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July 15, 2013 1:52 pm
Harvest messages are brought to you by harvest partners receive free email daily devotions or to become a harvest partner, please visit us online@harvest.org. Let's grab our Bible Belt turned of the book of Jonah the book of Jonah the series title is go in the title of my message today is hereby send him on if you've ever heard the story of wrong way. Roy actually his name was Roy Riegel. If you're a sports fan.
You might appreciate this story. Roy was the All-American center for the University of California, Berkeley with his team. The Golden Bears. They were facing the Georgia Tech yellow jackets and Roy was playing both offense and defense. Now through the end of the game and one of the Georgia Tech players fumbles the ball. Roy Said and starts to run to the goal. Some 65 yards away. The problem is, it was the wrong goal. So if he succeeded, he would score a touchdown for the team he was playing on the opposing team's goats Georgia Tech head coach Bill Alexander watching this I was quoted to say he's running the wrong way. Let's see how far he'll go. Unfortunately, one of Roy's own teammates. Many lawn tackled him a right before he got across the wrong goal line will have time came in the teams of the field are back in the locker room and Roy just humiliated these this everybody saw this and he knows the coach is not gonna put them in for the second half of the game and that everybody is waiting to see what coach nibs price is going to do with this team and I was there sitting around the notes announces that the same team. This information will go back in the second half of the game and Delroy regaled his shot Mrs. coach I I've ruined you.
I ruined the University of Southern California. I've ruined myself. I couldn't face the crowd again if my life depended on it and coach reached out his hand. He said no. Roy you get up and go back in the game is only half over and Roy went in and at one of the most inspiring efforts in Rose Bowl history. I wonder if you've ever felt like Roy Riegel also known as wrong way. Roy maybe the Lord told you to go one direction anyway. In the other direction.
There might be some of you your present today.
Most of your who is running from God is a mahogany running from God appointed church. You know the story of the prodigal son. It would better be described as a story of the prodigal sons plural to prodigal. I choked up when I tell the story for emotional quick sip of water thereto, prodigal's in the story versus the prodigal that demanded his portion of the inheritance and went to a distant country and came to his senses and return home, but the other prodigal never left home. The other prodigal stayed there event. The other prodigal the older brother of the younger son said when his brother returned to his father why are you doing this for him. I've never displeased you. I've never seen you, you've never thrown a party for me and the father said son this your brother who was dead is alive again.
He was lost is found see that older brother.
He was a prodigal to he just never left the house and you can be in church every Sunday and still be effectively running from God. God's plan of this purpose for your life. So here before is now is a story of wrong way. Jonah, if you will, in his call to go one direction and he went the opposite way.
As I said before Jonah was the original chicken of the Sea now working to find out in this story that it's impossible to run from God were also going to discover that God give second chances, even when we fail. So if you mess up your life and you feel like you need a second chance for careful attention because you'll find that God is still giving them our notes interesting in the story that the Lord uses a storm uses a whale.
Any uses a war know most people don't think about Joni and the work they think about Joni on the that's right, Joni and the whale, but really there's a worm in the story will get to that later but I love the fact that God uses creature and you know it's interesting, is really the focus of the story is not on the whale there only three verses that deal with Jonah and the whale.
The rest of the story is about Jonah running from God. It's also about a great revival that swept over the city of Nineveh, but God did use this massive beast to accomplish his purposes. You know, I've always loved animals, myself, how many animal lovers are there out there while you know when I was a kid, I had two aspirations in life. One was I wanted to be a professional cartoonist. My backup plan that that didn't work out with.
I wanted to own a pet shop because I love to hang around touchups and I was a kid I would make friends with the people who own them and I would pick the animals up and I would handle them and I thought how cool it would be to have my own touchup and I went through phases in my life as I recall, I started with reptiles. I don't know how I got into reptiles but started with some small snakes and I had every kinesthetic you can imagine, I go over snakes and king snakes and milk snakes and ayatollahs, night pythons and then I moved over to lizards and I had a quantities and I had chameleons and all kinds of crazy lizards affect. I was so into it. I actually thought I might become our corporate colleges. That's Latin for nerd.
No, not really, but it really needs a person who studies reptiles.
I was so into reptiles will after a while I pretty much every reptile you could have. So I started getting into the amphibian world. So I get a terrarium and a terrarium is basically an aquarium without moderate sand in it and rocks and on my reptiles. So then I started getting into the aquatic world and I had salamanders and newts not Newt Gingrich just nudes in general. And then I moved to France and then pretty much I filled it up and I moved out of the amphibian and I moved into the fish world so I get angelfish and silver dollars in Oscars and the rest I never made it in the saltwater though. I wanted to and then I moved into basically the rodent family you know small mice and rats and guinea pigs and hamsters and then I got into the bird world for a while so I had finches and parakeets and lovebirds and cockatiel's and carrots and then of course I had dogs over the years and every kind of dog you can imagine, I had two poodles and embarrassed to admit that I was very young I had no choice in the matter. I had a colleague which was one of the stupidest dogs I've ever seen. That's not a distant colleagues. It's just that this son this calling. In particular, I had a couple of German shepherds, which are both great dogs. Couple of months as well and I and then I was bitten by many of my you know I was bitten by guinea pigs and rabbits and appointments and rabbits. I was bitten by hamsters and rats and bitten by many snakes bitten by levered lizards, not livers. I don't know but liver could bite you but the worst thing I was ever goodbye was a monkey. I had a friend and will just spider monkey know what those are and I reached down depended on the head.
Not a good idea.
It bitten me by the finger and I pulled my hand away and it was hanging on the my finger as blood is spurting out kinda terrifying so I break on the cold sweat whenever I see a monkey not no not really but juggled the wall. These animals but I love animals and one of the things I'm looking forward to in the millennium with prices rolling on the earth is the animal kingdom will be subdued in 19 Isaiah 11 nine says the woeful rump of the Lamb.
The Leopard will sleep with the kid Lion Will Eat from the Same Trough and a Little Child Will Lead Them in the Holders Will Be Filled with the Knowledge of the Lord Is Going to Be Great Going out Take a Walk with Your Pet Lion in a but God Is Interested in the Animal Kingdom. He Created the He Cares about When the Disobedient Profit Dealer Was Beating His Donkey. He Was Rebuked by an Angel.
The Angel Effectively.
Saturday I Was at the Point of Killing You Because of the Way You Were Treating That Animal. Jesus Said That Your Father in Heaven Knows about Every Spare the Falls to the Ground and Sometimes God Will Use Animals to Accomplish His Purposes Are Preselected Donkey Had the Privilege of Carrying Christ into Jerusalem for the Triumphal Entry.
Another Donkey That I Mentioned Actually Spoke and Rebuked the Prophet Dale and Ravens Hand Delivered Food to the Proffered Elijah and Bears Came out and Attacked Teenagers Who Mock the Baldness of the Prophet Elisha, so Be Careful Never Mock a Bald Preacher Writer Because We Might Have Bears in the Way.
I'm Amazed at How Animals Will See People's Life. Read Articles over the Years about Dogs and Save Lives.
Never a Academy Has Never Saved a Person like You Could Be Dying of a Heart Attack in the Cabin Crawl up in Your Chest and Lick Is for That That's Really Do Your Dog Would Be Friend, Your Dog Would Be Concerned Read about One Dog That Dialed 911 When His Owner Fell Ill. Currently the Owner Told His Dog Bill Buying His Cell Phone If He Had a Diabetic Seizure of the Dog Did It. They Came and Is Likely to Say Read about Another Mentors SUV and Plunged 40 Feet Because He `While Mike and the Make up of the Sermon Mentors SUV Appliance 40 Feet When He Was Backing His Car out and He Told His Dog Honey to Get Help Honey Ran 1/2 a Mile to a Friend's House Brought Help out. Sounds like Episode of Lassie.
Maybe That's Where They're Giving Dogs Their Own TV Network Now I'm Not Making This up. I Just Read about It the Other Day You TV Network Is Launching. It's Called Dog TV and What It Is. It's a Channel You Leave on for Your Dog. If You Keep Them in the House and Your Gone during the Day. I Was Really Interests of the Quote with the Plaintiff for Dogs. What Is a Programming for Dogs like You Know a Whole Sitcom about a Fire Hydrant Toroid, a Toilet Bowl like Great Tolan Joined the Bulls of America or Cats Running in Terror. I Mean, I Don't Know What a Dog Would Want to Watch. By the Way, There Is No TV Network for Cats They Wouldn't Watch It Anyway. How Many Lovers Do We Have Your Get up and Kitty within Their Corporate That's a Really Cool Creature.
Years Ago We Had an Opportunity That Go to One of These Things You Get to Swim with the Porpoises and at One Point We Had These Little Boogie Boards and We Lay down on Them in the Porpoise Would Come up from behind, Put His Little Snout on the Inner Part of Our Seal Courses so the Water so Fast We Were Coming out of the Water Such a Cool Animal and I Read an Article about a Man Who Fell off a Boat He Was Adrift at Sea, a School of Porpoises Showed up Started Circling around Him, Guiding Him over to a Boy. He Grabbed It and They Circled around until Help Arrived. You Might Say That Those Porpoises Drove Them Ended up Boy. By the Way, He Wrote a Book about It Is Called the Porpoise Driven Life. It's Very Good. Rick Lawrence Doesn't like It but Just a Job. So Here Knows the Story of Jonah Now Only Think of This Dragon. As I Said We Think Immediately of Jonah and the Whale 20 Is Sort of like Sushi Eating in Reverse Instead of Not Eating Fish. This Fish Eats Man but As I Pointed out Only Three Verses Deal with the Fish Itself or the Whale We Don't Know Where We'll Talk about That Next Time.
But G, Morgan Said, Quote Minute Been Looking for so Long at the Great Fish They Have Failed to See the Great God" That's the Message of the Book and Some People Struggle with This.
I Find It Hard to Believe That a Man to Be Swallowed by a Great Fish or a Whale in the Did Tell the Story Really. I Mean If You Believe Genesis 11.
Is This Really All That Hard.
Genesis 116 in the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth. If You Believe That Then You Can Believe the Story Is Well.
But Here's the Most Important Reason for Believing It Was Validated by Jesus Christ Himself. The Pharisees Came to Jesus Demanding the Sign Anything in Matthew 1229 an Evil and Adulterous Generation Seeks after a Sign and No Sign Will Be Given to Them, but That of the Prophet Jonah.
As Jonah Was Three Days and Three Nights in the Belly of the Fish, so Will the Son Of Man Be Three Days and Three Nights in the Heart of the Earth. So Not Only Did Christ Validate the Story but He Used It to Illustrate His Own Death and Resurrection.
So It's a Totally Legit Story. The Prophet Jonah. What a Prophet. He Was the Place from Which He Prophesied Was the Bottom of the Sea the Pulpit from Which He Preached Was a Stomach of a Fish.
This Is a Story of a Man with a Mission and a Job to Do Any Flat out Refused. It's Also a Story of God's Long-Suffering and Patient and Willingness to Forgive Those Who Would Stop Running from Him and Instead Would Run toward Him, but This Is Why I've Called This Story or This Message. Here Are My Send Here Because Jonah Did Not Want to Go See the Book of Jonah Can Be Summed up This Way, God Said, Go Jonah Said No, God Said All Know This God Will Always Have the Last Word. Here's an Interesting Thing. It Took God Longer to Prepare His Servant to Get Him to Obey His Call. Then It Did for the Entire Godless City of Nineveh to Repent and You Know Things Haven't Changed Much. As We Go into Our Crusades of Various Communities.
Most of Our Effort Is Spent in Mobilizing Churches Our First Challenge Is to Get Pastors to Talk to Each Other.
You'd Be Surprised at How Many Communities Is No Communication between Churches. We Get Them to Talk to Each Other That We Get Them to Pray Together and It's Amazing How so Often We Have To Convince Pastors and Christians of the Importance of the Great Commission She Were Living in a Time Now Work. The Church Is Awash in Conferences and Concerts in Worship Times and I'm for All Those Things.
But Jesus Did Not Command Us to Going to All the World and of Conferences Noted, He Commanded to Go and All the World and of Concerts. But He Did Commanded to Going to All the World and Preach the Gospel so It Seems a) A Lot Of Our Time Just Reminding Believers of the Responsibility That God Is Given to Them God Is Given to Us. So Let's Read Now on How the Call of God Came to Jonah.
Jonah Chapter 1 Starting in Verse One Will Read through Verse Three Know the Word of the Lord Came to Jonah, the Son of a Midsize Scene Arise and Go to Nineveh, the Great City and Cry out against It for Their Wickedness Is Come up before Me. But Jonah Arose to Flee to Tarsus from the Presence of the Lord. He Went down the Joppa He Found a Ship Going to Tarsus so He Paid the Fare and Went down to It, to Go with Them to Tarsus from the Presence of the Lord.
Let's Pray Now Father As We Look at Your Word. We Think about the Reluctant Prophet Jonah.
We Pray That You Will Speak to Us Because A Lot Of Times Were Just like Him Were Going in the Opposite Direction You Want Us to Go and If There's Anybody Here or Anyone Watching That Is Running from You Are Running from Your Plan for the Life. Would You Let This Be a Wake-Up Call Today and Bring Them Back. We Has To Solve. In Jesus Name, Amen Only Ask You before You Jump down the Throat of Jonah. Have You Ever Tried to Run from God's Will for Your Life like Wrong Way. Roy Regaled You Been Going in the Wrong Direction. Thinking That You Want a Better Plan for Your Life, Then God Did. Maybe It Was Certain Susan Scripture That You Did Not Want to Follow Might've Been the Calling of God That Was Placed upon Your Life to Do Something and You Simply Did Not Want to Do It.
What I Was Jonah. He Didn't Want to Go to the City of Nineveh Know What We Know about the City by Member Owners in England, a Number of Years Ago When I Went to One of Their Great Museums and They Had Artifacts from the City of Nineveh, and I Was Super Impressed by Those to Actually Look at These Representations of the City That Once Existed Then It Was Once One of the Greatest Cities on All of the Earth.
The Walls of Nineveh Were so Why Three Chariots Could Be Driven Abreast over Them and Then about an Streets That Were 20 Miles Long.
That Was Unheard of in This Time and Their Walls Were 100 Feet High, so It Was a Massive, Very Impressive City, but It Was Big in Another Way.
It Was Big in Sin, Nineveh Was Renowned for Their Wickedness Got Even Comments on Its Members to Further Wickedness Is Come up before Me, or Literally Their Wickedness Is Reached a High Degree Are the Highest Pitch Sort of like an Overflowing Septic Tank. Nineveh Stunk to High Heaven and This Verse Shows That God Is Acutely Aware of the Wickedness of Man, No Looking at People Lived in Nineveh Very Very Wicked One. They Were Renowned for Their Cruelty. As I Mentioned, the Prophet Name Comments on It. He Says the Dead Are Lying in the Street Dead Body Heats up Bodies Everywhere. People Stumble over Them Scramble to Their Feet and Fall Again. All This Because Nineveh, the Beautiful and Faithless City Ministers of Deadly Charms Entice the Nations with Their Beauty. She Taught Them to Worship False Gods and Chanting People Everywhere so Neil Acknowledges That Nineveh Was a Beautiful City but Also a Very Wicked City. There Were Literally Piles of Bodies in the Streets. The Ninevites Were Well Known for Their Savagery and Plundering Cities Where They Would Burn Boys and Girl Alive and Torture Adults Tearing the Skin from Their Bodies and Leaving Them to Die.
The Scorching Sun Archaeologists Eventually Discovered in the Ruins of Ancient Nineveh Monuments That Were Built by Various Individuals to Their Atrocity Are One of Those Monuments Says I Cut the Limbs off the Officers Who Rebel Another Monument Said within the Border of My Own Led-Laid and Spread Their Skins upon the Waltons That Were That Means Is People Were Skinned Alive in the Skin of the People Was Hung on the Walls.
Another Cruel Ninevites Wrote. I Cut up Their Hands and Their Fingers from Others. I Cut up Their Noses in Their Ears and Their Fingers and for Many of Them. I Put out Their Eyes and so These Are Wicked People.
These Are Depraved People. These People Make the Nazis Look Tame in Comparison.
And These Are the People God Says to Jonah Go Preach to Know Jonah Was a Jew Is in These before the about Enemies of Israel.
This Would Be like Going to a Jew May Be Living on the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II and Say Go Preach to the Nazi's Will You and Want to Do That or She Would Want to Do That You like Going to an Israeli Today and Safe.
Go Preach to the City of Art of the Nation of Iran Because I'm Going to Judge Them.
If You Don't All. If I Don't All Good Johnson Because I Nation Is That They Want to Wipe Us out the Face of the Year. So God Says Go Were a Little Translation Is Get up and Go and He Got up and Went in the Wrong Direction Is an Ongoing 500 Miles Northeast of Nineveh.
Jonah Attempts to Go 2000 Miles West to Tarsus.
He Pretty Much Went in the Opposite Direction Is Far from Nineveh, As You Could Get in A Lot Of Us Aren't Boats Going to Tarsus When God Is Saying Go to Nineveh Listen.
There Are Two Roads in Life. One Relates to Nineveh.
The Other Relates to Tarsus.
One Road Is the Will of God. The Other Is Disobedience to His Will. So My Question to You Today Is What Rotor You Want. Are You on the Road of Obedience or Are You on the Road of Disobedience. Are You Doing What God Tells You to Do or Are You Rebelling to What God Tells You to Do so. Why Did Jonah Not Want to Go to Nineveh. What Was the Real Reason. Maybe It Was Because He Thought It Would Be Unpopular.
Many Shows up and You and He Knows the Ninevites. The Jews He Done That I Might Be One of Those People with My Eyes Gouged out, They Might Flay Me A Lot. I Certainly Don't Want to Endanger My Life or Maybe Another Reason He Didn't Go Was Because He Was Just Unconcerned.
He Didn't Care about the People He Didn't Care about Their Children Needing Care about Their Plight or an Impending Judge When Artifacts Pay That's Not My Problem. I Don't Think That Was the Reason or Do or Think the One Was the Reason, or Maybe He Didn't Do It Because It Was Difficult Knowing I Might Meet Opposition and It Will Be Inconvenient.
No, There's 1/4 Possibility. This Is the Real Reason I Believe Jonah Did Not Want to Go to Nineveh He Did Not Want to Go Because He Was Certain His Mission Would Succeed, Then Repeat That He Did Not Want to Go Because He Was Certain His Mission Would Succeed See Effectively. He Knew If He Preach of Those People. God Would Forgive Them and Give Them a Second Chance and He Didn't Want Them.
They Have a Second Chance.
This Is Evidenced by What Jonah Says to God after the Lord Spares Nineveh, and after a Great Revival Breaks out in Nineveh, Jonah Says in Chapter 4 Verse Two to the Lord. Didn't I Say before I Left Toe That You Would Do This, Lord.
That's Why Rounded Charges. I Knew You Were a Gracious and Compassionate God, Slow to Get Angry and Filled with Unfailing Love. I Knew How Easily You Could Cancel Your Plans for Destroying These People What I Just Know You Went to This I Knew You Would Forgive so Much for the Idea of the Old Testament Versus the New Testament.Sometimes We Will Say Will Have a Problem with the God of the Old Testament. He's Wrathful. He's Angry, He's Cool, He's Mean. I Believe in the God of the New Testament Is Compassionate and Loving and Gracious New Slacks, the God of the Old Testament Is Gracious and Loving in the God of the New Testament Is Just and Righteous Lesson.
I Believe in the God of the Old and the New Testament Because He's the Same God and He's Full of Mercy and Full of Life and Try Because, Listen to What Jonah Said.
He Says of God, Your Gracious and Compassionate Year Filled with Unfailing Love to the Bottom Line Is, Jonah Wanted God to Take out Nineveh He One of These People Eliminated.
In Fact, He Even Kind of Enjoyed the Idea of Them Being Wiped out. Sometimes Even We Believers Might Take a Certain Perverse Pleasure in Knowing That Certain People Who Bother Us Are Going to Hell Our We Get off with an Attitude like That Fact Is We All Deserve God's Judgment. Don't Wait and Jesus Did Not Say Teacher Enemies and Hope Judgment Comes upon Them. Rather, He Said You Furthered It Has Been Said Love Your Neighbor and Hate Your Enemy. But I Say to You, Love Your Enemies and Pray for Those That Persecute You There Someone That You Would Actually like to See Go to Hell, Maybe It's Your Boss.
Maybe It's Your Husband. Maybe It's a Neighbor That Drives You Crazy. Maybe It's Someone That Gives You a Hard Time.
I Am Going to Hell Yeah They Are and That Should Break Your Heart, You Know, the One of the Real Reasons Jonah Did Not Want to Go to Nineveh. Jonah Was a Racist. He Wants. He's a Patriotic Israeli and He Hated Ninevites and He Didn't Want Them to Believe There Are People Today Who Are Racist.
I Think We Throw This Turnaround Way to Freely and Will Call Anyone a Racist for Just about Any Reason or a Big Arrays. This Is a Person Overlook an Entire Race of People and Have a Hatred toward Them.
A Bigot Is a Person Overlook an Entire Group of People and Hate Them. That's What Jonah Was. I Want Them All Eliminated. There Someone That You Hate Right Now.
Are You a Racist. God Called Jonah to Go and He Didn't Really Want to Do It.
He Wanted Them to Be Destroyed. But Here's What the Lord Said, He Says, Go and Preach Jonah Listen to Me Go and Preach and by the Way, in the Original Language.
Those Verbs Are in the Imperative.
In Other Words, God Commanded Jonah to Go and Free so We Think. Yeah, He Should Have Done It. Okay Guess What Jesus Is Said the Same Thing to Us. We Call It the Great Commission. It's on a Matthew 28 Where Jesus Says Go Therefore and Make Disciples of All the Nations, Baptizing Them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Teaching Them to Observe All Things That I Have Commanded You.
Other Are Two Things to Note about That in the Great Commission That Remind Us of the Called Jonah Number One This Command from Jesus Is Just That a Command That's What We Don't Call It the Great Suggestion That the Great Commission. But for Many of the Great Commission Is Become the Great Omission Jesus and Say Look IPod to I Purchase. He Was My Blood and I Am Commanding You As My Follower to Go out in All the World and to Make Disciples and to Preach the Gospel Commission of the Church Is Not to Wait for the World to Show up. The Commission of the Church Is the Go to the Whole World. As I Said before, Jesus Did Not Say That the Whole World Should Go to Church but He Did Say the Church and Go to the Whole World.
Let's Personalize Your of the Church and Do That.
Yeah, Yeah, Guess What, You're the Church.
So Are You Going to Do All of Your World Are You Going into Your Sphere of Influence Are You Doing This You Be like a Jonah and Going in the Opposite Direction. By the Way, and the Great Commission Given by Our Lord. Those Words Were Addressed to Everyone of His Followers, Not Just the So-Called Professionals and Pastors, Evangelists, Missionaries, Etc. No, These Words Are Given to Every Follower of Jesus to Every Businessman to Every Homemaker to Every Student to Every Grandfather and Grandmother to Every Young Boy and Girl There a Commission Given to Us by Christ Himself.
If I Am His Disciple and Commanded to Go and Make Disciples of Others by Not Making Disciples Disciples of Others, and I Really Mean the Disciple That He Wants Me to Be to Here's My Question. Are You Doing Your Part, These Are the Words of Jesus Christ to You and by the Way He Save These Words for the End of His Earthly Ministry. A Lot Of Times We See the Last Words of Christ Were That Seven Statements from the Cross and in the Way They Were.
Those Were His Last Words before He Died, but You Probably Have Heard This, He Rose Again from the Dead and Then He Walked among His Followers on the Earth and Then Prior to His Ascension to Heaven.
That Is When He Gave His Final Words That Someone Knows Their Leaving Other Things, These Are My Parting Words to You. I Suggest You Pay Careful Attention Because Those Words Are Important in Jesus's Sake, Here's My Parting Words Here Are My Closing Thoughts. Here's What I Want to Leave You with Go into All the World and Make Disciples of All Nations, Baptizing Them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Alone I Am with You Even Though the End of the in Mark's Gospel. It Says Go to All the World and Preach the Gospel Listen to Not Do This in My Opinion Can Actually Be a Sin If You Know Greg You Going to Force Otteson.
Well, I Could Be. I Would Call of the Sin of Omission.
James 417 Says to Give the Nose to Do Good and Does Not Do It to Him It Is Sin a Chunks $1.01 of His Books Tells the True Story of That Made Its Way to the Courts.
In the Story. There Was a Man Walking along a Boat Dock.
I Believe This Was around the Boston Harbor. He Tripped over a Rope and Fell into the Deep Water of the Harbor and He Came up Spidering and Yelling for Help and Think Again He Was in Serious Trouble. Problem Was This Guy Did Not Know How to Swim, so He Called out to His Friends That Were Too Far Away to Help Women Most of Them Did Not Even Hear Them Will Meanwhile Only A Few Yards Away. There Was a Young Man Laying on His Dog Sunday so the Guy Is Drowning Cries out Help Me I'm Droning I Can Swim.
As It Turns out This Young Man Sunbathing on the Dock Was an Excellent Swimmer. He Only Turned His Head to Watch This Guy Who Went down for the Last Time and Disappeared beneath the Service and That Men Die Will the Family of the Men Who Died Were so Outraged That the Suit Does Sunbathing or Because of His Callous Indifference. The Court Ruled the Minimum. The Dock Had No Legal Responsibility Whatsoever to Try and Save the Other Man's Life. They Agreed with the Words of King Am I My Brother's Keeper. Unbelievable. So Chuck Swindoll Concludes with This Statement the Statement Indifference May Not Be Illegal but It's a Moral Indifference May Not Be Illegal but It's a Moral and the Point Is We Look at People Were Lost and They Don't Know Jesus and We Have the Answer and Were in Effect Sunbathing on the Dock Only A Few Yards Away and We Don't Reach As a Friend, Let Me Pull You Out Of the Water.
Let Me Tell You about Jesus. Let Me Invite You to Christ, We Do Say Well It's Not My Problem Were Just like This Man.
In Fact, Maybe Even Worse Because There's Eternal Ramifications to Not Telling Someone about Christ Going to All the World in Mark's Version of the Great Commission and Preach the Gospel. I Want You to Notice Jesus Is Not Safe. Go on the Wall the World and Live Good Example.
Now That We Should Not Be Good Examples We Certainly Don't to Be Bad in the Back of the Matter Is If You're a Good Example. You Will in Effect Earn the Right to Share the Gospel Was Somewhat However the Great Commission Is Not Allowed to Be a Good Example. The Great Commission Is Going to All the World and Preach the Gospel Verbalize the Gospel Communicate the Gospel. I Bring This up Because Some People Think Wonderfully Comfortable Bringing These Subjects up with People and I Don't Want to Confront the Person so My Belief Is All Just Live a Life and by My Good Example of When the Movable Know You Won't.
I Mean, Hopefully That'll Build a Bridge so You Can Share Jesus with Them but a Good Example Is Not Enough Is Good News and It's Something You Want to Announce.
Can You Imagine If News Commentator Start of Their Program and the Anchors Just Sat There and That Were Just in Live Will Just Be a Good Example Know You Know Your Job Is to Tell Us What the News It Tell Us What's Going on in the World and of the Same Weight Were Called to Deliver the Good News.
I Just Sit There, Not to Say Will Watch My Life. Nowhere to Go in Engaged People.
How Does God Choose the Primarily Reach Nonbelievers Answer to the Preaching of the Gospel. First Corinthians 121 Says, since in the Wisdom of God the World. The Wisdom Did Not Know God Please God through the Foolishness of the Message Preached to Save Those That Believe the Message Preached Not through Foolish Preaching, but the Foolishness of Preaching. In Other Words, God's Chosen Verbal Communication. All Is That If I Were God I Would Never Use People at All to Reach People and I Would Never Use Me If You Knew Me As Well As I Know Me You Would Not Sit There and Listen to Me Today, but If I Knew You As Well As You Know You I Would Be Want to Talk to You. So the Bottom Line Is Were Very Flawed Right Now in Agreement on That but yet God Says I Want to Use People to Reach People. I'd Say Lord Forgive People Go with Angel Angels Are Awesome Shining and Radiant Light Pull out a Sword for a Fact I Might Go Wholly or It's All over.
I Think That Be Very Effective Cuts Is Nonmedically Using Unused People to Reach People. Romans 10 414 Says, How Can They Calling Him Unless They Believe in Him, How Can They Believe in Him Unless Inferred about Him, How Can They Hear about Him Unless Someone Tells Them so God Says Get up and Go. And Jonah Got up and Went in the Opposite Direction. Verse Three Jonah Arose Depleted Charges from the Presence of the Lord. Newsflash, You Cannot Escape Its Presence. The Bible Tells Us That God Is Present Everywhere. We Call This the All-Night Presence of God. You Know, by the Way, When of This Book Was Written the Psalms It Already Been Written. I Wonder Jonah Had Ever Read Psalm 139 or David Said Were Can I Go from Your Spirit. What Can I Flee from Your Presence. If I Go to the Government You're There. I Make My Bed in the Depths You're There I Go to the Wings of the Dog Bite Settle on the Far Side of the Sea, Even There Your Hand Will Guide Me in Your Write-In Will All Be Best You Can Escape from God. You Can't Get Away from God's Presence. Adam Tried This, Every Unit of the Forbidden Fruit.
He Wanted to Kill Himself Eat Human Leaves of the Little Fig Leaves Together and Cover Their Nakedness and Then the Lord Comes Walking in the Garden in the Cool of the Day Calling out Adam Where Are You. You Think I Did That Because He Didn't Know Her. Adam Was No Guarantee. God Knew Exactly Where Adam Was and He Knew Exactly What Adam Did, Because He Called Them out on It Safe. Did You Eat of the Fruit.
I Told You Not to Eat of C God Was Looking for Adam to Admit His Sin. So like When I Play Peekaboo with My Grandchildren or Play Hide and Seek.
They Hide a Go-Go High and I Always Know Where They Are Because Are Not Good at Deception, yet the Hide behind the Curtains.
But I See Their Feet or Their Giggling and I Followed the Giggle, or Sometimes Find Them in the Back of the Same Hiding Place a Second Time. But I'll Act like I Don't Know Where They Are. Where Are You I Can Find You and Then They Jump out Yelling That I Get All Scared.
This Tragic Thing Is I Really and Know That You and I Play along. In Effect, God Was Playing along. Adam Where Are You, You Can Flee from the Presence of the Lord with Joy. It Was Determined That Try Verse Three. Jonah Found the Ship. I Love That Phrase. Jonah Found the Ship. I Guarantee Jonah Was Looking for a Ship and the Devil Open All the Doors for Jonah's Disobedience Know This God Is Not the Only One Who Opens Doors, Sometimes Things Will Work out. I Will Take All the Doors Open, Really.
Maybe They Did Question Who Open the Lord Listen, If You're Struggling in Your Marriage Christian Girl, There's Always Going to Be a Compassionate Understanding Man to Give You Counsel about How to Deal with Your Nonbelieving Husband Got It to Track a Single Person Looking for Some Occurs Always Going to Be a Nonbeliever Don't Want to Go with You.
Hey, You Don't Want to Make Money Quick Will Always Be the Get-Rich-Quick Scheme Cut a Corner Here Tell a Lie There Don't Disclose Something over Here and You'll Get There See the Devil Will Always Open the Doors for You to Go on the Wrong Direction.
So You May Find Your Ship and Then They Sail Right on Time. But If You're En Route to Tarsus When God Is Called You to Nineveh.
I Want You to Know Something.
A Storm Is Brewing and You're Going to Go Overboard and I'll Tell You Why, Because God Loves You and God Loves You so Much Is Not Gonna Let You As a Child, Go Astray Is Going to Go after You. Verse Three.
So Jonah Paid the Bear and Went down into It He Went down It's Very Expensive to Set You See, If You Run Away from God.
You're Always Going to Pay Your Own Fair. You're Never Going to Get What You Thought You Were Going to Get When You Put Your Foot in That Boat Is Not Gonna Work out the Way You Were Hoping and Know This Every Step Away from God Is a Step down First.
Jonah Went down to Joppa. Then He Went down into the Ship. Then He Went down into the Sea.
Then He Went down the Did the Fish's Belly. Then He Went down into the D That's a Life of Running from God, down, down, down, Running from God Is a Downer Don't Do It. David Discovered This He Started Going down When He Leave Lustful Eyes and the Beautiful Bathsheba Bathing Yourself. Then He Went a Little Further down When the Summons Her to His Palace.
Then He Went down Even Further When He Committed the Sin of Adultery, Whether Anyone Got Even Further When He Murdered Her Husband Uriah Said He Went down Even Further When He Tried to Cover His Sin. He Went down down down until He Repented, but Know This, God Will Always Have the Last Word. So Let's Stop. Let Me Ask This Question.
Are You Running from God. Maybe Some of You Are Just Flat out Running from God Whom the Church Yeah but You're like the Older Prodigal Brother You Really Are Disconnected from God.
You're Doing Things You Know You Should Not Be Doing As a Follower of Jesus Christ.
In Effect, You're Going to Tarsus When He Ought to Be Going in and of There Might Be Others Here That Are Running from God's Call in Your Life. Lord Told You to Preach the Gospel in Using Yeah You Know and Can the Busy I Don't Really Know That's What I How to Do It. You're Just Not Doing What You're Supposed to Do to Him That Knows to Be Good Does Not Do It to Him of the Said It's a Sin of Omission You're like Jonah's Alter Ego Preach to Your Family. Go Preach to Your Neighborhood Go Preach to Your Workplace People There.
Go Preach to Others That You Know Your Friends.
I Don't Do That I'd Seen Really Fanatical If I Did That This Is What God Is Telling You to Do. But Then There Might Be Some of You Here That Are Just Running from the Lord All Together You Haven't Been in the Church in a Long Time.
Or Maybe This Is Your First Time in the Church Ever, but I Want You to Know Some God's Law.
He Loves You and Is Calling You to Himself, and He Will Forgive You and Give You a Second Chance. If You Need That Second Chance. I Want You to Respond As We Pray Together. Let's All Our Heads Everyone Frame Father I Pray for Any Here Now That Do Not yet Know Jesus Christ. They Have Not Believed in You, yet They Don't Have the Hope of the Forgiveness of Sin. They Have Been Running from You, Lord, Would You Help Them to Come to You Now to Believe in You. Now, or If There Are Prodigal Son or Daughter to Return to You Now and Find Your Forgiveness on Their Heads about Her Eyes Are Closed and Were Praying. If You Need Jesus Christ in Your Life If You Need Your Sins Forgiven. If You Need That Guilt Removed. If You Fallen Away from the Lord, You Need to Come Back to Him, Would You Raise Your Hand up Right Now. Let Me Pray for You Publishing Publishing Anybody Else Slipped Her Hand up or I Can See It Please God Bless You up in the Balcony.
God Bless You, Bless You Guys Watching the Video Screen Right Now, Raise Your Hand up.
I Know I Can See You but That Doesn't Really Matter, Does This Is between You and God You Need to Make That Commitment or Recommitment to Jesus Just Slipped Her Hand up Wherever You Are, Wherever You're Seeing This Right Now. God Bless Each One of All Right Numb and Ask All of You That a Raise Your Hand If You Would Please Stand Your Feet and Nominally Join a Prayer of Commitment or Recommitment to Stand up, You Raise Your Hand Saying You Need Christ in Your Life You Need to Come Back to Jesus Stand up, Stand up. God Bless You, That Are Standing. God Bless You Stand Your Feet. Bless All of You Watching the Screen. Stand Your Feet Wherever You Are, Stand up, Lead You in This Prayer When Another Moment. You Need to Make This Commitment or Recommitment to Jesus You Been Running the Wrong Way Away from God. You Want to Run Back to Him.
Want to Come to Him Now.
One Final Moment. Stand Your Feet a Bless All of You Standing out You That Are Standing Pray This Prayer out Loud after Me Again As I Pray Pray This out Loud after Me. Pray This Now, Lord Jesus. I've Been Running from You. I've Sinned against You. But You Died on the Cross and Shed Your Blood for Every Sin I've Ever Committed. I Turn from That Sin. Now I Repent. I Choose to Follow You from This Moment Forward in Jesus Name Father for the Rest of Us.
I Pray That You Will Give to Us a Burning Desire to Go to Go with the Message of the Gospel without Fear, without Embarrassment, without Shame the Holy Boldness That We Would Engage People with the Only Message I Can Change Your Eternal Destiny. We Commit Ourselves to You Again. In Jesus Name We Pray. Amen