39:21.239 So what but what we do is we lie to ourselves 00:39:21.239 --> 00:39:23.420 and go I'm gonna live this moral life I'm gonna 00:39:23.420 --> 00:39:25.579 be very works based I'm gonna do all the things 00:39:25.579 --> 00:39:29.139 correctly and I'm gonna believe that God ultimately 00:39:29.139 --> 00:39:32.539 should be the one blessing me and I I am not 00:39:32.539 --> 00:39:35.079 beholden to him at all and he will never ask 00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:37.219 me to do anything that's Uncomfortable because 00:39:37.219 --> 00:39:39.119 I've done all the things and checked all the 00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:45.719 boxes Yeah, we don't want to feel convicted we 00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:47.840 also don't want God to ask us to do anything 00:39:48.539 --> 00:39:51.699 It's ultimately, if you're a football fan, it's 00:39:51.699 --> 00:39:55.639 the ultimate stiff arm to God. You stay over 00:39:55.639 --> 00:39:58.119 there, and when I need something, I'll let you 00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:02.840 know. And so what I put in here meaning, we truly 00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:05.559 believe that if we are good, religiously observant, 00:40:05.780 --> 00:40:10.119 and virtuous, then we have paid our dues. Now 00:40:10.119 --> 00:40:14.400 God can't ask anything. Matter of fact, He owes 00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:17.929 us. He's obligated to do our bidding. not the 00:40:17.929 --> 00:40:22.030 other way around. And so again, both are rebellious. 00:40:23.010 --> 00:40:25.909 Just one is more allowed in the church than the 00:40:25.909 --> 00:40:30.570 other. So we, like Jonah, want a God of our own 00:40:30.570 --> 00:40:34.409 making. We want Him to smite people we don't 00:40:34.409 --> 00:40:37.769 like, bless us continually, and require nothing 00:40:37.769 --> 00:40:41.610 of us. But this is not the God of the Bible. 00:40:43.070 --> 00:40:47.590 He is just, and He is merciful. And when He calls, 00:40:47.989 --> 00:40:50.050 we should answer, because He's worth it.