When God Gives You a Second Chance (Part 1 of 2)

Working their lines and even their trombones and let them forget their Bible. There is a October 7 is bring your bike across the nation and encourage your kids to carry their Bible and empower them with Joshua 19 them to let God's word honored held and heard and never forgotten your voice heard. Sign up for your Bible today on Focus on the Family comedian Kim Davis turns 1/4 and offers some heartfelt perspective on life. You know what almost 60 years of living has taught me only with God's will come to life only with God's fulfillment come to life.

Everything else leaves you stranded on the beach feeling cheap was quite a statement from Ken and God wants to call you to joy and fulfillment, and you'll hear how on today's edition of Focus on the Family with your host focus president and author Jim Dale John. I've always enjoyed the messages that referred from Ken Davis over the and this one is no exception really has a gift for sharing great insights on how to work out this thing we call the Christian life, and that what it looks like to include God in your decision-making. How being a Christian should influence your character and so on. He combines that wisdom with a great sense of humor which really makes it fun to listen along so leaning a bit. I know you'll be blessed by what you'll hear today. As Ken shares insights from the book of Jonah about how we should respond when God intervenes in our lives in Ken Davis is the author of a number of books he's a motivational speaker and he also teaches speaking skills to ministry professionals and corporate executives here now are very popular guest Ken Davis on today's Focus on the Family here you little bit. My name is Ken Davis and I'm not right. I am not right. I was thinking yesterday. You know sometimes when you think back on when you were growing up. It was obvious early in my life that I wasn't right. I grew up on a farm in the country.

The nearest neighbor was about 30 miles away and when I was young man.

The rebellion was in church every time the doors open, but I have to find some way to rebel in my school, my friends all talk about sneaking out at night. Sound like the coolest thing ever heard someone night I waited my parents gone to bed and they had been in bed, probably about two hours. I could hear my my dad snoring and my mom had a snore that was kind of a and I could hear them snoring so I knew they were sound asleep. So I slowly open the window. My heart beating the most compliant kid you ever sign your life is the scariest thing I've ever done.

Open the window. I crawled outside and I shut the window. I live on anybody around for 30 miles south changed a little bit. There is much more of me what you laughing about what what did you think that was so funny about more of me night was last time I was here last Christmas. I have the most fascinating experience between Thanksgiving and about the middle of January. I gained 30 pounds little 30 pounds over about a two month period, 30 pounds, here's the fun part. I had gone on vacation I had gone through pretty stressful time so I didn't work during that period of time.

I just ate and since I didn't work I didn't wear close like this. Nothing with the belt or anything. I just wore those little sloppy. Jim close and I just hung around and did so I didn't know that I gained weight of the very first job I had was on a ship I was the entertainer on a cruise ship and I got on the ship and my wife didn't know that I had gained 30 pounds either, so she packed all of the old clothes that I had got on the set and the night, the night of the first performance I will never forget that I was laying in my little cabin on the cruise ship with the button in this hand in the buttonhole and miss him praying harder than I had ever prayed in my entire life. The Lord we just let things come together flopping around on that bed like a trout out of water and I couldn't get it to happen. Finally I took a deep breath and I buttoned that thing and then I got on stage and realized I don't think the whole, and I prayed again. Dear Lord, please don't let there be a wardrobe failure tonight but let go into kill somebody in not right. I don't know how that happened. I've lost most of it again. I still have a few pounds ago. But what what time it was a friend sent me a salmon smoked salmon packed in its own oil and it was about that long and I sat down at the kitchen table with that thing in the box of saltine crackers and some cream cheese and some of those little green things the dictators thank you and some onions and I ate the entire salmon never done this. I wanted to go up and get up and go outside but I couldn't. I could couldn't move that one lay here on the floor for little while and I was laying on our Internet strange desire to swim up screamingly. I am so glad to be back here tonight and tonight I am talking about second chances in my message tonight is taken from the book of Jonah. And it fascinates me that we so often easily sing about God of wonders God imagines we easily talk about our God is an awesome God. I guess my question tonight is then what do we do when this God when he speaks to us when he calls us what we do when that God asks us to take action of some kind. God created your God will put the mountains in place.

He whispers to us what should we do. I have a good idea. Not a real good idea is, but that's what Jonah did not. Tonight's message isn't about running.

It isn't about running from God that the scene that takes place, but the book of Jonah Excel really isn't about running from God is a book that teaches us about this marvelous God who can do any thing he wants and chooses to give us a second chance. I'm not sure in the beginning that Jonah even understood that the Bible says in the book of John of the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of the midthigh any sick call to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because it's wickedness has come up before me friends if your notetakers I want you to just write this down. I think this is part of the lesson we can learn from Jonah when awesome God speaks listen.

We need to listen for God speaking to us. It's the very first part of the story, God created everything that God is so amazing would even choose to communicate. It is important that we should listen we don't listen for many reasons and sometimes our response to God is affected by our image of who he I'm not sure that were always convinced that God has our best interest in mind were going to give him Sunday were willing to pray about those things that we trust him with but how about the things that are really important to us. I was willing to talk to God about going to church on Sunday and and little small things, but I was unwilling to trust him with the important things. Things like matters of love. I'm just leveling with you as a teenager and I see a lot of teenagers in here it easy maybe to give God, you know, Sunday school and how about selecting him with finding you a life mate person to allow them to draw this image that surely God would want me to have someone that I would desire you. I grew up with this whole idea in my mind that God was not about joy or fulfillment.

God was about rule and if it was fun or there was joy in it, or fulfillment in it, then surely it couldn't be God. I used to think God's will. Job was to stand up in heaven and he would go have fun. I didn't want to listen to him in matters of life calling. How many of you would be honest enough to admit that you might have been a little afraid to talk to God and say to God, you can send me anywhere you want to go for fear of where he might send you can ice your hands because we have this my in our mind the idea that God is going to send it someplace undesirable and will be in trouble.

There you know where you'll be miserable where God didn't call.

That's where you'll be miserable.

I was so encouraged to hear about our friends here were going to the mission field. I can't tell you what that does to my heart to see young people who are listening to the voice of God, and I guarantee you it doesn't matter how tough it is where they're going, they will find ultimate joy and fulfillment. When I was a little boy we went to camp and they told us there was going to be a missionary speaker and I went all all I can just remember my heart going on this morning, and a man young man by the name of Virgil Adams came he was a missionary in New Guinea to a very very savage group people in New Guinea. In fact, I sat there, absolutely spellbound as he told about when the warriors took his son one time without him knowing it so that he could go along.

During one of their little wars with another village and they took the son to teach them they work. It wasn't supposed to be an honor, but they prayed and these warriors brought his son back.

I just couldn't believe it. This is one of the happiest, most together families I've ever seen, and that doesn't mean there can't be problems and missionary families as problems everywhere, but this was a family that was fulfilled. They were living in adventure. Most of us can only dream about. And I laughed so hard.

Virgil Adams was not a comedian but he was living life the way God meant it to be live. He told about how there was a tendency for him to believe that that he was smarter and somehow superior to the people he was trying to minister to and he had to fight that. And then one day God showed him why he shouldn't leave that all they told us how these particular natives when they blew their nose they didn't blow their nose like we've Lord knows they would hold their hands on their nose like this and blow the entire contents of their nose into their hand and then on the bear skin of their leg. They would rob that until it turned hard and then they would flick it off their legs and he thought all that is the nastiest thing I've ever seen. That is this thing how much more socially aware and developed. I and he said one day he was out with some of the proudest warriors. There were and they were walking along a trail and he had the urge to blow his nose got his handkerchief and he blew his nose and when he is blowing his nose in the. The men were walking with them. The warriors had anywhere in a small group whispering and so we went back to the many said well why you stop why are you not walking with me and they pointed to his hanky and said you can keep that some of the people who have impacted my life. The most are people who have listen for God's voice and they have responded when God has called listen to me friends.

When this awesome marvelous God whispers in your ear. It is not to lead you to destruction, to lead you to salvation teenager. It is to lead you away from coolness in an what your heart so desires to lead you to what your heart so desires our culture has it all backwards. I was so afraid is a teenager to really give my life to God, for fear he turned me into some weird Hostess Twinkie. I was afraid of all the real he would take out of my life you know it almost 60 years of living has taught me only with God's will come to life only with God's fulfillment come to life. Everything else leaves you stranded on the beach feeling cheap. God doesn't call us away from joy and fulfillment he calls us to joy and fulfillment. Listen for God hears what he may call you to call you to go to another country. He may call you to take the first step to resolve the conflict in your home. God may call you to finally turn over to him somehow or routine that is systematically destroying your life. He may call you to give beyond your wildest imagination. You gotta listen when he calls I have wonderful children. I think it's partly because I'm their father, but I have marvelous truth of the matter is my children often teach me more about following the Lord, and what it means to trust him than I ever taught them. We were driving from Knoxville back to Nashville Tennessee where we live and we pulled into a gas station in order to fill up with gas, which is the reasonable thing you you do and it was my daughter's car and so she took the initiative to get out and put her credit card in the machine and begin filling up the gas tank part one spot over from us was another young woman and she was dealing with some problems with her car. In fact, was a van and it had three or four children in it and she had the hood up and we found out.

I found out by talking to her that her van had been leaking transmission would all across the United States. It started in the north part of the country. In Michigan she was headed for Florida and she had to stop about every hundred miles to put new transmission fluid in this thing. The car manufacturers make the place that you put the transmission fluid in in accessible you cannot get to it and so I stopped to help her.

I went inside and I bought a little final and I helped her get this transmission fluid in her car and then we put the little the little rod that you put in there to tell if it's full or not and I went back to the car when I got back to our car. My daughter said God spoke to me when I watched you helping that woman. And God said, I want you to do something I want you to give her hundred dollars. Now we can hear voice you know that we can turn the radio on this and we interrupt this program for an announcement by God. Go ahead God and then God said, give her hundred dollars. She said just mice was overwhelmingly convinced that I should give this lady $100. You know why she didn't do it. She didn't want to look stupid. It wasn't that she didn't want to part with the hundred dollars but how stupid is that here hundred. What if the lady said I am not a charity case with those of the kind of things that went through her mind. She didn't do anything. We got in the car. We pulled away and my daughter.

Bless her heart had forgotten to take the nozzle out of the gas tank so when we pulled away that whole was like a rubber band stretched to its limit and then let go and it just flung everywhere.

No gas came out but it made a horrible rack and she stopped the car, my beautiful daughter and said you know I think God wants me to do something I that she was right. I don't think she left it there by accident. I think it was God saying I do you know here's a second chance but she said I think God wants me to do something and so she handed me the hundred dollars.

This is the first that I knew about and she said this to the lady pulling and I was this is exciting because I was in the get to a wonderful deep in course lady would think I did is a true story. I took the hundred dollars and I went over to the lady and I said we want you to have this you traveling with these children. We know it's very very tough. Please we just want you to have the lady took the hundred dollars bill and she looked at like this and I just turned and walked back to the car and she said wait I turned around and that lady said to me are you are you with Angel. She didn't know me. That's why are you with Angel, we would have missed out on that entire blessing unless my daughter had been willing to listen to God's call to call her to go to Nineveh he didn't call her to go on a mission trip at that point, all he did was say this lady $100 and she got a second chance. Maybe God is calling you to be involved in the church.

Maybe you don't belong to the church, but a little story of a friend sitting down here can Nichols and I told story can a story a couple years ago about how my heart was just overcome with depression. There had been an attack from a person and I just didn't know how to deal with it and is a part of the outcome of all of that. I really believe it was God whispering in my ear can get involved in the church.

God did not create us to be nomadic. He did not create us to wander the earth without a sense of community. I went home and I told my wife. You know what if I died honey, I think you would adjust quite quickly you'd be okay. I said, but the part that I can't imagine is you finding five people willing to carry the casket because I figured she could pick up one side so would be for you in my brain. I have this mental picture my wife coming out of the church with the casket going down the steps. I was living without community. When I heard there was no one to go to.

I needed to hear the word of God on a regular basis and I God I call and I made a commitment that I was going to be in my church to Sundays a month commitment cost me financially, but what I read in return and reward of friendship and relationships, and renewed spiritual vigor in the community of people who care where I'm going and what I'm doing. Listen for God. He may ask you to take a step, the first step in resolving conflict in your family or conflict in the church or conflict in your work place. God may be calling you to turn from sin most certainly he's calling you to a relationship with himself, wise words there from Ken Davis's episode of Focus on the Family and will hear more from him next time John this is such a good message and I really can relate to what Ken is saying about the importance of being plugged into a local group of believers. If you don't have family in town the next best thing is a church family.

But if you travel a lot for work like you and I do that can be a real challenge to but I agree with Ken, then really have to make it a point to build those relationships. Women seem to do that. So naturally, after all, there are groups for mothers of preschoolers we have moms in prayer for local schools. We have women's Bible study classes in churches. That's all good, but you really don't see all of those weekly friendship opportunities for men and maybe just a small men's group that your churches about it. So, going to church on Sunday or Saturday night or midweek is really the best way for a guide to meet other Christian men and if your church sponsors a quarterly men's breakfast or retreat. Try to get that to one of those generals usually have some good food as well.

So churches are trying to churches are really investing in relationships and providing opportunities like that to help you slow down and have conversation with other people in your community. Yeah, we sing churches that have cafés or full-scale coffee shops with names like solid grounds or Hebrews is good, that's a great opportunity for men to socialize a bit in a neutral place that you know Ken mentioned that he battled depression and let me just remind you that we have Karen Christian counselors here who can give you a free one time consultation and then help you find a like-minded counselor in your own area that would be someone who participates in our counseling network are counselors routinely deal with issues like depression, infidelity, addictions, plus other marital and parenting problems. We would be honored to help you and Jim.

I've mentioned it before.

Our family has benefited from the counseling team here at Focus on the Family. A number of times over the years.

We always get really great, typical, caring, advice, and so if that's what you need call is please are numbers 880 family 800-232-6459 and just request a counseling callback and I said this before but it bears repeating our counseling team responds to about 2000 requests a month. That's a lot of hurting people who are turning to Focus on the Family for help so please if you can donate to support this work. I'd like to ask you to do so today. And when you make a donation of any amount I'd like to send you Ken Davis's DVD of this message, called second chances. Lessons from Jonah is our way of saying thank you and you get the DVD when you call 800 the letter a in the word family or donate and request the DVD when you click the links in the episode notes and if you enjoyed today's presentation.

Please tell a friend to tune in next time is Ken Davis likens God's power to of vital fuel source, the first thing we gotta know where the source behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team.

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I'm John Fuller inviting you back next time. As we once were, help you and your family thrive in Christ.

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