1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:03,400 Welcome to the Cross Power Church podcast. 2 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:06,800 You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX. 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,480 We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,840 cross. Now let's join the service. 5 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,520 Thank you, it's working out a lot better already, See? 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,760 All right. Anyway, He is all the time, 7 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:30,800 right? And He opened our eyes and we 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,040 might see that better. You know, it's one thing we can 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,160 verbalize stuff and say it and you know, we say a lot of stuff, 10 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,520 but whether we live it out day by day and really believe it is 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,920 a totally different story. And sometimes it's real easy to 12 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:49,320 get to looking at God with the wrong perspective. 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,920 You know, instead of remembering that He's good all the time, we 14 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,400 base how good He is based on our circumstances around us and what 15 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,800 we see with our natural life. And that's that's a mistake. 16 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:08,400 We need to try and avoid that. How many of you, anybody in here 17 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,680 ever been a runner? I mean, you run, you know, or 18 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,360 you used to. OK, yeah. 19 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,880 Good marathon. I, I used to run. 20 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,840 I don't know, every other day I'd run between 4 to 10 miles, 21 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,480 something like that. And I messed up my knee and it 22 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:31,360 kind of gradually changed. But anyway, I want to talk about 23 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,880 and look at some scriptures about a couple different types 24 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:41,880 of runners. OK, when I was a young man, not 25 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:47,960 that I'm real old, but when I was, I was a younger man, I ran, 26 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:54,640 you know, like I said, but I didn't just run for my, my 27 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,400 health or, you know, to be physically fit. 28 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:05,640 I ran in other ways too. And sometimes I, I don't know, 29 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,280 I'd look at other people that would run around the tracks and 30 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,920 stuff at school, you know, and, and some of them were so slow 31 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:15,600 that they thought they were first and they were last, you 32 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,200 know, but everybody else had caught back up to them and they 33 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:19,720 thought, hey, I'm in front, you know? 34 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,600 Yeah, sometimes life can be that way too, where that we think 35 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,640 that we're in a different spot than we are. 36 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:29,480 We need to be paying attention. If we'd go to Jonah, the book of 37 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,560 Jonah, I want to talk about him for a minute because he's one of 38 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,200 the classic examples of a runner. 39 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:41,400 We're going to start with Jonah Chapter 1. 40 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,840 We'll read quite a bit of Chapter 1 and talk about it. 41 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:48,160 And and then we're going to look at a couple of other things too, 42 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:54,280 if we have time. So Jonah chapter one, it says 43 00:02:54,280 --> 00:03:00,160 now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amitai, which 44 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:05,040 by the way, I looked it up to see what Amitai or Amitai means 45 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:09,280 and his father's name meant loyal or true. 46 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,640 Keep that in mind. And the word of the Lord came to 47 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:22,280 Jonah the son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great 48 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,440 city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up 49 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:35,040 before me now. When I was a child, I saw it 50 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,320 after the Lord with all my heart really did. 51 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,560 I mean, I like everybody else, just kids. 52 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,440 You do some stupid stuff. But I really saw it after the 53 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:45,960 Lord. And I remember going down for 54 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,800 hours at the altar, leaving at midnight when everybody else had 55 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,680 already left a few hours ago, you know, because I really 56 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,720 wanted to not, I wanted to be like that dog that would hold 57 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:58,560 on. You see the, the working dogs 58 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,040 that the police use, you know, and they'll bite onto their, 59 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,760 their forearm and they can lift them up off the ground. 60 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,360 They won't let it go. And that's the way I wanted to 61 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,520 be. I wanted to, I wanted to latch 62 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:14,760 on to God and make sure that I didn't leave or quit until I 63 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:19,120 knew that I had left different than I came, you know, I wanted 64 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,839 something from the Lord, not spend time there. 65 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:26,760 Just like Jacob who wrestled with the Lord, you know, and, 66 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,320 and his name was changed to Israel because he wrestled with 67 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,920 the Lord and he prevailed and, and in my spirit, I wrestled 68 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,920 with the Lord the same way and until I knew that I had 69 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:47,040 prevailed. But later in my life, my father, 70 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:51,800 who was a, a, a pastor, he had retired Air Force and he was a 71 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:58,520 pastor and I started as a lot of teenagers do, started looking at 72 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,400 other places and other things, see what all the world's got to 73 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,000 offer. And sometimes it looked pretty 74 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,240 good. And so even though my father was 75 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:13,240 faithful and true and loyal to the Lord, just like Jonah's 76 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:17,640 father's name was, maybe that was his actual character too. 77 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,960 I don't know. But my father was that way. 78 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:26,000 And I was more like Jonah because I'd experienced the 79 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 Lord. I knew better, but I didn't 80 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,720 really want everything that he wanted me to do. 81 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,320 And I would run away. In fact, by the time I got to be 82 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:43,800 in my early 20s, I went to the point of this. 83 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:49,680 I, I was so determined to run. I mean, I was running physically 84 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,480 at the time and I was in pretty good shape, but I was running 85 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,080 from the Lord just like Jonah did. 86 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:03,160 And I was under conviction because whenever you run from 87 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:07,920 the Lord, the Lord has a way of trying to corral you and trying 88 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,680 to steer you back because he wants what's good for you, 89 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,520 right? And so I would find myself under 90 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,760 great conviction and I would say, oh man, I, I've, I've got 91 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,000 to go to the church, but I didn't want to go to the church, 92 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:23,600 but I had to go to the church. So it was this struggle, you 93 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,160 know, and, and I would take a fifth of whiskey and I'd stick 94 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,160 it in the freezer. Of course, it wouldn't turn into 95 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:31,880 an ice cube. It's got too much alcohol in it, 96 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,720 but it'd get nice and cold. And I'd chug that bottle of of 97 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:39,680 whiskey before I'd get to the church because I was trying to 98 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:45,200 push God out of the to the side and trying to do this right, Put 99 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:47,840 my fingers in my ear and say, I don't want to hear that from the 100 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:51,280 Lord. You know, I, I want to, I just 101 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:53,760 want to do my thing. Leave me alone, right? 102 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,760 Thank God that thank God for praying mothers and fathers, you 103 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,120 know, because God didn't leave me alone, you know, they kept, 104 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:05,640 kept coming up and kept coming up when I'd go to the church and 105 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,880 I was half intoxicated and I'd sit there in the altar and I 106 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:15,200 mean, at the pews and church and I kept remembering or feeling 107 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,200 this, this sensation as the Lord speaking to me, but I didn't 108 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:24,160 really want to hear it. And it was this, it's like 109 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,720 you're supposed to be up there, you know, you're, I knew the 110 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,600 Lord had a call in my life and a long, long time ago, but it took 111 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:35,400 me a while to, to totally collapse and have nowhere to go 112 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:37,640 but look up, you know, 'cause I was flat on my back. 113 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,360 And so unfortunately, that's where some of us have to get. 114 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,160 We got to get flat on our back. And guess what? 115 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,800 God will let you get flat on your back if it means that 116 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,040 you're going to look up, OK? It's not that he wants you to. 117 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,520 It's not that he's got things something against you. 118 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:54,920 It's not that he's forgotten you. 119 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,200 It's not that he hates you, but he's going to let things happen 120 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,760 to you if it'll cause you to turn, because that's the 121 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,600 ultimate goal. He's got your welfare in mind, 122 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,520 your end resolved in mind. And, and I would hang out with 123 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,600 agnostics and atheists and, and I would claim that there was no 124 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:18,240 God, but that was just me choosing to be stupid because I 125 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:24,960 knew better, you know? And anyway, I was a runner. 126 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:32,280 I was a runner a lot like Jonah and in verse 3 of that first 127 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:39,600 chapter it says, but Jonah rose to flee or run to Tarshish from 128 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:45,360 the presence of the Lord. Now, Tarshish was a place that 129 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,720 was on the southern tip of Spain, and it was the remotest 130 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:54,440 spot or one of the most remote spots of his world. 131 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,600 You know, it's like, I'm going to go as far as I can from here. 132 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:02,760 Maybe somewhere out there I won't feel that conviction 133 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,280 anymore. Maybe somewhere out there I 134 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,640 won't really. God will say it's OK and I can 135 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,560 just do whatever I want, you know, and I'll go do my thing. 136 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:17,000 And Jonah went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. 137 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:24,760 So he paid the fare. If you're running from the Lord, 138 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,160 you're going to end up paying the fare. 139 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:32,440 It's going to cost you again. And and it says that he went 140 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:37,080 down. That's the direction that every 141 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,880 runner that's running wrong, there's a right kind of running 142 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:44,040 too. But the runner that runs wrong 143 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,160 always runs down. He's not going to run up. 144 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,320 He's going to run down. OK. 145 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:55,640 And it says he went down into it into the ship to go with them to 146 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,680 Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 147 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:04,840 Now if you're looking for help when you're running from God, 148 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:12,040 you can find it easily enough. Jonah had to actively you think 149 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,640 about this. He had to actively be engaged in 150 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,600 running. It wasn't just that he gradually 151 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:23,880 drifted off. It wasn't that he just forgot to 152 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,560 go to church once in a while and he kind of gradually drifted. 153 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:31,880 He purposely went and looked for a ship to get him way out of 154 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:39,200 here. OK, it was an active thing, but 155 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:46,920 one can't expect anything to go well when you're in rebellion of 156 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:51,480 the Ancient of Jet days, the Creator, you know you won't do 157 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:56,800 well if you're going against the one who is omniscient and knows 158 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,560 everything anyway. You won't do well if you're 159 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:02,760 going against the one who's omnipotent and can do anything, 160 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,320 you won't do well. And so he didn't fare very well. 161 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,920 But in verse 4, it says the Lord sent out a great wind on the 162 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:18,400 sea, and there was a mighty Tempest on the sea, so that the 163 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:26,520 ship was about to be broken up. Now in Hebrews chapter 12, you 164 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:28,320 don't need to turn there, but I'm just going to make reference 165 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,360 to it. But in Hebrews chapter 12 and 166 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,800 verse 6, you'll find a reference that kind of fits here. 167 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:42,080 It says for those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He 168 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,800 scourges every son whom he receives. 169 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,640 So if we're not going to discipline ourselves to make 170 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,640 sure that we're following after the Lord and doing what He's 171 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:58,160 called us to do, then he's going to be disciplining us because He 172 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:00,000 loves us. OK? 173 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:05,960 So it's little wonder that we find there's great storm on the 174 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:13,240 sea where he is right in verse 5 it says I'm back in Jonah 175 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,640 chapter one, verse 5. Then the Mariners or Mariners 176 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:24,720 were afraid and every man cried out to his God and through the 177 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:30,360 cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. 178 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,360 But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship and 179 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:42,200 laying down and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him and 180 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:47,680 said to him, what do you mean, sleeper, arise, call on your 181 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:50,400 God. Perhaps your God will consider 182 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:58,200 us so that we may not perish. Now these guys were Pagan guys, 183 00:12:58,360 --> 00:12:59,960 OK? They weren't Jews. 184 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,320 They were merchants and headship that they were traveling by in 185 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,960 order to exchange goods and so forth. 186 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,880 What they were throwing over was important to them. 187 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:15,640 I mean, that's their livelihood. What they were thrown over had 188 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,560 value that they were hoping to get something out of. 189 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:22,240 And now I'm throwing that away and I don't know what I'm going 190 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,400 to do to eat for tomorrow and next month and whatever because 191 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,080 I'm getting rid of my goods, right? 192 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:42,080 When we run from the Lord, we need to be assured that we're 193 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:47,960 not on the boat by ourselves. Your actions will bring about 194 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:52,760 adversity and harm to others. Maybe your sons and your 195 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,920 daughters, your your loved ones, you know, probably first ones to 196 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:01,040 be affected. For Joan, it was these other 197 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:07,840 guys in the boat. Jonah had a prime opportunity to 198 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,120 tell them. If you think about it, he had a 199 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:13,000 tremendous opportunity to tell them about the one true and 200 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,560 living God because they were serving all these other gods. 201 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:17,840 What did Paul do out there on Mars Hill? 202 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:21,160 Whenever he's talking to those that were supposed to be wise 203 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,240 and they have all these right idols from different gods and 204 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,440 they worshipped all these gods. And he said, hey, but there's 205 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,240 that one that you don't know. You got the sign over there says 206 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,000 to the God that we don't really know. 207 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,760 And I'm going to tell you about that God that you don't know, 208 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,240 right? And he had an opportunity to do 209 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:44,120 a very similar thing, but he didn't because it's not easy to 210 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,200 tell people to run to a God that you're running away from. 211 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:55,920 In verse 7 it says, and they said to one another, Come, let 212 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,280 us cost cast lots that we may know for whose 'cause this 213 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:05,680 trouble has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot 214 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:09,240 fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, Please 215 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,480 tell us, for whose cause is this trouble upon us? 216 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:17,080 When or what is your occupation, and where do you come from? 217 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:21,800 What is your country, and of what people are you? 218 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:29,640 So he said to them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord. 219 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,360 Now you got to stop for a second and think now is Jonah a lion 220 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,440 here or what? Because he doesn't act like he's 221 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,000 fearing the Lord. To fear the Lord means what not 222 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,520 necessarily you're scared of the Lord, though that can be, you 223 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,280 know, a a good thing to have two at times. 224 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,640 But what's it mean to fear the Lord means to Revere the Lord 225 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,680 that you realize how awesome and how mighty and how great this 226 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,120 God is, right? And and then because he's so 227 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:03,360 great and because he has a love for you, the logical thing is to 228 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,920 run to him, right? Stay over there, close by him. 229 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:10,840 But that's not what he was doing. 230 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,680 And it says that I fear the Lord, or Jonah said, I fear the 231 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:22,560 Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 232 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,520 And the men were exceedingly afraid. 233 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,960 I think they feared the Lord more than he did at the time. 234 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,720 You know, sometimes we walk around with a lot of head 235 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,840 knowledge and we get comfortable playing church and we don't 236 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,960 really have a fear of the Lord. We can we can be running just 237 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,560 like the rest of the world and blend right in with the rest of 238 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,160 the world when it the Lord's saying, hey, stop that and come 239 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:49,880 back. And you wonder why you're having 240 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,640 such troubles. Might be that you need to turn 241 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:56,440 around and run the other direction, run to the Lord 242 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:02,920 instead of away from him. So he says, why have you done 243 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:03,880 this? They ask him. 244 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,880 For the men knew that he had fled from the presence of the 245 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:14,760 Lord because he had told them. Then they said to him, What 246 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:18,160 shall we do to you? That the sea may be calm for us, 247 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:24,599 For the sea was growing more Tempest, it was growing bad. 248 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,840 I, I can do a little bit like Lance, he sometimes I didn't get 249 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:31,040 those words right either, so sometimes I don't either. 250 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:40,000 Anyway, so here's the storm getting really bad. 251 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:45,320 They're wanting to know if this guy is running from a God that's 252 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,400 created the heavens and the earth. 253 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,160 It's a powerful God. We don't want to get in the way, 254 00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:56,120 you know. And it continues in verse 12. 255 00:17:56,120 --> 00:18:01,600 It says, and he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the 256 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,280 sea. Then the sea will become calm 257 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,400 for you. For I know that this great 258 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:14,400 Tempest is because of me. Verse 13 Nevertheless, the men 259 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,160 rode. They didn't do it. 260 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:22,520 They're if he's really a belongs to that God. 261 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,480 I don't want to get into God's way, right? 262 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:29,680 I don't want to harm that guy. So they didn't and they rode 263 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,120 hard. So they were rowing that boat 264 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:37,440 hard, that ship hard to return to land, not knowing what to do. 265 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,640 They tried doing what they saw Jonah doing. 266 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:50,160 That was just doing it on his own, and they could not for the 267 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:54,160 sea continue to grow more tempestuous, is that it? 268 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:59,160 Tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to the 269 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:02,000 Lord. Now they were doing what Jonah 270 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,800 should have been doing a long time ago. 271 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:08,040 OK, they cried out to the Lord and said, We pray, O Lord, 272 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:12,360 please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not 273 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:16,920 charge us with innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it 274 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,080 pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and 275 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,040 threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 276 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:30,320 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly said, oh wow, we 277 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:31,760 never seen anything like this before. 278 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,600 We threw that guy into the water and everything stopped. 279 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:42,200 The storm just stopped. It got calm and they offered a 280 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,600 sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. 281 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,720 They were led to go to the Lord, right? 282 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,000 They drew close to the Lord. They honored the Lord. 283 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,960 They submitted themselves or humbled themselves before the 284 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,840 Lord. Jonah's not yet quite there. 285 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,680 He's just wet right now. OK. 286 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:07,000 And verse 17 says now the Lord have prepared a great fish to 287 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:12,000 swallow Jonah. See it? 288 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,680 It doesn't say now a great fish just happened to come by and get 289 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:21,240 him, Says the Lord prepared that fish to get him. 290 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,640 Yeah. The Lord's still chastising, 291 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:28,040 still trying to discipline, still trying to pull him back. 292 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,160 And he prepared because he knew what was coming. 293 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:38,240 We don't know what's coming. Jonah didn't know when he got on 294 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:40,680 that ship, but he was going to get swallowed by a whale, right? 295 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:45,240 But God knew. God's got it all planned out. 296 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,040 He's got it all figured out. He's the one we need to be 297 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,200 drawing close to and seeking so that his wisdom can be shared to 298 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,120 us, right? And and that's what Jesus said 299 00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:58,400 to the Holy Spirit, that he would come and, and share that 300 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,640 what, what is his? It's the Father's, right? 301 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:02,120 He said, what's mine? It's the Father's. 302 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:05,280 And whenever I I'm out of here and the Holy Spirit comes, he's 303 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,320 going to share with you what is mine. 304 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,720 So if we draw a close, we would know better. 305 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,920 But when you're running away, you do stupid things like 306 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,600 getting swallowed by a whale while in the belly of that 307 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,400 beast. Scripture says that he went down 308 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:29,200 to the foundations of the mountains, so he's at his lowest 309 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,480 possible place. He's in the depths of the sea. 310 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:40,080 He's inside a whale. And in chapter 2, you have his 311 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:45,200 prayer because now he's finally got him flat on his back looking 312 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:46,360 up. He's fine. 313 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:51,760 God's finally got him where that he'll listen and turn and be 314 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,880 humble. OK, so in chapter 2, we're not 315 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,160 going to read it, but you can take time to read that later. 316 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:04,160 And in that chapter it, it, it's his prayer, realizing what a 317 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,080 mess he's made and turning back to the Lord. 318 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,520 And when you get to chapter 3, well, let's do that. 319 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,720 Go to chapter 3. You'll find in the first couple 320 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:21,480 verses interesting thing it says. 321 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,640 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. 322 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:30,000 Let me say it again. Now the word of the Lord came to 323 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,400 Jonah a second time. See, God is the God of second 324 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,560 chances. And though you run, he knows 325 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,200 right where you're at and he keeps trying to give you another 326 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,800 chance and another chance because he loves you. 327 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:50,240 A lot of the stuff we go through is because we made stupid 328 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:57,200 decisions, you know, and, and we were, we had wrong priorities 329 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,920 and we thought, well, I know better, or I want this more or I 330 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,320 want that more or I'm concerned about what others are going to 331 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:09,560 think of me, etcetera, etcetera. And it affects your judgement. 332 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:14,240 God sitting there all the time saying, oh just come on, come 333 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,920 on, come on, 'cause I'll give you another chance. 334 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,480 I love you. So it says. 335 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,320 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 336 00:23:22,360 --> 00:23:25,920 arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to it. 337 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:30,240 The message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to 338 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,000 Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. 339 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:39,520 Now a couple things there. The message to Jonah didn't 340 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:44,400 change just because you messed up, just because you got off 341 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,880 track, just because you did like I did and spent several years 342 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:52,000 running from the Lord and doing stupid things and really not 343 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:57,960 bringing any glory to the Lord at all doesn't mean that he's 344 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,760 given up the plan that he already had in place for your 345 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,560 life. You know, here's Jonah totally 346 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,160 did that, ran the other direction, did the wrong things, 347 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,960 made a big blunder and God's still willing to use him, just 348 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,000 like he was willing to use him to begin with. 349 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,720 Sometimes the devil will have you think the opposite. 350 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,680 So no, you messed up too much. God wouldn't want to use you 351 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,840 anymore. You know, you remember that 352 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,480 thing that that God shared with you when you were young? 353 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,120 Just forget it. It ain't never going to happen. 354 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,560 And sometimes, unfortunately, we buy off on the line and we 355 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,040 believe the enemy instead of believing the Lord and his 356 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,120 character. But you remember what happened 357 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,480 to Judas when he didn't believe the character of Christ didn't 358 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,320 end up too well for him. You know what about Peter? 359 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,840 Whenever he messed up and he, he ran the wrong way, right? 360 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,560 But then he turned around and said, Oh, the character, my God 361 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,840 is forgiving and loving and he'll, he'll take me back, He'll 362 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:56,480 forgive me. And and that was a whole 363 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,080 different story for him because it wasn't too long later. 364 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,000 Guess what? He's leading thousands of people 365 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,960 to the Lord and the Lord's using him in a great and mighty way. 366 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,360 So when the Lord gives you a second chance, take it. 367 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,280 Now, I got to think for a second here that whenever that fish, 368 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:21,000 that whale spit Jonah up, 'cause he, that's what Scripture says, 369 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,080 he after he repented, he's vomiting him up. 370 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:29,280 Vomit never smelled too good. And I smelled it, you know, and 371 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,440 it, I don't imagine whale vomit would smell very good either, 372 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,040 tell you the truth, you know, And here's this guy that spent 373 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,720 three days down inside this great big old fish. 374 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:46,160 No telling how nasty that was. And, and, and I'm thinking, Gee 375 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:53,160 whiz, no wonder the people at Nineveh believed him when he 376 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,560 came, even though he might not have done it with great vigor 377 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:01,120 and, you know, and really pronouncing the, the, the word 378 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:05,280 of the Lord, he, he was still believed. 379 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:11,720 And they turned real quickly. And I'm thinking could it be 380 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:17,880 that maybe those merchants who now lost a lot of their 381 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:24,360 valuables made it there before he did, got over there somewhere 382 00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:29,200 nearby anyway, and told this story about this crazy guy that 383 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,440 belonged to the the God of Israel, you know, the God of the 384 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,800 Jews and, and how that he had been thrown overboard and they 385 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,760 saw some big old fish looked like it got him, you know, and 386 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,160 it was a wild and crazy experience. 387 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,320 And that's why we don't have the stuff that we told you that we 388 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:49,720 were going to bring to you. And now Jonah shows up and he 389 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,600 smells like vomit. You know, he's got seaweed 390 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,920 hanging all over or whatever. You know, he doesn't look his 391 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,880 best, I'm sure. And he gets there and he tells 392 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:03,520 them this to repent, right? And gives them the word of the 393 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,360 Lord. You got to think that they 394 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:12,200 surely God used the bad stuff for his good. 395 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,240 And the reason why I'm bringing that up is because there's a lot 396 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:21,440 of times whenever we get off track, we mess up and God can 397 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,360 use the bad things what we would consider bad. 398 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:27,280 He can use it for his glory still, if we'll just surrender, 399 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,480 right? And and I remember in my own 400 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,560 life, I'm telling you a bunch about myself today. 401 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,040 But anyway, I remember at one point in time, the last, well, 402 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,360 growing up, I hated school. The last thing in the world I 403 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:39,760 wanted to do was to be in school. 404 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,480 So a lot of times I skipped out at lunchtime. 405 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,760 I would go, we had an open lunch, you know, I'd go outside 406 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,400 campus, I'd jump in the cars with some other guys. 407 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,880 We'd go down to the park and we'd do things we were supposed 408 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,520 to be doing. By the time I came back, it 409 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,720 school started a long time ago, you know, and, and I come in 410 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:01,840 reeking probably a lot of like Jonah, you know, I, I smelled 411 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:06,680 really bad because of what I've been doing, you know, and, and 412 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:11,200 so I, I think, you know, I hate school. 413 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:13,600 I don't want to do that. I don't want anything to do with 414 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:18,000 it. I get a little bit older and 415 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,560 when I surrender my life to the Lord, I was coming out of the 416 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,720 military. I could have gone back in, but 417 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,120 the Lord allowed me to fall to my flat on my back. 418 00:28:27,120 --> 00:28:30,240 And guess where I ended up? Not only flat on my back, but I 419 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,520 ended up teaching school. And I hated school. 420 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:36,280 You know, I don't want, I don't want to be locked up in a little 421 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:41,040 prison called school. But that's where I was for 26 422 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:45,560 years. And, and I believe with all my 423 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:50,080 heart that the Lord somehow used some of the stench that I hated 424 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,960 being down there in the school. So that maybe one day, a little 425 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,400 bit later down the road, he's able to use me in a greater way 426 00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,200 than he would have been able to use me before. 427 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,360 Because I've learned a little something about teaching, right? 428 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,760 So I'm just pulling these analogies together because if he 429 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:11,560 did it for for Jonah and use the bad for good and and he did it 430 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:18,800 for me, he'll do it for you. So another little thing you got 431 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,720 to think about in chapter 2. And we didn't read it, but it's 432 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,200 his prayer, right? Where is he praying? 433 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:31,160 In the belly of that fish? Way down in the depths of the 434 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,560 sea. How do we know what he said? 435 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:44,760 Who heard it and recorded it? God knows everything. 436 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,560 He sees all things, He hears all things. 437 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,440 There's nothing that is hidden from him, right? 438 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:57,440 So when you kind of get a grip of that and you say, wow, he 439 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,200 knows right where I'm at, best thing I can do is just surrender 440 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,920 myself to him, right? Well, that's what happened to 441 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,840 the people in Nineveh, because they were told that if they did 442 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,960 not repent, right, they're just going to be destroyed. 443 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,600 And instead of taking the destroy side, they said, hey, 444 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,320 let's repent, maybe God will change his mind. 445 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,280 And so they did. They, they wore sackcloth and 446 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:23,360 ashes and they fasted and they prayed and, and they humbled 447 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,200 themselves before the Lord. And he gave them 148 years 448 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,680 before they had to get destroyed because they hadn't turned once 449 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,480 again, right? I thought about that with the 450 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,960 United States. There's been times whenever we'd 451 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,320 really seek after the Lord and we'd humble ourself before the 452 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,760 Lord. And these days, it seems like 453 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,120 very few people are doing that as a nation. 454 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,720 And a lot of them don't even want to admit there is a Lord, 455 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,560 right? That there is a God above all 456 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:57,960 others. And if we'll just turn as a 457 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,200 nation, that's why we need to pray for revival 'cause if we'll 458 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:06,240 turn as a nation, I believe that the Lord will extend our good 459 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,240 years, OK? And He will allow us to 460 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,360 continue. I'm not so sure you know of the 461 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,200 timeline. I don't think we've got a whole 462 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:15,840 lot of time left to tell you the truth. 463 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,120 But I'll tell you one thing. If we'll humble ourselves before 464 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:23,000 the Lord and seek Him instead of running away from Him, guess 465 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,760 what? We will have greater days ahead. 466 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,000 There, there it will, because He won't give us a second chance. 467 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,800 He's the God of second chances. Now I want to talk about real 468 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:36,920 quickly a second and runner. OK, so flip over to Ephesians 469 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:41,560 chapter 3 and Ephesians chapter 3. 470 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,840 We'll start with verse 8 and let's read. 471 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,680 This is Paul. And he says to me, who am less 472 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:58,120 than the least of all the Saints, this grace, this grace, 473 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:02,640 whatever that is, was given that I should preach among the 474 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:10,240 Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see. 475 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,600 So this grace was given that he should preach and to make all 476 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,520 see. What is the fellowship of the 477 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:23,440 mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been 478 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:27,640 hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. 479 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,360 Now, if you're a lot like I have been and I no other people would 480 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:33,240 have been in my reading classes or whatever. 481 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:34,440 Well, here's what they would done. 482 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:39,280 They read it with their lips, but they didn't really get it 483 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:40,440 in. You know what I'm saying? 484 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,080 There's a difference between reading over something and and 485 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,160 actually understanding something, and that seems like a 486 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:53,280 difficult passage in the He spoken these words that seem 487 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,440 difficult. What is this fellowship of the 488 00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:01,000 mystery? What is the mystery that he 489 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:06,760 speaks of God's plan of salvation that that existed from 490 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:13,360 eternity past because he knew forever in eternity past what he 491 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,560 was going to do and what was going to lay out an eternity 492 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,080 forward, right. So God had a plan of salvation 493 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,640 that existed for eternity and that plan of salvation that this 494 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:32,360 royal God who speaks and planets, you know, he breathes 495 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,440 out stars and he speaks and there's planets come into 496 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:38,560 existence and he made man out of the dust to the ground. 497 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:45,360 And and that guy who always was and always will be this same guy 498 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:51,640 that he would come down and take upon himself flesh that he would 499 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:53,440 die. For who? 500 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,400 Somebody really great, I guess. No. 501 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:59,600 For who? For a bunch of scummy sinners, 502 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:01,640 right? That's the truth of it. 503 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,360 The truth of it is we can look in the mirror and say I'm just a 504 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,720 scummy Sinner except for him that saved me. 505 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:12,320 And that's a mystery, that God would come in the second person 506 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:16,120 of the Trinity, Godhead, and give himself for filthy sinners, 507 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,960 that they might have eternal life, and that he would 508 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:24,040 transform such people and fill them with his spirit. 509 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,320 Now think about this here you got a holy God, right? 510 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:30,360 There's nothing in him that's dark, there's nothing that's 511 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:32,840 bad. He's holy and he's good and and 512 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:40,719 he's willing to put his spirit inside some scumbag like me 513 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:46,800 because he was willing to clean me up and keep working on me, 514 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,800 right? So he puts his spirit in US if 515 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:57,680 we'll believe and call upon him in humility and run the course 516 00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:00,760 of our life and obedience to him. 517 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,600 Now the fellowship of the mystery that we read about there 518 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:09,880 refers to the fact that the great mystery of how God would 519 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:15,280 step down to be placed on our cross because we're the ones 520 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,200 that we're deserving. We are the ones that were the 521 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:24,760 sinners right and to live in US. It's it's much more though. 522 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:28,080 Look at the word fellowship. It's much more than just a head 523 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:32,560 knowledge. There's a fellowship, it's an 524 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,120 experiential thing where that you can walk with the Lord 525 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,720 instead of running from Him, and you can experience Him in you, 526 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:45,000 because if you've accepted Christ, He is in you. 527 00:35:48,240 --> 00:35:56,200 Imagine that. Who are we that this awesome 528 00:35:56,200 --> 00:36:01,520 almighty God who knows exactly the garbage that we've been in? 529 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:05,920 No, it's just how deep in the belly of the fish we are. 530 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:09,360 No, it's just how far down in the bottom of the sea, at the 531 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:15,520 depths we are and is willing to pull us out, wipe us off, clean 532 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:19,680 us up and live in US. That's a mystery. 533 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:25,080 First Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16 and six chapter 6, 534 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:29,080 verse 19 and 20 speak of that. It says for know you not that 535 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:32,320 you are the temple of God and that His Spirit dwells in you. 536 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:40,080 Now let's keep going there in verse 10, Ephesians 3, verse 10, 537 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,000 and it says this mystery, the fellowship of the mystery to the 538 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,440 intent. So I was about to tell you what 539 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:52,040 the purpose of this was, that now the manifold wisdom of God 540 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:58,680 might be made known by the church to to who? 541 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,920 To the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. 542 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:10,880 This is where you find in Hebrews chapter 12. 543 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:13,400 We'll go there in just a second, just real quick. 544 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:18,000 But in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2, you believe it is he speaks 545 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:22,040 of a great cloud of witnesses, right? 546 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:28,000 You've heard that right. OK, and you've got a great cloud 547 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,440 of witnesses here because you got the IT says the 548 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,120 principalities and powers in heavenly places. 549 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:37,000 So the angels themselves in another spot in first Peter 550 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,160 chapter 3. Maybe it's no, I forget, but 551 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:46,640 it's in first, first Peter. The Peter said this, he said of 552 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:51,200 the angels and of this mystery called salvation said the angels 553 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:56,040 peer into it, longing to understand this mystery. 554 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:02,760 How would an awesome God be willing to do that for those 555 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:07,240 people? And how can he transform this 556 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:14,560 scummy, Sinner, messed up person into someone who could live 557 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:19,320 forever? How can he make them holy like 558 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:21,960 he is? How can he even abide? 559 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,040 How can they go into his presence? 560 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,920 It's a mystery to me how does all that happen? 561 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:32,280 And that's what he speaks of. And verse 11 says according to 562 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:36,120 the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our 563 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:40,400 Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence 564 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:49,040 through faith in Him now in 490 BC. 565 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,480 So think about it for a second. I'm not talking about, you know, 566 00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:58,680 5000 years ago or something. I'm talking about 490 BC. 567 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:04,600 So maybe half that, maybe around 2500 years approximately, right? 568 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:11,600 The Greeks were engaged in a battle with the Persians, and 569 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:15,440 while they were in battle they were very victorious over the 570 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,360 Persians. And one of the victorious 571 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:22,440 soldiers did something very interesting. 572 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:34,080 He ran 25 miles from Marathon. Say that to you from Marathon to 573 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,920 Athens to bring the good news to his countrymen. 574 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,480 Now I'm just thinking that's pretty neat and there's more to 575 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:50,640 the story. But if a heathen, gentile Greek 576 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:58,400 paganist can run 25 miles, that would wear you out. 577 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:02,200 OK, 25 miles. He runs to tell the good news. 578 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:08,720 That kind of puts some of us to shame because we won't hardly 579 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:11,200 even go across the street or down the road very far. 580 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,480 It can't go more than, you know, a mile or something because it's 581 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:24,320 just too far right now. Fast forward to the year 1896 582 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:28,800 AD. So not too long back, 18196 and 583 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:33,680 the Modern Olympic, Olympic Committee introduced a long 584 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:40,920 distance foot race, which they called marathon. 585 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,840 That's right. It was approximately 28 years 586 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:50,880 after that in 1924 that this distance of this run that they 587 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:56,840 were calling the marathon was standardized to 26 miles, 385 588 00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,200 yards. And this race has now become the 589 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:04,560 final event at the Modern Olympic Games. 590 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,400 I guess it still is. I mean, far as I know, they 591 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:11,000 hadn't changed that. Everything changes quick as you 592 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:14,360 can turn around. But anyway, it's the last thing 593 00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:18,160 now. At the end of their exhausting 594 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:22,800 race, these competitors circle back around this track and 595 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,160 there's this crowd of people that are cheering them on. 596 00:41:26,240 --> 00:41:29,400 Maybe you remember even whenever you were in junior high school 597 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,160 or middle school or high school and, and the coach would have 598 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:34,800 the guys line up over there and cheer you on and say, come on, 599 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:35,600 come on, come on. Right. 600 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:37,720 To encourage the people that were coming in. 601 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:40,320 Yeah, 'cause they were about to give up and they were getting 602 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:42,440 tired. And he said, no, cheer them on, 603 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,080 bring them on, you know, and, and they, that's what they've 604 00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:47,080 done. They would run that big race and 605 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,360 then they would run around the lat or run around that track and 606 00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,560 the crowd would be cheering for them. 607 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,760 OK. The cheers of the people 608 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:02,240 motivated them to continue on wholeheartedly. 609 00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:09,800 Now let's look at Hebrews chapter 12, verse one and two, 610 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:14,440 and we'll quit here in just a minute with this, but let's turn 611 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:17,440 for a minute and look at Hebrews chapter 12. 612 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:24,000 Now the writer of the Hebrews, the book of Hebrews in Chapter 613 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,960 11, you might recall, sometimes it's referred to as the Hall of 614 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,840 Fame for faith. And so he lays out number of 615 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:34,520 people. I don't know, it's 1213. 616 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:37,520 Anyway, he's, he's talking about all these people from the Old 617 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:42,040 Testament who, who ran right instead of running wrong. 618 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:47,720 OK, they ran the right way. Now you think if he was telling 619 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:50,440 us about people that ran the right way, why, what's, what's 620 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:52,440 Sampson doing in there? Because he was. 621 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:54,760 And you go, y'all know better than that. 622 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:58,000 Sampson messed up big time. Guess what? 623 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:00,840 God is the God of second chances. 624 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:06,160 So even though he was flat on his back, had lost his eyesight 625 00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:09,560 because they gouged out his eyes and he was a slave and made a 626 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:12,760 mockery by the enemy, guess what? 627 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:16,080 His heart turned back to the Lord, and the Lord heard his 628 00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:20,480 prayer and used him once again. And he made the Hall of Fame 629 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,760 saying, just because you messed up doesn't mean the Lord can't 630 00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:29,600 use you ever again, right? OK, now let's read here. 631 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:36,280 It says, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so 632 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:43,440 great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and 633 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:45,920 the sin which so easily ensnares us. 634 00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:50,080 Now the word and is really important here because if you're 635 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:53,080 not careful and you just kind of read it, you know, just blow 636 00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:57,000 through it, you think, OK, I need to rid myself of the sin. 637 00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,400 That's so, you know, much weighing me down. 638 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:01,720 Well, that's true. But that's not the only thing 639 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:06,240 that's weighing you down because he says, let us lay aside every 640 00:44:06,240 --> 00:44:11,080 weight and the sin it's they're two separate things. 641 00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:13,880 Now, sin will weigh you down and it'll hold you down and it'll 642 00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:15,280 trip you up and it'll bring you down. 643 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:18,840 OK. But sometimes we're just so busy 644 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:25,280 doing so many other things that we get weighed down. 645 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,680 We're so busy looking at all the problems and trying to take care 646 00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:32,160 of all the needs. And and we got this to do and we 647 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:35,560 got that to do. And and we left God out of it, 648 00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:38,880 kind of like some people do intentionally, right? 649 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:44,720 Or try to. And here we see that that weighs 650 00:44:44,720 --> 00:44:49,000 you down as well. It might not be a sin in itself, 651 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:51,680 but it can still 'cause you to have a burden that you're, 652 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:55,120 you're, you're trying to, you can't run like you should be 653 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:57,240 running, right? And you're carrying this weight 654 00:44:57,240 --> 00:44:58,800 on you and you can't keep the speed. 655 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,000 You can't do the things that you should be able to do. 656 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:12,840 Sometimes we just need to clear the stage of the clutter in our 657 00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:16,640 life. And it says, and let us run with 658 00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:19,680 endurance, the race that is set before us. 659 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,320 Now, how do we run with endurance, the race that's set 660 00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:35,560 before us, looking unto Jesus. Scripture also says, in fact, 661 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:39,520 depending on your translation, it'll say having your eyes fixed 662 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:42,960 upon the Lord. OK, I think of a radar, you 663 00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:44,680 know, being in the military and stuff. 664 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:50,400 You know, I've been around some radars and they'll lock on and 665 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:54,080 when they lock on, you got problems, especially if they're 666 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:55,960 fixing to send a missile your way, right? 667 00:45:56,080 --> 00:46:00,040 Because if it's locked on, it isn't going to just suddenly get 668 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:02,280 sidetracked and go squirrel, you know, and look at the wrong way. 669 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:06,400 It stayed and our eyes have to stay that way, have to be fixed 670 00:46:06,720 --> 00:46:10,800 upon the on Christ. OK, That's the way we're going 671 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:14,480 to succeed. And it says here the author, 672 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:19,480 Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy 673 00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,320 that was set before him endured the cross. 674 00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:27,960 Now hang on a second. I thought he said, Father, if it 675 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:32,320 be or will let this cup pass from me, right? 676 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:35,000 And he was sweating drops of blood. 677 00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:39,120 He didn't necessarily want to go to the cross, right? 678 00:46:39,720 --> 00:46:45,880 Just saying. But for the joy that was set 679 00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:47,760 before him, he endured the cross. 680 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:52,760 What joy did he have when he thought about the cross? 681 00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:58,520 He realized that it's not just me going to the cross, but it's 682 00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:02,040 all these other people that don't have to, right? 683 00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:08,000 That I can now for eternity not have them far away, but have 684 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:15,400 them close because I love them. And it says despising the shame, 685 00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:19,080 he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 686 00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:25,840 Now in that verse it says a great cloud of witnesses were 687 00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:27,320 there. And it's kind of like what I was 688 00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:28,600 talking about a while ago on the track. 689 00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:30,360 You got all these witnesses, right? 690 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:35,000 These people cheering you on, except this group is an Angel. 691 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:37,320 It's like we talked about a while ago in Ephesians chapter 692 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:42,400 3. This group is the people he just 693 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:49,440 talked about in Chapter 11, that they had run right, that there 694 00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:51,480 was something admirable and good. 695 00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:54,200 And even if they were late and they're running right like 696 00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:58,240 Samson, they were still counted among the good. 697 00:47:59,240 --> 00:48:01,120 They're honorable. They're ones that were worth 698 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:07,000 mentioning. And I'm just thinking it wasn't 699 00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,440 just those 12 or 13. It's everybody who's put their 700 00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:15,080 faith in Christ throughout all the generations when we run and 701 00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:18,120 we're giving it all we got. And I'm not talking about 702 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:21,400 physically, but I'm talking about for the Lord to, to run 703 00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:26,040 the race to, to eternity. And we weren't, we weren't 704 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:27,640 right. We need to be remembering not 705 00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:30,640 that they are up there in heaven with holes in heaven looking 706 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:33,000 down going, oh, I wonder what's going on down there. 707 00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:34,720 That's not what it's talking about. 708 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:42,960 Their their lives are witness to us about the good that comes if 709 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:45,920 we run right? So we can remember that. 710 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:48,640 And it's kind of like those that sat in the crowd and cheered 711 00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:50,640 them on and clapped and said, come on, come on. 712 00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:54,120 OK, That's essentially what their lives are for us because 713 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,040 we see what happened to them, that the Lord accepted them 714 00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:59,920 despite their faults, that the Lord used them, that they ended 715 00:48:59,920 --> 00:49:02,360 up doing great things that they're in heaven, right? 716 00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:06,200 And and we go, wow, all I got to do is just do this one more, one 717 00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:08,440 more day, one more day. I can just push in a little bit 718 00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:12,520 further, right? That's where we're at. 719 00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:15,040 That's it. That's that's the idea. 720 00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:17,680 And I'm just thinking, OK, we got two different people here 721 00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:20,800 running, one that's trying to run away from the Lord and look 722 00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:23,680 where it got him. Thank God for second chances. 723 00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,200 And then you got the others who are running right? 724 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:32,960 And the Lord has his use them as a witness for us to go. 725 00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:33,520 Wow. Yeah. 726 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:35,800 OK. I just need to even he won't 727 00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:37,640 care. I mean, he does care if you mess 728 00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:40,200 up, but he will forgive me and he'll take me back. 729 00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:40,880 Right. And he. 730 00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:44,240 I can still do this. I'm going to run with the Lord, 731 00:49:44,240 --> 00:49:47,400 not against him. Praise the Lord. 732 00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:51,880 All right, well, let's let's bring this to close and say a 733 00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:54,120 word of prayer. Thanks for listening to the 734 00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:57,480 Cross Power Church podcast. May you know that true hope, 735 00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:00,640 peace, and salvation can only be found in Jesus. 736 00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:04,720 If you're near Campbell, TX, we would love for you to join us in 737 00:50:04,720 --> 00:50:07,200 person. You can find service times at 738 00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:08,800 crosspowerchurch.com.