WEBVTT 00:00:04.429 --> 00:00:06.610 You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:06.610 --> 00:00:09.429 podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:09.429 --> 00:00:12.150 Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan 00:00:12.150 --> 00:00:14.210 Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message 00:00:14.210 --> 00:00:16.570 strengthens your faith and draws you closer to 00:00:16.570 --> 00:00:22.089 Christ. Let's dive in. Good morning. Good to 00:00:22.089 --> 00:00:28.190 see you all. Get myself situated here. There 00:00:28.190 --> 00:00:34.390 we go. Found the power button. All right. Well, 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:38.130 let's get rocking and rolling. I'm like really 00:00:38.130 --> 00:00:42.049 excited to preach this sermon as we continue 00:00:42.049 --> 00:00:46.649 through the book of Jonah. So if you would turn 00:00:46.649 --> 00:00:50.049 with me to Jonah chapter one, this is your first 00:00:50.049 --> 00:00:53.189 time here. Hello, my name is Pastor Logan. I 00:00:53.189 --> 00:00:55.310 get the awesome opportunity to shepherd this 00:00:55.310 --> 00:00:59.250 local congregation, these awesome people. And 00:00:59.250 --> 00:01:03.060 so it's quite a pleasure. As you guys are turning 00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:06.579 to the book of Jonah, just let you guys know, 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:09.260 we're gonna, so Jonah is actually divided into 00:01:09.260 --> 00:01:13.900 two different acts. And it just, in God's goodness 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:17.060 and sovereignty, he worked it out. I did not 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:21.819 do this. But we will actually end on act one. 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:25.519 And so we're gonna pause for a moment and then 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:28.659 next week we're gonna start Advent. And I have 00:01:28.659 --> 00:01:31.299 a sermon series I'm putting together called The 00:01:31.299 --> 00:01:34.900 Soul Felt Its Worth. And we're going to just 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:38.620 each week, we're gonna start with the fall. And 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:41.060 we're gonna look at shame and what shame does 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:44.379 to us. And then we will continue on from there. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.560 And then we will have a Christmas Eve service 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:51.280 about five o 'clock on Christmas Eve. And it 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:55.540 will just be a time of reflection and... time 00:01:55.540 --> 00:01:58.799 of lifting up Jesus and celebration before we 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.799 all go and celebrate together with our families. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.620 So if you get kind of thrown off next week when 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:06.400 you're like, why are we in Genesis and not in 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:08.460 Jonah? That's why, because we're gonna start 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:13.139 Advent. All right. Tell me what we've been learning 00:02:13.139 --> 00:02:15.479 thus far. For those who haven't been here, maybe 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:18.159 we'll catch them up. What do we know about Jonah 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.939 thus far? And don't let me down, all right? Don't 00:02:20.939 --> 00:02:22.599 let me down. Let me know you've been good students 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:29.819 taking notes. What do we know? He was running 00:02:29.819 --> 00:02:34.020 from God. Good deal. Who is, what is Jonah about? 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:36.500 Who is it? Who's the main focus of the book of 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:40.759 Jonah? God. Exactly. And people are like, well, 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.120 wait a second. His name is Jonah and we're focusing 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:45.560 on Jonah. Yes, but more importantly, it's about 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:50.219 God and God's feelings towards us, the lost, 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:56.969 right? Who is Jonah going to? Well, hello. I'm 00:02:56.969 --> 00:03:02.590 talking to Siri. Who's Jonah going to? Ninevites. 00:03:03.069 --> 00:03:06.710 Ninevites are his enemy, correct? All right. 00:03:07.169 --> 00:03:09.789 Anything else that stands out that we should 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:17.789 unpack quickly? Cannot hide from God, right. 00:03:18.090 --> 00:03:21.590 He does it anyway. He's like, yeah, no God, I'm 00:03:21.590 --> 00:03:23.610 not gonna do that. I'm actually gonna go the 00:03:23.610 --> 00:03:27.800 opposite direction, right? Which we the first 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:31.360 week we had a map and it was Tarsus right is 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:34.000 the farthest place for them It's literally the 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:39.139 end of the map, right? So good and so God kicks 00:03:39.139 --> 00:03:42.400 up this storm, right and so last week we talked 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:45.800 about identity because the sailors are like Who 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:48.719 are you? Where are you from? Who are your people 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.680 right? We talked about that and he starts out 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:53.919 Saying what cuz Jonah is what what is it? What 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:59.990 is his job? He's a prophet, right? And so does 00:03:59.990 --> 00:04:04.449 he start with I am a prophet of God I serve the 00:04:04.449 --> 00:04:06.930 most high God does he start there in his answers. 00:04:06.969 --> 00:04:10.250 No, he starts where what does he say? I'm a Hebrew 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:14.650 Meaning I am it's my nationality first before 00:04:14.650 --> 00:04:18.069 I am a believer in God Which is important because 00:04:18.069 --> 00:04:21.089 again that points back to the Ninevites and how 00:04:21.089 --> 00:04:25.009 he feels about pagans and so We talked about 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:27.550 identity. Well, now this week, the reason why 00:04:27.550 --> 00:04:30.129 I'm really excited about this is you guys should 00:04:30.129 --> 00:04:31.670 know by now, because you've heard me say it a 00:04:31.670 --> 00:04:34.370 thousand times, in the Old Testament, all of 00:04:34.370 --> 00:04:36.370 the Old Testament is what? What is it doing? 00:04:38.069 --> 00:04:40.709 It's points to Christ, right? It's a foreshadowing, 00:04:40.829 --> 00:04:43.069 all of it. And you should be feeling, as you 00:04:43.069 --> 00:04:45.589 read the Old Testament, you're feeling this buildup, 00:04:45.829 --> 00:04:49.209 this natural climax in the story so that when 00:04:49.209 --> 00:04:51.350 we get to the New Testament, when we get to the 00:04:51.350 --> 00:04:54.649 arrival of Jesus, It feels like a big exhale. 00:04:55.430 --> 00:04:59.430 He's here, the Savior, the one who's been promised 00:04:59.430 --> 00:05:04.089 from such a long time ago. And so Jonah, this 00:05:04.089 --> 00:05:07.850 is the part where we see Jonah as the Christ 00:05:07.850 --> 00:05:11.589 figure or the one who is the representative of 00:05:11.589 --> 00:05:14.509 Christ. But Jesus says, and this is a quote, 00:05:15.689 --> 00:05:19.670 he says, I am the true Jonah, all right? I am 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:22.480 greater than Jonah. And he's referring to himself 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:26.220 that he is the true Jonah. And here's how the 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:29.819 title of my sermon is, The Better Jonah, Christ 00:05:29.819 --> 00:05:34.300 Our Substitute. So let's go ahead and dive in, 00:05:34.420 --> 00:05:42.519 verse 11, chapter one. So they said to him, what 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:44.879 should we do to you so that the sea will calm 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.560 down for us? For the sea was getting worse and 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:52.720 worse. He answered them, Pick me up and throw 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:55.259 me into the sea so that it will calm down for 00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:58.300 you. For I know that I am to blame for this great 00:05:58.300 --> 00:06:00.779 storm that is against you." Now remember last 00:06:00.779 --> 00:06:03.980 week, he wasn't going to say anything, right? 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:07.360 He was willing to go down with the ship. The 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:10.620 ship is literally falling apart and he's like, 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:12.839 they're all going, what is going on? This is 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:16.019 the most insane storm ever. And he's just like, 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:17.980 and they're like, does anybody have any idea? 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.220 Like, what, God, we've upset. Jonah's just sitting 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:27.420 there. So they begin to cast lots, right? And 00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:30.740 by casting lots, they're physically, it's pointed 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:34.980 to Jonah. You're the problem, right? So that's 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:37.579 why they're questioning him, right? And so he 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:42.100 says, the sea will calm down. And so then he 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:45.199 goes forward in verse 13, nevertheless, the men 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:49.360 rode hard to get back to dry land. But they couldn't 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.680 because the sea was raging against them more 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:55.220 and more. I want you, if you're taking notes, 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:58.680 you have your Bible. I want you to underline 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:00.699 that. I want you to highlight that verse because 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:02.199 we're going to come back to that. That's a key 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:05.680 point in this passage. Hopefully you do have 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.899 the scriptures in front of you. It's important 00:07:07.899 --> 00:07:11.759 that you see these things. So they called out 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:16.680 to the Lord. Remember, are these pagans? Yeah. 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:20.000 So they call out to the Lord by the way, is that 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.180 a capital L? Yes, so what does that mean in Hebrew? 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:27.980 What did they actually say? Do you guys know? 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:34.220 He said Yahweh His actual name not God So this 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:36.660 is important real fast if you're gonna take notes 00:07:36.660 --> 00:07:41.740 many times throughout scripture Especially in 00:07:41.740 --> 00:07:44.480 the Old Testament. You will see the word God 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:47.740 now Here's what you need to know, because many 00:07:47.740 --> 00:07:50.180 people will go, well, yeah, the Hebrew word for 00:07:50.180 --> 00:07:55.740 God is Elohim. Yes and no. So what I mean by 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:59.420 that is this. The Hebrew word Elohim just means 00:07:59.420 --> 00:08:03.100 spiritual figure. Technically, when you and I 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:05.040 die, from a Hebrew perspective, when you and 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:08.720 I die, we have a soul. And when we die, we become 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:14.060 Elohim. No, we are not God, but we are a spiritual 00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:19.180 figure. And so it's important that when you see 00:08:19.180 --> 00:08:23.759 Lord capitalized, that is them saying His name 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:27.220 and speaking forth the actual God. They're not 00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:33.519 just using God, Elohim, as this kind of umbrella 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:39.299 term. So when you see pagans calling Him out 00:08:39.299 --> 00:08:42.659 by name, this is important. And so they say, 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:46.370 Verse 14, so they called out to the Lord, please 00:08:46.370 --> 00:08:50.669 Lord Yahweh, don't let us perish because of this 00:08:50.669 --> 00:08:53.210 man's life and don't charge us with the innocent 00:08:53.210 --> 00:08:57.149 blood. For you Lord Yahweh have done just as 00:08:57.149 --> 00:09:00.809 you pleased. Then they picked up Jonah and threw 00:09:00.809 --> 00:09:03.990 him into the sea and the sea stopped its raging. 00:09:04.950 --> 00:09:08.309 And the men were seized by great fear of the 00:09:08.309 --> 00:09:12.429 Lord. And they offered a sacrifice to the Lord. 00:09:14.340 --> 00:09:19.100 made vows anyone ever heard of a foxhole conversion 00:09:19.100 --> 00:09:24.460 that's what this is a foxhole conversion the 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:27.360 Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:30.159 and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:33.919 days and three nights now before I start diving 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:38.000 in I want you to tell me what you see in this 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:44.309 text what do you see where do you see If you 00:09:44.309 --> 00:09:47.850 know that I'm saying this is the part where Jonah 00:09:47.850 --> 00:09:54.950 is the Christ figure, where do you see it? He 00:09:54.950 --> 00:09:57.529 was willing to die? He wasn't willing to die, 00:09:57.690 --> 00:10:02.490 right? But he gets thrown over, right? Good. 00:10:02.909 --> 00:10:04.629 What else? What else do you see where you see 00:10:04.629 --> 00:10:10.809 that there's a Christ likeness? Three days in 00:10:10.809 --> 00:10:13.889 the fish. By the way, There are many people that 00:10:13.889 --> 00:10:15.529 are like, this story could have never happened. 00:10:15.629 --> 00:10:17.570 A whale could not swallow a man. Well, first 00:10:17.570 --> 00:10:23.970 off, go to SeaWorld and visit Shamu. They can, 00:10:24.269 --> 00:10:28.629 all right? Could a man survive that? Meh, if 00:10:28.629 --> 00:10:30.750 God wanted him to, but probably not. Sorry, I 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:32.789 keep messing with this. This is driving me crazy 00:10:32.789 --> 00:10:38.730 for some reason today. But I tend to think that 00:10:38.730 --> 00:10:41.669 it wasn't necessarily a whale. But I think that 00:10:41.669 --> 00:10:43.889 God, because if you read in Job, there's this 00:10:43.889 --> 00:10:49.149 thing called Leviathan. Leviathan is legitimately 00:10:49.149 --> 00:10:54.549 a sea monster. And God says in there, only he 00:10:54.549 --> 00:10:56.950 can be the one to control Leviathan, which by 00:10:56.950 --> 00:10:59.549 the way, Leviathan in Hebrew means chaos, and 00:10:59.549 --> 00:11:02.409 only God can do it. And so he says to Job, he's 00:11:02.409 --> 00:11:05.450 like, I'm the only one that can control the chaos, 00:11:05.690 --> 00:11:09.409 which I think is a great look at when we talk 00:11:09.409 --> 00:11:12.039 about Jonah. But I truly think that something 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:14.659 like Leviathan, this sea monster that only God 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:18.200 can control, it says that God appointed a great 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:21.720 fish. And so if only God can control Leviathan, 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:24.779 I think that God ultimately sent Leviathan because 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:27.879 we know he lives in the water. So I think that 00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:30.980 there's a sea monster that ultimately swallowed 00:11:30.980 --> 00:11:33.759 him up and is used by God because God controls 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:39.620 him. So that being said, here's my big idea. 00:11:40.470 --> 00:11:43.389 Jesus is the better Jonah who laid down his life 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:46.350 for us, demonstrating the ultimate act of love 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:48.789 and substitution that brings us peace in our 00:11:48.789 --> 00:11:51.169 storms of life. So that's ultimately where we're 00:11:51.169 --> 00:11:53.570 gonna drive home. Let's go to the first point. 00:11:54.509 --> 00:11:58.990 You ready Micah? First point, yep. Jonah's reluctant 00:11:58.990 --> 00:12:03.509 admission. And so when I say Jonah's reluctant 00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:07.330 admission, whenever we sin, whenever we do something 00:12:07.330 --> 00:12:14.250 wrong, What is our first tendency? What's that? 00:12:14.769 --> 00:12:17.909 We try to hide it, right? Where do we see that 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:24.830 take place? In the scriptures. We see it with 00:12:24.830 --> 00:12:29.710 David. Who else? Adam and Eve, which we're going 00:12:29.710 --> 00:12:34.649 to unpack all of that next week. They hide, right? 00:12:35.090 --> 00:12:38.139 They sin. What happens in the Adam and Eve narrative? 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:39.820 And I don't wanna get too much into it because 00:12:39.820 --> 00:12:41.299 we're gonna unpack it next week, but what happens 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:45.759 in the Adam and Eve narrative? It starts with 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:49.700 a lie, right? They buy into the lie, then they 00:12:49.700 --> 00:12:54.019 begin to, they sin, then what happens? God comes, 00:12:54.179 --> 00:12:59.820 right? And they begin to do what? It's like that 00:12:59.820 --> 00:13:02.600 blame each other, right? It's like that Spider 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:04.220 -Man meme, right? Where they're both like, eh, 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:11.159 eh, eh, eh. So Eve, by the way, I don't want 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:14.820 to get into this, but God looks to Adam, which 00:13:14.820 --> 00:13:18.100 we're going to talk about next week. Adam says 00:13:18.100 --> 00:13:26.700 two things. He says, it was who? The woman you 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:30.539 gave me, God. Right? I mean, it's ultimately 00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:34.840 your fault, God. Right? But it was also her. 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:38.259 And he was like, wasn't me, it was the talking 00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:44.820 snake, right? So they start to blame shift. And 00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:47.980 so like Adam and Eve, by the way, Jonah, sounds 00:13:47.980 --> 00:13:52.120 kind of like Jonah, right? This wouldn't be happening 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:56.480 if God wouldn't have made me go, you know? And 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:58.320 so he has this reluctant admission. Like Adam 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:00.600 and Eve in the garden, Jonah shows us the human 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.629 instinct to hide. to shift blame or to avoid 00:14:03.629 --> 00:14:07.389 admitting our part in sin. We are quick to cover 00:14:07.389 --> 00:14:11.070 ourselves, whether with excuses, with pride or 00:14:11.070 --> 00:14:16.830 shame, because we fear being exposed. Right? 00:14:17.669 --> 00:14:20.870 There is nothing worse than whenever you try 00:14:20.870 --> 00:14:27.309 to hide your sin and it gets exposed. So, but 00:14:27.309 --> 00:14:29.970 Jonah's story gives us a surprising moment. He 00:14:29.970 --> 00:14:32.730 finally admits his guilt, right, and he offers 00:14:32.730 --> 00:14:35.509 himself to be thrown into the sea so that others 00:14:35.509 --> 00:14:38.029 might be saved. We are quick to want to go, oh 00:14:38.029 --> 00:14:41.789 wow, look at Jonah, like he's willing to go overboard 00:14:41.789 --> 00:14:44.330 into the raging sea in order to save the pagan 00:14:44.330 --> 00:14:48.330 sailors. Kinda, but it was very reluctantly. 00:14:49.409 --> 00:14:52.990 Yeah, like. We can easily go, wow, look at you, 00:14:53.110 --> 00:14:54.590 Jonah. But guess what? They wouldn't have been 00:14:54.590 --> 00:14:58.009 in the boat with a raging sea if it hadn't been 00:14:58.009 --> 00:15:01.190 for his disobedience, right? So it was the least 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:07.309 he could do. You know what I'm saying? But the 00:15:07.309 --> 00:15:08.549 pagans, as we're going to talk about in just 00:15:08.549 --> 00:15:11.090 a second, they're actually pretty good dudes 00:15:11.090 --> 00:15:14.210 because he says, throw me overboard. And they're 00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:20.299 like, row harder, right? But what I find funny, 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:22.200 have you guys ever seen Veggie Tales whenever 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:25.000 they've done the Jonah and the Whale one? The 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.559 pirates don't do anything? I laugh every single 00:15:29.559 --> 00:15:34.399 time in that movie whenever they put the rubber 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:38.240 ducky around Jonah and they throw him in and 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.919 as soon as he lands, it goes from storming to 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:43.200 all of a sudden, and they're all just staring 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:44.820 at Jonah and Jonah's just sitting there floating. 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:48.529 Like that is so funny. That is so stinking funny. 00:15:48.789 --> 00:15:52.129 And I'm like, the text says that's what happened, 00:15:52.610 --> 00:15:57.649 right? It says that the storm is raging, and 00:15:57.649 --> 00:16:00.730 when he's thrown overboard, boom, stillness. 00:16:01.450 --> 00:16:02.889 And they're just all like, look at each other 00:16:02.889 --> 00:16:06.769 like, did that really happen? Jonah's like, told 00:16:06.769 --> 00:16:12.269 you. And so when Jonah admitted guilt because 00:16:12.269 --> 00:16:15.909 he had no other choice, right? Jonah admitted 00:16:15.909 --> 00:16:19.330 guilt when he had no other choice. Why? Because 00:16:19.330 --> 00:16:21.250 what happened? When they cast lots, it fell on 00:16:21.250 --> 00:16:24.230 him, right? So then he had to admit. Here's what 00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:26.350 I want you to take note of. Micah, put this up 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:33.929 here. I want you to write this down. Huh? Oh, 00:16:34.230 --> 00:16:39.070 dang. All right. Cool. Awesome. So Jesus, where 00:16:39.070 --> 00:16:42.669 Jonah had no other choice, Jesus willingly stepped 00:16:42.669 --> 00:16:46.750 forward. Where Jonah offered himself reluctantly, 00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:52.149 Christ offered himself gladly. Where Jonah was 00:16:52.149 --> 00:16:55.730 cast into the sea for his own sin, Jesus was 00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:59.809 lifted on the cross for hours. Think about that 00:16:59.809 --> 00:17:04.750 for just a moment. The sin we so want to cover 00:17:04.750 --> 00:17:08.670 up, the sin we hope that no one ever finds out, 00:17:09.509 --> 00:17:15.420 the sin you so long to hide, Jesus, the perfect 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:19.759 one, willingly went on a cross and bore that, 00:17:20.259 --> 00:17:26.240 openly mocked, spit upon, that sin that you're 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:32.519 hiding. So he openly bore our sin, the guilt 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:36.140 we attempt to hide he took upon himself, unhidden, 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:42.450 unprotected, sacrificially. We have this instinct 00:17:42.450 --> 00:17:47.250 to hide and blame, and we see it in ourselves. 00:17:48.549 --> 00:17:50.369 But let me give you a modern example of this, 00:17:50.490 --> 00:17:53.750 okay? Let me give you a modern example of a scapegoat 00:17:53.750 --> 00:17:56.029 and someone trying to hide their sin and someone 00:17:56.029 --> 00:18:00.029 who became the fall guy. You guys are pretty 00:18:00.029 --> 00:18:03.950 knowledgeable, I'm sure, with this story. Ever 00:18:03.950 --> 00:18:07.680 heard of this thing called Watergate? Pretty 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:12.079 pretty low -key story in the news back then What 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:13.819 happened with Watergate? What was the scandal? 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:16.180 You don't have to give me like what happened, 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:20.119 but what ultimately? Did Richard Nixon did he 00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:24.799 go to prison? No He was desperate to protect 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:28.859 himself And so when someone had to take the blame 00:18:28.859 --> 00:18:32.160 there was a man by the name of Charles Coulson 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:38.450 His loyal counsel He became his fall guy. And 00:18:38.450 --> 00:18:41.230 Coulson went to prison carrying a shame that 00:18:41.230 --> 00:18:46.569 wasn't fully his. But in prison, God broke Coulson 00:18:46.569 --> 00:18:48.670 and Coulson later said, this is a quote from 00:18:48.670 --> 00:18:50.930 him, the great paradox of my life is that going 00:18:50.930 --> 00:18:53.210 to prison was the best thing that ever happened 00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:56.789 to me. Why? Because he finally stopped hiding. 00:18:56.869 --> 00:18:59.410 He finally admitted his sin and he finally met 00:18:59.410 --> 00:19:03.130 the grace of Jesus. If you've never, by the way, 00:19:03.130 --> 00:19:08.000 read any of Coulson's books, They're good. Noah 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:09.559 will tell you they're one of some of the most 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:11.539 boring things he ever had to read in school. 00:19:12.339 --> 00:19:15.880 Am I right? Am I right, Noah? No, it's fine. 00:19:17.539 --> 00:19:20.920 But Nixon hid, just like Adam hid, just like 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:24.700 Jonah hid. But salvation comes when we stop hiding. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:31.200 Amen. Here's the thing. When Adam and Eve hid, 00:19:31.859 --> 00:19:37.230 who pursued? God. When Jonah hid who pursued? 00:19:38.349 --> 00:19:43.349 God And unlike Nixon and unlike us Jesus doesn't 00:19:43.349 --> 00:19:47.710 make someone else take the fall He becomes the 00:19:47.710 --> 00:19:51.589 fall guy for our sins That aren't his and he 00:19:51.589 --> 00:19:55.029 does it willingly That by the way, if you haven't 00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:58.690 caught on is the beauty of Jesus That's if you're 00:19:58.690 --> 00:20:01.269 already starting to see what I'm trying to untangle 00:20:01.269 --> 00:20:05.920 for you. That's why he's a better Jonah Jesus 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:09.640 went, if you look at our verse of the week, if 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:12.339 you read a little bit before that, it says that 00:20:12.339 --> 00:20:15.980 while we were still enemies of His, Christ died. 00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:21.799 The Ninevites are enemies of His. Do you see 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:25.539 it? Are you seeing it? When we acknowledge our 00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:29.740 sin, we are not crushed, we are carried. I want 00:20:29.740 --> 00:20:39.079 you to think about that. Your sin should crush 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:43.200 you, but it doesn't because it was crushed. Jesus 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:49.140 was crushed and he carries you. Honest confession 00:20:49.140 --> 00:20:52.680 doesn't drive us away from God. It drives us 00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:56.000 to the one who already bore everything we're 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.140 afraid to admit. Jonah's reluctant admission 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:02.200 points us toward the grace of Christ. The freedom 00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:07.549 begins The greater Jonah who offers himself for 00:21:07.549 --> 00:21:09.910 the ultimate rescue. Our freedom begins when 00:21:09.910 --> 00:21:12.730 we stop hiding and trust the one who has already 00:21:12.730 --> 00:21:15.410 stepped into the storm for us. What does the 00:21:15.410 --> 00:21:21.029 storm represent? If we have a storm and we have 00:21:21.029 --> 00:21:24.029 Jonah, if Jesus is the better Jonah, what does 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:30.569 the storm represent? What does it represent? 00:21:31.009 --> 00:21:37.829 What was raging against us? Okay, sin, but we 00:21:37.829 --> 00:21:43.950 willingly sin. So what rages against sin? God's 00:21:43.950 --> 00:21:49.509 wrath. So the storm is God's wrath, right? By 00:21:49.509 --> 00:21:53.630 the way, in case anyone is, might mistake this, 00:21:54.109 --> 00:21:57.049 I don't believe that Jonah is an allegorical 00:21:57.049 --> 00:21:59.569 only. Like I believe fully that this literally 00:21:59.569 --> 00:22:04.859 happened. I believe fully and literally that 00:22:04.859 --> 00:22:09.059 this man refused to go to Nineveh and was swallowed 00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:13.940 by a massive, massive monster. Let's look at 00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:20.140 point number two. Sailors struggle and surrender. 00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:24.829 So when we look at Jonah verses 13 and 14, If 00:22:24.829 --> 00:22:26.250 you'll go there with me real quick. Nevertheless, 00:22:26.430 --> 00:22:29.710 the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but 00:22:29.710 --> 00:22:31.910 they couldn't because the sea was raging against 00:22:31.910 --> 00:22:36.670 them more and more. The pagan sailors in Jonah 00:22:36.670 --> 00:22:40.569 1 behave exactly the way we so often do when 00:22:40.569 --> 00:22:44.069 sin becomes exposed. What do I mean by that? 00:22:45.190 --> 00:22:47.910 What does that represent? If they're rowing harder, 00:22:48.730 --> 00:22:52.029 Jonah told them what to do, and they're like, 00:22:52.069 --> 00:22:55.220 can't do that. So that they take they try to 00:22:55.220 --> 00:22:57.539 take it into their own hands, right? So what 00:22:57.539 --> 00:23:06.220 does that represent? Works Represents works The 00:23:06.220 --> 00:23:08.880 storm is raging the she the ship is breaking 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:11.319 apart and instead of looking to God the sailors 00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:15.440 grab the oars They do everything and their human 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:19.119 effort can do They lighten the ship They cry 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:21.960 out to false gods. How many times do we hide 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:25.779 and do we go? When God is trying to convict us 00:23:25.779 --> 00:23:28.220 of sin, how many of us cry out to false gods? 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:30.160 What do I mean by that? You immediately start 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.380 looking to other things to try to take this anxiety 00:23:33.380 --> 00:23:36.140 and shame away. Whether it's distracting yourself 00:23:36.140 --> 00:23:38.519 on social media, whether it's watching a movie, 00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:41.740 whether it's diving in harder into work or trying 00:23:41.740 --> 00:23:44.880 to get more money, whatever it is, we start crying 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:50.799 out to false gods. And finally, they row with 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.279 everything they have trying to out -muscle a 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:57.920 storm that only God can calm. This is us. When 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:01.059 the storm of sin hits our lives, our first instinct 00:24:01.059 --> 00:24:06.720 is not repentance, it's self -rescue. We start 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:13.400 plugging holes, right? We row harder. We try 00:24:13.400 --> 00:24:17.549 to manage consequences. Clean ourselves up fix 00:24:17.549 --> 00:24:20.049 the situation or pretend it isn't as bad as it 00:24:20.049 --> 00:24:25.970 is we lie to ourselves, right? And guess what 00:24:25.970 --> 00:24:33.670 we do this for others, too We will lie and Try 00:24:33.670 --> 00:24:37.349 to protect others who God is so desperately trying 00:24:37.349 --> 00:24:42.329 to get their attention we get in the way Instead 00:24:42.329 --> 00:24:46.500 of trying to call them to repentance We make 00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:51.799 excuses. You want to know where you see it most? 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:59.059 Parents with their kids. When your kid, typically 00:24:59.059 --> 00:25:03.460 adult kid, but teenage kids, when they mess up, 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:06.380 when they sin, how many times... I've heard this 00:25:06.380 --> 00:25:09.819 so many times in youth ministry. It's just boys 00:25:09.819 --> 00:25:14.160 being boys. Teenagers supposed to mess up. It's 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:20.839 what we do. Teenagers make mistakes. Yeah, they 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:23.920 do. And sometimes when God is trying to get their 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:26.279 attention and call them to repentance, you hide 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:30.819 it. You make excuses. You get in the way of God 00:25:30.819 --> 00:25:34.240 doing the work of a good God. And you become 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:38.559 a parent who's also now in sin. And so we make 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:43.039 excuses. We row harder. But sometimes that instinct 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:44.940 can become dangerous. I'm going to tell you guys 00:25:44.940 --> 00:25:48.160 a quick story. I'm going to tell you this story. 00:25:48.259 --> 00:25:50.500 I'm not going to share names or where I was at 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:52.400 or anything like that, but just know I was on 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:56.000 staff at a church. And I want to share this in 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:58.059 a way just in case there's somebody in the room 00:25:58.059 --> 00:26:02.180 that has experienced the sin of somebody else. 00:26:03.859 --> 00:26:05.700 Let me just, I'm going to try to do this with 00:26:05.700 --> 00:26:07.720 a lot of grace and compassion, because I don't 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:11.240 want it to be a trigger for someone. But in a 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:13.339 former church that I had served in, there was 00:26:13.339 --> 00:26:15.599 a situation involving a young boy that we had. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:20.140 And when I came on staff at this church, no one 00:26:20.140 --> 00:26:24.859 told me about this young man's past, not a single 00:26:24.859 --> 00:26:28.539 person. And everyone else was very well aware 00:26:28.539 --> 00:26:33.059 of it. Their parents ran a large ministry in 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:35.819 the town as an outreach to the middle schools 00:26:35.819 --> 00:26:40.619 and high schools there in that town. And they 00:26:40.619 --> 00:26:43.640 were very well known. Well, everyone had just 00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:49.920 covered up this boy's abuse of other children 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:58.299 in a very perverted way. And so when he was brought 00:26:58.299 --> 00:27:02.880 to justice the first time, it was all thrown 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.000 under, you know, hidden because he was so young. 00:27:07.220 --> 00:27:10.380 And so what ends up happening is all the adults 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:13.440 lied, all the adults covered up and allowed him 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:17.940 to make excuses for his sin. It was, he's just 00:27:17.940 --> 00:27:25.000 a kid. So, but eventually as he got older, we 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:31.960 left and this young boy ended up taking advantage 00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:36.640 of two underage girls in a very forceful way. 00:27:36.819 --> 00:27:40.059 And once again, the parents tried to cover it 00:27:40.059 --> 00:27:47.769 up. They lied. The churches lied. and they allowed 00:27:47.769 --> 00:27:51.349 him to, if the first time, if the parents hadn't 00:27:51.349 --> 00:27:54.049 and the church hadn't tried to cover it up, but 00:27:54.049 --> 00:27:56.670 allowed him for the law to do what it's supposed 00:27:56.670 --> 00:28:04.309 to do, he would have already been known. He would 00:28:04.309 --> 00:28:06.410 have already been called to repentance, but instead 00:28:06.410 --> 00:28:09.210 we cover it up, we hide it, we make excuses, 00:28:09.349 --> 00:28:12.269 and we say it's just a boy being a boy. It's 00:28:12.269 --> 00:28:15.589 just a boy being a young man who's learning, 00:28:16.089 --> 00:28:19.369 and then because of that, you now have more victims. 00:28:20.869 --> 00:28:23.930 Do you see how your sin of covering up affects 00:28:23.930 --> 00:28:31.210 other people? Those parents, because I spoke 00:28:31.210 --> 00:28:37.730 out against what happened, because I was also 00:28:37.730 --> 00:28:40.839 being... called out as a minister who tried to 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:42.880 cover things up when I legitimately had no idea 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:45.920 about anything. So when I spoke out against it, 00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:49.839 those parents wrote me off, told me that I was 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:54.259 a jerk and blah, blah, blah. They still run a 00:28:54.259 --> 00:28:58.140 ministry in town to this day. But thanks be to 00:28:58.140 --> 00:29:02.400 the Lord, that young man, because I was just 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:07.319 curious, was ultimately convicted in 2023. But 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.720 we cannot row harder for somebody else, especially 00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:13.839 if we are parents, especially if we are leaders, 00:29:13.980 --> 00:29:17.059 if we are teachers, pastors, ministers. In any 00:29:17.059 --> 00:29:19.460 way, if we are a leader knowing that God is dealing 00:29:19.460 --> 00:29:22.960 with someone's sin, you cannot just try to row 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:27.079 harder and try to cover it up. Let it come out. 00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:37.349 Make sense? All right. As Christians, we, Micah, 00:29:37.349 --> 00:29:43.329 you can put this one up. As Christians, we are 00:29:43.329 --> 00:29:46.769 especially good at rowing religiously. What do 00:29:46.769 --> 00:29:50.250 I mean by that? When God is trying to bring us 00:29:50.250 --> 00:29:53.509 to repentance, we don't row with oars, we row 00:29:53.509 --> 00:29:56.549 with good deeds. We row with volunteer hours. 00:29:56.630 --> 00:29:59.450 We row with Christian vocabulary. We row with 00:29:59.450 --> 00:30:01.990 church attendance and service and outward obedience. 00:30:02.620 --> 00:30:05.640 hoping that these spiritual emotions will calm 00:30:05.640 --> 00:30:10.440 the inward storm. We can hide behind religiosity, 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:14.140 a fake law abiding pride that says, I can fix 00:30:14.140 --> 00:30:17.299 this if I just do more, if I act better, if I 00:30:17.299 --> 00:30:19.940 impress people enough, if I look holy on the 00:30:19.940 --> 00:30:22.740 outside, maybe the storm won't crash into the 00:30:22.740 --> 00:30:28.220 inside. It's just another form of self -salvation, 00:30:28.839 --> 00:30:31.019 another version of the sailors rowing harder. 00:30:33.019 --> 00:30:35.700 Brothers and sisters, I wanna tell you like that, 00:30:35.700 --> 00:30:45.099 that only is exhausting. I heard a pastor say 00:30:45.099 --> 00:30:52.640 one time, when we become works based, when we 00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:55.400 begin to think that in our sin, instead of going 00:30:55.400 --> 00:30:58.720 to repentance, the thing where it's already been 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:00.779 done for you and you automatically start going 00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:04.369 into a works based, mindset of trying to cover 00:31:04.369 --> 00:31:07.170 things up and trying to work your way to God. 00:31:08.630 --> 00:31:11.450 He said, congratulations, either you're a Muslim 00:31:11.450 --> 00:31:15.430 or you belong to a cult, because that's not Jesus. 00:31:16.190 --> 00:31:19.829 That's not Christianity. And that's a good point. 00:31:20.910 --> 00:31:28.490 You cannot be good enough. It's beautiful. It's 00:31:28.490 --> 00:31:31.869 wonderful news to know that all I have to do 00:31:31.900 --> 00:31:35.779 It's come to Jesus and say, forgive me, and he 00:31:35.779 --> 00:31:38.519 says it's done, as opposed to you going, I've 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:43.839 got to do. You cannot row your way out of a storm 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:46.380 that God sent to break you of self -reliance. 00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:50.440 All the efforts, religious, physical, moral, 00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:54.819 it all fails. And in this moment, the only path 00:31:54.819 --> 00:31:58.160 forward is surrender. And so just like the sailors 00:31:58.160 --> 00:31:59.880 have to do the very thing that they don't want 00:31:59.880 --> 00:32:02.960 to do, they stop trying to fix the problems themselves, 00:32:03.319 --> 00:32:06.240 they stop protecting Jonah, they stop rowing, 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:09.440 and they obey the hard command of God. They have 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:12.640 to cast Jonah into the sea, a sea that's raging. 00:32:13.619 --> 00:32:15.559 And when they finally stop striving and surrender 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:21.200 to God's way, what happens? It's instantly calm. 00:32:21.619 --> 00:32:24.799 It's funny how that happens, right? Point number 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:33.019 three. The storm is silenced by sacrifice. The 00:32:33.019 --> 00:32:37.099 storm is silenced by sacrifice. The storm in 00:32:37.099 --> 00:32:41.420 Jonah isn't mild. The text says that it's raging. 00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:45.039 It's tearing apart the ship. It's violent. It's 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:48.240 relentless. And the storm gives us a picture 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:52.420 of something far older and far deeper. The storm 00:32:52.420 --> 00:32:56.650 unleashed when sin entered the world. When Adam 00:32:56.650 --> 00:33:00.109 and Eve rebelled, the wrath of God, his holy 00:33:00.109 --> 00:33:03.130 just opposition to sin began to rage against 00:33:03.130 --> 00:33:05.230 humanity. I want you to think about something 00:33:05.230 --> 00:33:11.190 for just a moment. I want you to imagine, this 00:33:11.190 --> 00:33:14.690 is so difficult, but we know in our minds, but 00:33:14.690 --> 00:33:17.869 it's like we don't really reflect on it. I want 00:33:17.869 --> 00:33:20.490 you to think about what it must have been like 00:33:20.490 --> 00:33:28.299 before sin entered the world. Think about the 00:33:28.299 --> 00:33:37.079 fact that there was just work. It was good. Adam 00:33:37.079 --> 00:33:42.779 wasn't sore. Right? There's no sweating. It was 00:33:42.779 --> 00:33:48.680 just cultivation. Him and Eve getting along, 00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:52.700 man. Adam does the dishes without being asked. 00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:58.730 Right? If you're a dog person, like I am, there 00:33:58.730 --> 00:34:00.769 was no dogs being afraid of you, right Scott, 00:34:00.789 --> 00:34:03.589 like my dog? You're like, I'm a dog person. She's 00:34:03.589 --> 00:34:06.309 like, no, you're not. You're not a part of my 00:34:06.309 --> 00:34:09.550 family. Any animal just coming right up to Adam, 00:34:09.690 --> 00:34:14.150 right? But it's hard to imagine a world where 00:34:14.150 --> 00:34:15.949 there is no sin. There's no brokenness. There's 00:34:15.949 --> 00:34:19.469 no hurt. Like it's so difficult to imagine. No 00:34:19.469 --> 00:34:25.610 death. And there's just this peace. this rhythm 00:34:25.610 --> 00:34:30.429 that's like breathing between them and the Father 00:34:30.429 --> 00:34:35.989 It's not hard to connect with him because he's 00:34:35.989 --> 00:34:41.489 there We're holy and he's holy right then in 00:34:41.489 --> 00:34:44.809 one simple thing everything becomes broken and 00:34:44.809 --> 00:34:50.909 fractured and now everything everything all of 00:34:50.909 --> 00:34:56.590 all of life trees Everything is affected. Air, 00:34:57.510 --> 00:35:00.530 animals, they're now eating each other. Everything 00:35:00.530 --> 00:35:08.929 becomes inward focused, right? Because it's that, 00:35:09.469 --> 00:35:12.949 that sin, that inward focus, the brokenness that 00:35:12.949 --> 00:35:19.619 begins to rage, God begins to rage against. And 00:35:19.619 --> 00:35:22.039 so then as sin is unleashed on the world, when 00:35:22.039 --> 00:35:24.519 Adam and Eve rebel, the wrath of God becomes 00:35:24.519 --> 00:35:28.679 against humanity. And for generations, sacrifices 00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:31.960 of goats and bulls were commanded, not because 00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:34.820 they could fully satisfy God's wrath, but because 00:35:34.820 --> 00:35:40.760 they pointed forward to the one who would. Could 00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:45.559 the blood of goats and bulls truly satisfy? No, 00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:55.570 how do we know that? Because one, they had to 00:35:55.570 --> 00:35:59.570 continually do it, right? But Hebrews tells us, 00:36:00.630 --> 00:36:02.730 it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats 00:36:02.730 --> 00:36:06.849 to take away sin. The entire sacrificial system 00:36:06.849 --> 00:36:09.670 was God saying, one day a sacrifice will come 00:36:09.670 --> 00:36:12.510 that truly brings peace. And in Jonah's story, 00:36:12.690 --> 00:36:16.210 we get a glimpse, a shadow of that ultimate sacrifice. 00:36:16.550 --> 00:36:20.090 As Jonah is heaved over, the storm instantly 00:36:20.090 --> 00:36:24.309 stops. There's no tapering off. There's no gradual 00:36:24.309 --> 00:36:29.670 calm. It's immediate peace. A raging storm silenced 00:36:29.670 --> 00:36:33.170 by a single sacrifice. This moment is a picture 00:36:33.170 --> 00:36:36.510 of Christ. Jonah is thrown overboard because 00:36:36.510 --> 00:36:40.630 of his own sin. Christ is lifted up onto the 00:36:40.630 --> 00:36:46.539 cross because of ours. In Florida, We we have 00:36:46.539 --> 00:36:49.400 storms that I promise you that's it's the craziest 00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:53.260 thing if you've never experienced it You can 00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:56.019 set the Floridian will tell you you can set your 00:36:56.019 --> 00:37:02.480 watch to a Florida storm and I've been in many 00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:05.039 times be out at two o 'clock in the afternoon 00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:08.300 all of a sudden. It's bright. It's hot as always 00:37:09.389 --> 00:37:11.570 sunshine and then all of a sudden out of nowhere 00:37:11.570 --> 00:37:14.949 it's like this storm will just it's black it's 00:37:14.949 --> 00:37:17.949 disgustingly ominous it's kind of scary and all 00:37:17.949 --> 00:37:20.949 of a sudden palm trees are bending over you can't 00:37:20.949 --> 00:37:22.889 see two feet in front of your face the storm 00:37:22.889 --> 00:37:25.289 is just going all which way there's wind everywhere 00:37:25.289 --> 00:37:28.389 and it's just like it feels like a hurricane 00:37:28.389 --> 00:37:34.150 and as fast as it comes it'll stop and then all 00:37:34.150 --> 00:37:37.329 of a sudden the sun comes out birds start chirping 00:37:37.550 --> 00:37:39.929 And the only difference is now it's hotter because 00:37:39.929 --> 00:37:45.610 it's more humid. And so it's an interesting thing 00:37:45.610 --> 00:37:48.309 if you've never seen a Florida storm, where all 00:37:48.309 --> 00:37:51.090 of a sudden this thing is raging. And the window, 00:37:51.150 --> 00:37:53.289 if you're inside, it's just beating against a 00:37:53.289 --> 00:37:57.610 window. And you're like, man, should we find 00:37:57.610 --> 00:38:00.010 somewhere to hide? And all of a sudden, boom, 00:38:00.010 --> 00:38:03.949 it's gone. And if you're with a real Floridian 00:38:03.949 --> 00:38:08.650 like myself, You know, I've been valet in cars, 00:38:09.289 --> 00:38:11.750 and there'll be, you know, guys valet with me 00:38:11.750 --> 00:38:13.750 who aren't from Florida. And they'll be like, 00:38:14.070 --> 00:38:16.150 what do we do? I'm like, eh, just give it 10 00:38:16.150 --> 00:38:18.289 minutes. It'll be done. They're like, no way. 00:38:18.389 --> 00:38:22.429 And you look at it and it's done. And that's 00:38:22.429 --> 00:38:24.429 exactly what the storm is like. Jonah spins. 00:38:25.469 --> 00:38:30.170 He gets thrown in. Boom. It's over. Birds start 00:38:30.170 --> 00:38:34.170 chirping. Sun comes out. But Jonah spends three 00:38:34.170 --> 00:38:37.409 days in the depths. before God brings him out. 00:38:37.969 --> 00:38:40.269 Christ spends three days in the tomb before rising 00:38:40.269 --> 00:38:48.869 in victory. And just as the sea went, still the 00:38:48.869 --> 00:38:51.949 moment Jonah went under, the wrath of God was 00:38:51.949 --> 00:38:56.309 stilled. Okay, I should have totally like proofread 00:38:56.309 --> 00:38:59.090 this before I printed it. I don't even have any 00:38:59.090 --> 00:39:01.650 idea what I'm trying to say here. No more striving. 00:39:01.710 --> 00:39:03.869 How about that? No more trying to appease God. 00:39:03.969 --> 00:39:06.809 No more endless sacrifices. The storm ends because 00:39:06.809 --> 00:39:10.130 the sacrifice is perfect. Next time before you 00:39:10.130 --> 00:39:11.590 print this for me, babe, can you just look it 00:39:11.590 --> 00:39:20.670 over? My last point. The sailors convert. God 00:39:20.670 --> 00:39:28.269 draws people even through reluctance. Jonah does 00:39:28.269 --> 00:39:32.199 not want to go to Nineveh. But God isn't going 00:39:32.199 --> 00:39:37.380 to waste the storm. It's really, really remarkable 00:39:37.380 --> 00:39:40.800 that these pagan sailors who only moments earlier 00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:44.000 were crying out to false gods are now calling 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:48.260 on Yahweh, the covenant name of Israel's God. 00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:52.679 They offer sacrifices. They make vows. They convert. 00:39:55.099 --> 00:39:58.400 In Jonah's reluctance, God draws pagans to himself. 00:39:58.679 --> 00:40:01.880 In Jonah's disobedience, God displays his mercy 00:40:01.880 --> 00:40:08.340 to unexpected people. You guys remember when 00:40:08.340 --> 00:40:12.800 I told you guys the story a few weeks ago about 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:15.639 my buddy who worked with me who was reluctant 00:40:15.639 --> 00:40:19.000 to go on the missions trip to Mexico and how 00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:23.539 he literally saw miracles happen? And through 00:40:23.539 --> 00:40:27.920 those miracles, God not only showed mercy, to 00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:31.639 him and showed things to him, but people got 00:40:31.639 --> 00:40:37.679 saved. I mean, God uses all of it, all of it. 00:40:37.739 --> 00:40:40.980 Even when you are disobedient and completely 00:40:40.980 --> 00:40:42.980 reluctant to do what he's telling you to do, 00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:44.659 God's like, I'm not wasting this storm, buddy. 00:40:47.139 --> 00:40:51.219 God does not waste storms. He does not waste 00:40:51.219 --> 00:40:53.780 failures. He does not waste hurts. He doesn't 00:40:53.780 --> 00:40:57.119 waste sin patterns or reluctant profits. He can 00:40:57.119 --> 00:41:00.139 redeem your story and even use it to draw others 00:41:00.139 --> 00:41:03.820 to himself. This is why, brothers and sisters, 00:41:03.920 --> 00:41:10.320 your testimony matters. When I actually was writing 00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:13.360 this, I thought about, and I'm calling him out 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:18.440 again, but Bob Waldo, every time I'm with him, 00:41:18.480 --> 00:41:23.159 we'll talk about his story and how he will just 00:41:23.159 --> 00:41:25.730 share. his testimony anywhere and everywhere. 00:41:25.849 --> 00:41:30.030 And he has shared it at the rehabilitation centers 00:41:30.030 --> 00:41:32.349 in town. He has shared it with young people all 00:41:32.349 --> 00:41:35.590 over. He's been, if you talk to him, you know, 00:41:35.590 --> 00:41:37.849 he loves motorcycles. Him and Linda have been 00:41:37.849 --> 00:41:42.130 up and he's shared to South Dakota, what's the 00:41:42.130 --> 00:41:45.849 biking thing? Surges. He's told me stories of 00:41:45.849 --> 00:41:47.610 like walking up to Hell's Angels in the middle 00:41:47.610 --> 00:41:51.909 of them, like being them and just him being Bob 00:41:51.909 --> 00:41:59.179 and telling his story. God uses all of it. Our 00:41:59.179 --> 00:42:03.039 broken chapters, our storms, our moments of surrender, 00:42:03.159 --> 00:42:10.460 God uses it all. There is a, I tried to find 00:42:10.460 --> 00:42:11.800 it, couldn't find it, but I read a book years 00:42:11.800 --> 00:42:17.360 ago called Sticky Ministry, and in it, they did 00:42:17.360 --> 00:42:21.980 a, they followed a generation of families, and 00:42:21.980 --> 00:42:27.380 in it, they noticed that the families, the moms 00:42:27.380 --> 00:42:30.519 and dads who shared their testimony with their 00:42:30.519 --> 00:42:34.559 kids, the grandparents who shared their testimony 00:42:34.559 --> 00:42:37.920 with their kids and their grandkids, if you don't 00:42:37.920 --> 00:42:43.760 know, 40 to 50 % of Christian kids raised in 00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:46.940 church when they go off to college will stay 00:42:46.940 --> 00:42:50.460 with it. The rest will lose their faith. So 40 00:42:50.460 --> 00:42:53.469 to 50%. But whenever you share your testimony, 00:42:53.710 --> 00:42:56.429 that goes up to 80 to 90 percent will stay with 00:42:56.429 --> 00:43:00.389 their faith and continue to raise their kids 00:43:00.389 --> 00:43:05.090 in the faith. That's just data telling you that 00:43:05.090 --> 00:43:07.349 your testimony matters. So if you've never shared 00:43:07.349 --> 00:43:10.570 your testimony, I don't care how broken and messed 00:43:10.570 --> 00:43:15.030 up it is. If you need to scrub that thing down 00:43:15.030 --> 00:43:17.309 a little bit so we don't have to get all the 00:43:17.309 --> 00:43:19.969 details of what grandma used to do. All right. 00:43:20.539 --> 00:43:24.239 But share your testimony with your kids and your 00:43:24.239 --> 00:43:25.920 grandkids if they've never heard it. If they 00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:28.400 have no idea how you came to Christ, you need 00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:33.159 to share it. And so your testimony absolutely 00:43:33.159 --> 00:43:36.900 matters. And here's a story that I found. It's 00:43:36.900 --> 00:43:43.699 called the second knitter. I just, I found it 00:43:43.699 --> 00:43:49.079 to be really gracious and kind. I don't know. 00:43:49.639 --> 00:43:51.539 So years ago, there was a woman, her name was 00:43:51.539 --> 00:43:54.139 Claire. She sat quietly at a church's women's 00:43:54.139 --> 00:43:57.480 event, listening to a speaker talk about God's 00:43:57.480 --> 00:44:00.900 faithfulness. The speaker shared about her long 00:44:00.900 --> 00:44:04.119 battle with infertility, how she had begged God 00:44:04.119 --> 00:44:08.000 for a child, how she felt forgotten, how every 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.820 baby shower felt like a funeral for her and her 00:44:10.820 --> 00:44:15.579 own dream. But she also shared how God met her 00:44:15.579 --> 00:44:19.079 in her loneliness, how he reshaped her longing. 00:44:19.469 --> 00:44:22.750 and how he eventually gave her peace and hope 00:44:22.750 --> 00:44:26.849 even before he answered her prayer. As the women 00:44:26.849 --> 00:44:29.909 were packing up, Claire hesitated and then she 00:44:29.909 --> 00:44:32.489 walked up to the speaker in tears and she whispered, 00:44:32.670 --> 00:44:36.869 I thought I was the only one. Then she said something 00:44:36.869 --> 00:44:39.989 that the speaker never forgot. Your story didn't 00:44:39.989 --> 00:44:43.090 fix my pain, but it told me that God is still 00:44:43.090 --> 00:44:46.170 knitting in the dark even when I can't see his 00:44:46.170 --> 00:44:51.110 hands. The speaker later said that in the moment, 00:44:51.409 --> 00:44:54.889 it hit her. God had not wasted her suffering, 00:44:55.769 --> 00:44:59.869 but her silence would have. You don't know what 00:44:59.869 --> 00:45:04.730 your testimony could do for someone. Claire ended 00:45:04.730 --> 00:45:07.949 up joining a small group. Later she gave her 00:45:07.949 --> 00:45:11.090 life to Christ. And today she has her own ministry 00:45:11.090 --> 00:45:13.969 to women walking through infertility. Not because 00:45:13.969 --> 00:45:16.869 she read a book, not because she took a class. 00:45:17.289 --> 00:45:21.190 because someone told their story. One person's 00:45:21.190 --> 00:45:25.789 testimony became another person's lifeline. So 00:45:25.789 --> 00:45:29.190 I want to encourage you to share your testimony. 00:45:47.260 --> 00:45:52.000 The storm is silenced. And this last note, Michael, 00:45:52.039 --> 00:45:55.619 will you put this up there? Should be one more. 00:45:56.460 --> 00:45:59.659 Oh, you've already got it. Okay. Trust the one 00:45:59.659 --> 00:46:03.679 who calms the waves, not by effort, but by offering 00:46:03.679 --> 00:46:05.340 himself. Let's pray.