1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Now, one of the things I wanted to talk a little bit about is the idea that repentance and belief, they're not two separate things. 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:16,000 Repentance is only able to happen because we believe. 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Now, the other day, I was on Facebook Marketplace. 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Apparently, Facebook has some people who are kind of like specialists nowadays. 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:32,000 Apparently, Facebook wants to give out everything that exists in the world and it wants to sell me random things if I will believe. 6 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:37,000 And what I know is that there is a punching bag and Legos. 7 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:44,000 And I'm like, I need a punching bag because I'm a full-time pastor so I definitely need a punch on me regularly. 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:50,000 And I also need some Legos because, occasionally, whenever families come over, they bring kids with them. 9 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,000 I'm not sure they need to play with them. They need to put them Legos. 10 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,000 So, I was like, okay, let me go this morning and we'll get punching bags. 11 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,000 So, I went ahead and I drove up and it was like sacred. 12 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,000 And I found a place, paid a valid 20 bucks, got a punching bag. 13 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,000 We are a great family. 14 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,000 But I'm hanging it from the outlet. All right, I'm almost the way there. 15 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,000 And so then I keep going. 16 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:19,000 And it's like, okay, let me get stuff done and then at the end of the day, I'm going to go over and I'm going to pick up the Legos. 17 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:24,000 So, I'm driving and I check where I'm at and I'm like, oh, great. 18 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,000 It says I'm going to be 10 minutes later than I thought I was going to be. 19 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Great. Jason's time again. 20 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,000 So, I'm like, all right, whatever, let me, I'll message her, I'll let her know what's going on. 21 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 I'm turning through the slate, but I'm on my way. 22 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:44,000 So, I'm getting there and she said, you need to see across from the Walgreens. 23 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:49,000 And I'm like, okay, I'm going to take this time, but the last few turns started leading me into a subdivision. 24 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:53,000 I'm like, what is going on? How am I getting into a sub? 25 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,000 And finally, at the very last turn, I realized what had happened. 26 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:03,000 I had actually typed the address form in the morning instead of the afternoon. 27 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:08,000 Instead of going to I-10, just a little passage, I had driven all the way back up the cycles. 28 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:14,000 So, not only was I 10 minutes late because I went to the wrong, but that meant that I needed to drive another 10 minutes 29 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,000 to get back and go and catch up. 30 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 And I felt so dumb. 31 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:25,000 And I said a message I'm like, so have you ever been not gone to the wrong address? 32 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,000 I am coming as fast as I can. 33 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,000 I promise it as immediately as possible. 34 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:34,000 And at that point, what is it that I did? 35 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Well, me and the guy, per-round. 36 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Now, did I pause and say, excuse me, could you come meet me up there in Cyprus 37 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:46,000 and take one time out of your day and come meet me or was it wrong? 38 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,000 I don't need those Legos. 39 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,000 It's not a big thing. 40 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,000 Oh, I want those Legos. 41 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:56,000 But instead, I realized that I had to completely turn around 42 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,000 because I got on the wrong way. 43 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 The only way that I could fix it was to turn around and go back. 44 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000 And that's the thing that I wanted to look at. 45 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,000 He said, when we believe in the direction we were supposed to go, 46 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:16,000 that's when we turn and start following the right direction. 47 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,000 Now, we talked a little bit about Jonah. 48 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:25,000 We think of Jonah oftentimes as the big fish who were way older than everything 49 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,000 and they didn't have the patience between animals and fish after they were way older than you now, 50 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,000 so I'm not going to worry about that part of it. 51 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:40,000 But wisdom, though, is that Jonah isn't just a guy who got swallowed up by some giant creature in the middle of a sea. 52 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:48,000 He was actually the sense on which he was supposed to go to this place called Nineveh. 53 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Now, Nineveh was a very prosperous, very large city. 54 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:57,000 It had originally been set up by this person named Jimrod. 55 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Now, I was thought that Jimrod was just what I call my sister when I was a senator. 56 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Very few is an actual person. 57 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000 But with that, his back-up genesis was first made in Jimrod, 58 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,000 but it had set up several cities. 59 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,000 One of them was Nineveh. 60 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,000 And actually, after the worship of this fertility goddess named Ishar. 61 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:21,000 Now, with that, is this city became the capital of Syria, 62 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:28,000 which we end up knowing later on, full of the people of northern Israel into exile. 63 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,000 And they never went back that far from Israel. 64 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Now, in Jonah there, keep in mind is that when you had worship of a god other than Godly, 65 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:46,000 to that end, there were practices where oftentimes things that God would be very unhappy with, 66 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 including the facility practices that were happening at the time. 67 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:55,000 But even more than that, the fact that they were not willing to worship the luncheon god 68 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,000 was also something that God was very disappointed with. 69 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,000 So he sends Jonah as a go-to-teller. 70 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Well, Jonah is over there. 71 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Now, I don't know if you could still tell that he could swallow it by a giant fish or not. 72 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000 Maybe he smelled really bad. 73 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,000 He's like, I don't know who this guy is, but let's listen to him so we can go away. 74 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,000 Okay, this is terrible, something. 75 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:24,000 And with it, though, is he is so sure because God has not dispensied that message, 76 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:29,000 get home for the people of northern Israel, not just the city of general, 77 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:36,000 but especially for the king who called everybody to repentance. 78 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,000 We have to change. 79 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Right now. 80 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:49,000 The thing about this is that it's a great story, but it wasn't just about Nineveh needing to repent. 81 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,000 It was also Jonah needing to repent. 82 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:59,000 You see, repentance is not just about saying, I'm sorry for doing a bad thing. 83 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,000 It's also about I need to change my heart. 84 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,000 I need to change direction. 85 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,000 I need to change which way I'm going. 86 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Jonah didn't actually care about the people that were in him. 87 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,000 120,000 people. 88 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,000 What did Jonah care about? 89 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:23,000 He cared about the summer in a plant that grew up behind him and was shady all day. 90 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:28,000 You cared more about the plant than you do about 100,000 people. 91 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:40,000 What does it say about you as a person if you can't even demonstrate love 100,000 people anymore? 92 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:44,000 You see, with that, he said, God is trying to save Jonah. 93 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:53,000 I need you to change the way that you see yourself and the way that you see me as God. 94 00:06:53,000 --> 00:07:01,000 The reason I'm saying this is because here's the thing about this, is that hating another city has not the way that God calls us to be. 95 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:08,000 I realize that after last night, he said maybe hating Baltimore for the next however many weeks. 96 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:09,000 I get it. 97 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,000 I don't know who came to play versus that Texan team for the second half. 98 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,000 I don't know if people with Texan's butts. 99 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 Either way, it is not okay for us to decide who Baltimore is. 100 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:26,000 But this is though, because I realize that it comes down to being able to say, 101 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:32,000 are we believing in a God of mercy and grace? 102 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,000 Because if we believe that God is one of mercy and grace, 103 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:44,000 this shouldn't be changing our direction to follow that God. 104 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,000 And even going beyond our Jonah's will. 105 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:58,000 And let's see what Jesus has come to do in following up after John the baptized and John ends up telling people, 106 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:03,000 repentance and belief or Messiah is coming. 107 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,000 The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 108 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:17,000 When Jesus comes along and starts proclaiming, it's not just that the kingdom of God is near, it's here. 109 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,000 What we are seeing is Jesus coming to change people's direction. 110 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Because it was more than just, did you follow enough of the laws? 111 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:33,000 You see, after the people of Judah had gone into exile in Babylon and then came back, 112 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,000 they were very careful of making sure that they got all the laws right. 113 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,000 But it was more than just making sure that they got the laws right. 114 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:49,000 What we were seeing was about the new life that Jesus was embodying, one of hope, of forgiveness, of mercy, 115 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:54,000 one of demonstrating care for one's neighbor. 116 00:08:54,000 --> 00:09:00,000 More than just trying to make sure that we looked good for the world around us. 117 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:05,000 As Jesus is going and he's speaking to the Jewish community, 118 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,000 he's also looking toward his ministry to the Gentiles. 119 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:16,000 And as we discover, many in the Jewish community, not all, but many, 120 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:22,000 had no interest in reaching out beyond their full walls. 121 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:30,000 But Jesus was more interested in their attitudes, not just behavior by itself, 122 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:34,000 but also what it is that they're living out. 123 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,000 And who are we on the inside? 124 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,000 And the repentance is not just stop doing a bad thing. 125 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Preventus is, I need your heart and your soul to change direction. 126 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:51,000 But just like Jonah going out to an inner life, spiritual repentance, 127 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,000 it was also meant to be repentance for Jonah. 128 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,000 The same thing with Jesus and his apostles. 129 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:02,000 He wasn't just sending them out to repay repentance. 130 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,000 It was also needed for the apostles themselves. 131 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:11,000 That's why I always find it interesting that when Jesus goes out to those apostles, 132 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,000 this is not the first time that they met them. 133 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:20,000 They already know him because of their time with John advertising out on the wilderness. 134 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,000 But here's what's interesting. There they are, they're fishing. 135 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:30,000 They have just met the Messiah, the one who is coming to change everything, 136 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:34,000 to bring hope and life and renewal and everything else. 137 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,000 What do they do? What's a Christian? 138 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,000 In their minds, who are they? 139 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,000 In their minds, we're a Christian. 140 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,000 That's what we do, that's who we are. This is our path. 141 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,000 So it's like, okay great, we're really glad that the Messiah is here. 142 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,000 That's awesome, we're really glad John, you really called it. 143 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,000 That's awesome. Okay, we gotta get back to stuff. 144 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,000 We'll catch you later. 145 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:06,000 And there is Jesus coming out there and saying, follow me. 146 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,000 And not only that, he can't even just get across to this 34 and say, 147 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:16,000 okay, okay, you see yourselves as fishers, okay, this line. 148 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,000 I need you to be fishers of men. 149 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,000 I need you to realize that I'm changing the direction of your path. 150 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,000 I'm changing what's next. 151 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,000 The old is done and it's time for the new. 152 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Isn't that also what we end up doing, oftentimes, as a church? 153 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:42,000 So many times, are we spending our time trying to think, 154 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,000 have I just made sure I didn't do any bad things, 155 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,000 and yet our life, our heart, our mind is exactly the same direction 156 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:56,000 as everybody else around us? 157 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:04,000 When we see what it is to repent, is that it's meant to be every day with all of us. 158 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,000 See, the Jewish community was spending a lot of time saying, 159 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:16,000 we are the chosen people of God, and Jesus was saying, yes you are, and so are they. 160 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:22,000 We are not always humble the way we're supposed to be. 161 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:30,000 Because each day we get caught up and translated, I go the direction I was supposed to. 162 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:35,000 Instead of asking what direction did God want me to go in today? 163 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:40,000 There was one other day that was talking about how they had heard of theirs 164 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:46,000 that was so successful in life, but no matter how successful he was, 165 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,000 there was always something wrong going inside, 166 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,000 and I wanted to say, how do I help you this my friend? 167 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:57,000 That he's doing great, he's doing well, he's such a success, 168 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,000 and he said, are you sure that that's the issue, 169 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:06,000 or could it be that something is actually just bothering him on the inside? 170 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,000 Because that's the part that we often times ignore. 171 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:14,000 We're so busy getting stuff done, or making sure that we check out for boxes, 172 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:23,000 and we're also saying, hey, how am I doing on the inside, or are you doing on the inside? 173 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,000 That's what we need to be saying. 174 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,000 The word that we have at the degree is mededoya. 175 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:38,000 Mededoya, being repent, is not about trying to say, stop sinning. 176 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:46,000 It's about a change of heart, mind, soul, and life. 177 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:51,000 How many times is it that someone is trying to communicate to you 178 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,000 that there's something that needs to change? 179 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:59,000 And someone's trying to do it gently and kindly, and they're like, it is okay, 180 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:04,000 but I'm just letting you know so that maybe we can work through this and grow through this. 181 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:09,000 But it's so hard because we're like, well, I'm not those bad people. 182 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,000 That's not the point. 183 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Is that all of us are in that boat? 184 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,000 We're all in the place where today we may be struggling with pride, or resentment, or hurt, 185 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,000 or prejudice, or whatever it may be. 186 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:24,000 And then what are we doing? 187 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:28,000 We're just sitting there trying to say, yeah, I'm not one of the bad people. 188 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:34,000 And then completely, this is what God is trying to do today. 189 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,000 And that's my question to you. 190 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:44,000 Are we willing to pursue new life as well? 191 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:51,000 Whatever today is, is also meant to be a new life. 192 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:55,000 Maybe there's something this last week, or this last month, or however long, 193 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,000 that you've been frustrated or resentful for. 194 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,000 Maybe there is something where you're like, you know what, I can't believe this, 195 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,000 I don't want to listen to this person, I don't want to deal with this issue, 196 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:10,000 just let me get back to my life, stop bothering me with it. 197 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:18,000 The question is, is God trying to get your attention because it's time to go to the new version. 198 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:26,000 So for today, my statement to you is, repent and believe. 199 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Because we believe in a God that cares enough about us right now, that it is a very moment that He is leading you. 200 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,000 But it may be in the direction you're not expecting. 201 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:47,000 But we repent because we believe that God's direction is the right one. 202 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,000 Thank you.