Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.
To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,
connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.
We've been walking through a series called God's Mercy in My
Mess. It's through the book of Jonah
and the the the main truth or what we call the big idea of
this series is kind of embedded in the title of the series,
right? But if you're new to the series
or even if you're not new to the series, I want to get you to jot
this down. If you're taking notes with us,
it's on the back of your bulletin.
Or if you're using the app, the the River been app, the notes
are there too, but it's just the overall reminder.
Hey, listen, God's mercy is greater than my mess.
God's mercy is greater than my mess.
And one of the things we keep coming back to is that promise
that truth comes with no fine print, no exception clause.
It doesn't matter who you've been, where you've been, what
you struggled with, what you may still be struggling with.
It doesn't matter the, the severity or the longevity or the
complexity of your mess, God's mercy is still greater than that
mess. And I think that we would all
agree online or in the room that we're no stranger to messes,
right? Like we've all had our fair
shares of, of finding ourselves in a mess or, or, or being in a
mess from somebody, somebody else's making or making our own
mess, right? I want to tell you a quick story
about a huge, huge mistake. I'm not saying that I'm a smart
man now, but I hopefully make less stupid mistakes as I get
older. Julie and I, we started dating
in in college our first year, freshman year of college.
Now, all through high school, I dated this this, this this one
particular girl. And we thought that we could
just still be friends. This one girl that I dated,
Spoiler alert, that's not how it works.
All right, keep that in mind. So one day I'm, I'm talking to
this girl that I used to date through high school and I I'm
telling her about Julie and I'm telling her about how incredible
Julie is and how much I like Julie and, and this girl she,
she has this idea. She goes, hey, why don't I would
love to meet her. So why don't like you and her
and, and and me and my friend like we all go on a double date
together at Six Flags and I thought, man, that's a great
idea and we'll have a lot of fun together.
Spoiler alert, It was not a great idea.
And we did not have really a lot of fun because what I didn't
realize is the four of us are driving from Gwinnett County
down to Six Flags. And what a joy that conversation
was. But then all throughout the day
at Six Flags, this girl that her and I used to date, she decided
to play this game called Ben. Remember when dot, dot, dot.
Yeah, you know where this is going?
Spoiler alert again. I've already said I was stupid.
All right. So anyway, after the day, like
we go home, I'm driving Julie home and it hits me like the
weight of all of my stupidity hits me in an instant to where I
unintentionally and, and accidentally, man, I was stupid.
And, and that that was that was even like cruel and insensitive.
And I thought for sure, man, she is going to dump me.
Julie's going to dump me. Well, I don't know if if God the
Holy Spirit really spoke to her and said, listen, you were
justified in dumping this idiot, but please don't.
But she didn't dump me. I'm so thankful for that.
Now here's the thing. You may laugh, but you if you
think through some of the stupid things that you've done that
like you look back on and cringe, you probably don't want
to share it from a stage either. But you do have my permission.
If you're married or you're dating in here, you can look at
your husband or your wife or your boyfriend or your
girlfriend and you can look at them and say, wow, I have done
some stupid stuff in my life that I have felt really bad
about, but I haven't done anything that dumb.
I thought, I thought that it was over.
I thought that it was completely over and isn't it true that a
lot of times on the backside of our really bad decisions on the
backside of our really bad choices, that we we can believe
a lie about God. It's actually a very commonly
believed lie. If you're taking notes with us,
I want to show you, Oh, by the way, flash that picture back up.
This is this is AI. That is not me.
That guy looks a lot happier than I was.
All right, we can go to the next one.
Here's the lie that we believe if you're taking notes with us.
My past choices, fears, and resistance to God.
They've condemned me to live a lesser than life.
You ever thought that? That your past choices, your
past decisions, your past resistance to God, the results
of those have condemned you to live a lesser than life.
And one of the things that I want to show you this morning
going back into the book of Jonah together, is that is a lie
that is so easy for us to believe, but there's a truth
that God wants us to see this morning.
If you have a Bible with you, I want to ask that you join me in
Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3.
Actually, we're going to be picking it up, the last verse in
Jonah chapter 2. While you're making your way
there, let me kind of give you an overview of where we've been.
There's a man by the name of Jonah who was a prophet or a
chosen spokesman for God. So God would give His word to
Jonah. Jonah would then spread that
word to the people what God's instructions would be.
God called this prophet to leave his hometown in Israel to travel
to modern day Mosul, Iraq, which was the capital city of the
Assyrian Empire. Nineveh.
And these were some bad, bad, evil people in Nineveh.
Jonah essentially said Nope, not going to go.
So instead of going 500 miles east to Nineveh, he hopped a
ship. He booked a cruise down in down
in the seaport of Joppa and he tried to sell 2500 miles West to
Tarshish, which is modern day Spain.
God of course, got his attention and brought a huge, huge storm
on the sea to where the sailors of that boat ended up tossing
Jonah overboard. Jonah was then swallowed by a
great fish, lived in that fish, the belly of that fish for three
days, three nights. That's where we went last week
and we talked about the overall grace of rock bottom.
So after Jonah chapter 2, Jonah chapter 2 ends with such a
great, such a great verse down in verse 10.
This is what it says and the Lord spoke to the fish and it
vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Not sure if you have that underlined or highlight in your
Bible, but so appetizing to start our morning with right
vomited Jonah out on dry land. Then the word of the Lord came
to Jonah the second time saying arise, go to Nineveh, that great
city and call out against it the message that I tell you.
So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the word of
the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly
great city, 3 days journey in breath.
And that's where we're going to leave off this morning.
Next week we're going to pick it up of where Jonah goes further
into the city and his message to the people of Nineveh.
But here's the thing, if you're new to the series or you're new
to the whole narrative or the events or life of Jonah, that's
what you need to know. This was the second time that
God called Jonah. This is the second time that God
called Jonah. For example, if you look in your
Bible and Jonah chapter one, verse 2, it says arise, go to
Nineveh. This was God speaking to Jonah.
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it for
their evil has come up before me.
That's Jonah chapter one, verse 2.
Jonah chapter 3, verse 2. The second call was this.
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it.
The message that I, I tell you almost identical almost.
And we'll get to the we'll get to the nuanced difference there
in just a moment. But here's what I need you to
understand is Jonah, just like he faced a choice, whether it be
obedient to God or to be disobedient to God.
The first time that God called him, he faced the same choice.
He faced the same choice the second time.
You see, the first time that God called Jonah, Jonah said, Nope,
not going to do it. I'm going to book a cruise down
to Tarshish, over to Tarshish. And then God got his attention
in the belly of a whale being swallowed and living in the
belly of a whale for three days, three nights.
And then after Jonah's on the beach after being vomited up by
this fish, he still gets a second choice or a second
chance. God invites him into a second
chance. God invites him into a calling
that looks almost identical, essentially identical to the
first calling. But I need you to understand
that here we are in 2026 going, well, of course Jonah would go
into Nineveh like that's a no brainer.
But I need you to understand is Jonah experienced 3 enemies to
God's invitation to a second chance.
The same three enemies that you and I face when it comes to us
embracing the second chances that God extends to us.
If you take your notes with us, here's the first of the three,
three enemies of second chances. It's pride.
Now if you'll do me a favour,
think of pride almost like a coin.
On one side of that coin is is arrogance.
On the other side of that coin is insecurity.
Pride being the coin, pride is really being thinking way too
much of ourselves. Pride is that part of us that,
that that is all about us, right?
So pride is, is that voice that basically tries to excuse away
the, the, the past choices and fears and resistance that, that,
that we have mounted against God over our journey, over our time.
So, so pride would, would, would try to convince us that, hey,
those past choices that you made, those past sinful choices
that you made, they, they weren't really that big of a
deal. You just you, you just did what
everybody else does. It is downplaying it.
Pride will try to convince you, hey, that that past resistance
or, or those past fears, it wasn't that wasn't really a fear
of God. That wasn't really a fear of
stepping out into what God has for you.
It was just something that like it was just kind of cloudy.
It was just kind of murky. It's not that big of a deal for
that past resistance to God. Hey, that wasn't full on
resistance against God, That that was just more of a
misunderstanding. You see, pride will always keep
us from trying to it will keep us from even the notion of
needing a second chance. That's the that's the side of
pride that is arrogance. The side of pride that is, that
is insecurity. Is this like is this notion I'm
no good, I'm not worthy of this? Like God can never use me.
I'm not, I'm not good enough at all.
Listen, pride, pride will always lie to you.
Pride has a way. Have you ever noticed that our
personal pride always has a way of downplaying our struggles and
our failures while exaggerating our victories and our strengths?
Listen, pride will lie to you every single time, but here's my
here's my challenge to you. If you're struggling with pride
this morning, if you're hearing that whisper of pride this
morning going, hey, listen, you don't really need a second
chance from God. You're you're good.
Like especially compared to the person sitting next to you.
They're a really bad person. Not you don't Amen that I get
really awkward. You don't need a second chance.
But let me ask you a question. If just for a moment.
Could you consider the possibility that over the course
of life you've made some mistakes and some missteps and
that you do need a second chance that God is extending?
Could you tune out that voice of pride for just a moment, maybe
to consider that God is extending to you and inviting
you into a second chance? And there in that second chance,
you will find God's mercy and His grace.
You will find God's purpose and significance for you.
You're not going to find judgement.
You're not going to find condemnation, but you've got to
tune out that voice of pride. The first enemy to US stepping
into the second chances that God offers us is pride.
Second enemy, and this is a really powerful one, is shame is
shame. Shame is that overwhelming
feeling of guilt and heaviness and weightiness in almost tags
and titles that we wear based off of past actions or in
actions. And I would say that shame
probably comes in two, two prominent forms, and both of
these forms are equally debilitating and destructive for
us. The first form that shame takes
on are the tags and titles that other people give us.
You may be coming in here this morning or join us online this
morning. And A tag and title that
somebody has given you based off of your past choices or fears or
resistance to God is, hey, you're just an addict.
You've had your chance. You just all what?
You always mess everything up. You're disqualified.
There's no hope for you. That is the first form of shame.
The second form of shame is the tags and titles and the labels
that we place on ourselves is how we talk to ourselves, is how
we address ourselves. It is how we look at ourselves.
It's saying things and thinking things about us like I'm just a
screw up. I'm hopeless, I'm unlovable.
God's done with me. That that's that.
That's shame. Can I tell you this if mentally,
if you were kind of living in the in the neighborhood of other
people's opinions about you, what somebody may have said
about you, the tags are the labels of shame that God, that
that those people have placed on you.
God hasn't placed those labels on you.
You see, as a matter of fact, God has.
God has called you a son or daughter of the most high.
God has called you fearfully and wonderfully made.
God has called you his masterpiece.
Or if you live in the gated community of of maybe the tags
and the titles and the labels that that you place on yourself.
And this kind of goes back to that, to that second side of the
coin of pride of insecurity. Can I tell you this?
Like what you may be referring to yourself as God's never
referred to you that way. Can I tell you this?
Let me kind of set you free. Your worst mistakes, my worst
mistakes. They don't get to name you.
They don't get to name us. We are named by our Creator, by
our author. But as long as we keep living up
underneath the tags and the titles and the labels that other
people have placed on us, or maybe the tags and the titles
and labels that we've placed on ourselves, we will always settle
for far less than what God invites us into.
That's why shame is such a such a crucial and such a
debilitating enemy to the second chances that God extends to us.
But then there's a third enemy that he extends to or that that
comes against that extension. And that's the enemy of fear.
It's the enemy of fear. It's the enemy of God.
I'm fearful. I'm fearful of what other people
may think. I'm fearful of what other people
may say. I'm fearful that I don't have
what it takes. I'm fearful of failure.
I'm fearful of just falling on my face.
I'm fearful if I walk in obedience to you, God, I'm
fearful of everything that is going to cost me.
What you're going to call me to walk away from and what you're
going to call me to pick up and carry on.
It is fear. And here's what I would tell
you. Fear is always like pride and
shame. Fear is always a liar.
Not to RIP off the Zach Williams song, but it's true.
Fear is always a liar. Have you ever noticed that fear
will always, always point your attention to and cast the vision
of worst case scenarios? Have you always noticed that
fear always can cast a vision for all the many things that
could go wrong? Fear will never cast a vision to
all the things of how your life could be different.
It's really interesting. Fear promises.
It fears this notion that promises to protect us from us.
But what fear actually does is fear prevents us from stepping
into all that God is inviting us to step into.
Fear will keep us away from second chances.
And you see this playing out in the life of Jonah all the time,
all throughout the four chapters of the book of Jonah.
You see, Jonah could have easily thought, you know what?
I'm going to stick to my guns. I'm going to stick to my guns.
I said, I'm not going to Nineveh.
I'm not going to go to Nineveh. I'm going to be true to myself.
And in essence, he could have allowed, he could have allowed
pride to win the day. Jonah could have allowed shame
to win the day by saying, man, I blew it.
Not I not only blew it, but I like blew it big time.
Like what kind of prophet of God am I that I ran away from the
call of God and I actually put in danger the life of an entire
ship's crew and I I can't be used by God.
What kind of prophet am I? And in so doing, he would allow
shame to win the day or he could have allowed fear to win the day
going God. I don't know what to say to
these people in Nineveh. God, you're, you're aware that
these people kill other people just by the way they look.
What do you think they're going to do to somebody that actually
calls them out and tells them that God's going to destroy
them? And he could have allowed fear
to win the day. He could have allowed fear to
win the day, but thank God he didn't.
Thank God he, he didn't. You see, the lie that we often
believe is our past choices, our past fears, our past resistance
to God condemns us to live a lesser than life.
But I want to show you the truth that God wants to show us this
morning. Here it is.
Here's the truth. God is not finished with me.
He not only wants me to live life to the fullest, but He also
desires to use my story for His glory.
God is not finished with me. Listen, we could spend all day
unpacking that statement. We won't, but we could.
We could spend all day unpacking that statement.
Listen, God's not finished with you.
He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it until
the day of Christ Jesus. God does not abandon His
children. God's not finished with you.
God desires. He not only wants you to live,
He wants you to live life to the fullest.
That promise still stands on the other side of our mistakes and
missteps and sins. Check this out.
He desires to use my story for His glory.
Even the broken and the messy parts can be repurposed by God.
So here's the question for us. What do we need to do to drop
the lie and embrace that truth? I think it's going to involve at
least three heart to mind shifts within us, taking notes with us.
Here it is. I must decide that God's grace
is greater than my pride, my shame, and my fear.
I must decide that God's grace is greater than my pride, my
shame, and my fear. Can I get you to do an exercise
with me? Let's kind of take it out of the
realm and we'll we'll jump back into Jonah, but let's put it
kind of in the personal realm this morning.
Can I ask you to think, just take a moment and think about a
question. Here's the question I want you
to think about. What is the reason?
What is the reason or how have I convinced myself?
In what ways have I taught myself, convinced myself into
believing is the main reason God won't use me?
What is the main, what is the main reason that you give that
you think that God won't use you?
Just take a moment. There's a big blank.
I don't know how big of a blank that you need on your on your
note sheet. I know for me, I need a pretty
big blank. For some of you, it's just
jotting down a word, jotting down a phrase.
Maybe it's jotting down a date. Maybe there's some brokenness in
your past. Maybe there's some really bad,
like mess ups, maybe made some really bad decisions or choices
and you've convinced yourself that because of those past
choices, decisions, fears, and resistance to God, that God will
not use you anymore. What is that?
What have you convinced yourself?
Now check this out. Whatever you write in that blank
or whatever, by the way, we're not going to ask that you turn
them in. We're not going to ask that you
show the person next to you or get up on the microphone and go,
hey, this is where I've convinced myself that God won't
use me. However, here's where I'll tell
you. Let's go back to that last
slide, Chris. My guess is, is whatever you
wrote down is going to fall into one of three of these buckets,
pride, shame, and fear. You see, whatever you wrote
down, whatever you've convinced yourself is the main reason that
God won't use you. It is probably out of pride, It
is probably out of shame, or it's probably out of fear.
It is going to fall into one of those 3 broad categories, one of
those 3 buckets and we're to crossroads here in order to
reject the line, embrace the truth, in order for us to take
advantage of and step into the second chances that God wants to
offer us this morning and moving forward, I must decide that
God's grace is greater than my pride, my shame, and my fear.
Let me kind of break it down to brass tacks.
Either here's the here's the fork in the road.
Either my pride, my shame, and my fear is more truthful, is
more honest, and desires more good for me than God, or God is
more truthful, more honest, and desires more good for me than my
pride, my shame, and my fear. We, we're the ones that make
that decision. We're the ones that make that
decision. Here's where I'll tell you.
If you and I decide to continue living in pride, shame, and
fear, nothing changes outside of the fact that we just find
ourselves as being more prideful, more shame filled, and
more fearful. However, God's grace tells us,
hey, listen, I'm not finished with you.
Despite your previous choices, despite your previous fears of,
despite your resistance towards me, I'm not finished with you.
I still desire good for you. I still desire that you live
life to the fullest. And I still desire, I still
desire to use your story for my glory.
But we have to make that decision.
I have to let go of my pride because here's what I would tell
you. My guess is our pride.
Whatever you look down and whatever you may have filled in
that blank or you thought about filling in that blank, your
pride is pretty, pretty much putting together a pretty good
case. Your, your shame is putting
together a pretty compelling argument, your fears putting
together a pretty rational reasoning of why God's finished
with you. And you and I, we have to make
the decision. Listen, is God's grace greater
than my pride, my shame, and my fear?
Or is my pride, my shame and my fears that greater than God?
And here's why I tell you every day of the week and twice on
Sunday, our pride and our shame and our guilt cannot hold a
candle to God's grace, but He will never force that grace on
us. Second thing that we need to
understand if we're going to reject the law and embrace the
truth. Second chances are not do overs.
This right here is probably the
most misunderstood factor or element when it talks.
When we talk about God extending to us second chances.
Second chances are not do overs. Remember how we looked at the 2
calls of God on Jonah? The first one is Jonah 1/2, the
2nd and Jonah 32. I want to show you kind of that
nuanced difference here. The first one, arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it for their
evils. Come up before me.
That was the first call. The second is arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.
The message that I tell you Here's the most significant and
essential difference between the call of God on Jonah.
Check this out. You can underline it on your
note sheet. The message that I tell you,
here's my question to you. How in the world would Jonah
know what to say to the people of Nineveh?
He had to wait on God to give him the words, which would
require what? Complete dependence on God.
God, here I am. It's not about my ability, it's
about my availability. Speak to me so that you can
speak through me. It's a full dependence on God.
Let me ask you a question. Where do you think Jonah learned
that complete dependence on God? That's right.
And the belly of a fish. You see, when Jonah hit rock
bottom and he started to realize that all the things that he had
no control over, God never lost control over.
That's when he fully surrendered over to God.
And here's where I'll tell you, church in the room online.
It's when you and I, when we hit rock bottom, when we start to
realize all the things that we don't have control over.
He never lost control over man. That begins to change us.
God begins to change us in very profound ways.
You see, it was impossible. It was impossible for Jonah to
get a do over. We typically think of the second
chances of God as some type of do over to where he magically
rewinds the clock and just reinserts us back into those
same situations. But here's the thing that we
miss. That's an impossibility because
Jonah was not the same person that he was back in Jonah One,
He'd been changed by God in a profound way.
And when we begin to surrender our lives to God and we've
become fully dependent upon God, he begins to change us in
profound ways. Here's how that fleshes out you
may, you may never or you will never be able to go back in time
and to to relive that stage of your marriage.
But but by the grace of God and all the cause of the grace of
God, you can move forward as a changed, as a transformed man or
a woman. You and I, we will never get a
second chance to go back and to relive that stage of our
children's lives. However, by the grace of God and
all the cause of the grace of God, we can live with love and
and kindness as they changed mom or dad, we will never get the
opportunity to go back into time and to take back those harmful
words or or those hurtful actions.
But by the grace of God, all because of the grace of God, we
can walk forward in sympathy and empathy and kindness and love as
a transformed and as a changed friend.
You see, second chances are not do overs.
Second chances aren't do overs. And this is what we'll land
things this morning. The third thing that you and I,
we need to understand if we're going to drop the line and brace
the truth, my story isn't about perfection.
It's really about redemption. Let's unpack those two words.
I think perfection, we all kind of understand that, making no
mistakes. And I think that we would all
agree, we've all blown that one right.
And if you're on the fence on whether or not you've blown
perfection, trust me, you have. We all get that right.
Redemption, however. Redemption, however, is God
using my brokenness to display His healing.
That's redemption. God taking my pain and my
mistakes and repurposing it and pointing other people to Him
about what He's doing in and through me.
My story isn't about perfection. It's really all about
redemption. I don't think at all.
When we read this, it's very easy for us to assume, to
falsely assume this is a crutch. Hey, my story isn't about
perfection, It's about redemption.
This is never a crutch for us to lean on, to no longer be
intentional about pursuing personal holiness.
This is, however, it's a key that unlocks the prison cell
from what? From shame, from pride, and from
fear. My story isn't about perfection,
it's about redemption. Let me ask you a question.
This may seem like a no brainer question, but it's some of the a
lot of times we don't think about.
We know reading the book of Jonah, Jonah was a deeply,
deeply flawed man, right? And if if that hasn't, if that
hasn't resonated yet, hang with us over the next couple weeks.
This is going to become more evident because he's still a
deeply flawed man. Here's a question for you.
How do we know about all of Jonah's flaws, about all the
ways that Jonah ran from God and you know, some of the some of
the conversations he had with God, How do we know about all of
this? It's from Jonah.
It's from Jonah himself. You see, Jonah didn't omit his
flaws. He didn't sugarcoat his
failings. Jonah basically said, hey,
here's what an idiot I was, yet God's grace was greater and if
God can use me, then he can use you.
And in so doing, he did not rob God of his glory.
Here's what I would tell you. This is not about oversharing.
It's not about making it weird or awkward for the people around
us, but a lot of times, because we heed the voices of shame or
pride or fear, we do not tell others our stories of what God
has done for us and done in and through us.
And in so doing, we rob God of His glory.
Our story is not about perfection.
Our story is not about us at all.
Our story is really about Him and He wants to use my life in
your life, in our lives to point people to him, the people that
are around us, to him with the same notion that with Jonah, if
he can do this in and through me, man, he can do this in and
through you. He is the God of second chances.
Do not allow your pride or your shame or your fear to keep you
from or to talk you out of embracing the second chance that
he's offering you. So here's where we want to end
this morning. 2 main questions. Number one, have you fully
surrendered your life to Jesus? Have you fully surrendered your
life to Jesus? This past week I had the honor
and privilege of preaching the funeral service of a of a dear,
dear lady in our in our church. She passed away at the age of 76
and one of the things is just very obvious about her life was
you could not tell her story without telling the story of
Jesus in her. You see, here's a distinct
difference about this lady. This lady did not just add Jesus
to her life. Sprinkle in a little like Bible
dust on her life. This lady made Jesus her life.
So here's my question to you. Have you fully surrendered your
life to Jesus Like these three that that followed Jesus in
believers baptism? All three of them, different
backgrounds. All three of them essentially
have the same story. There was a point in time in my
life to where I realized I could not do life on my own.
I made all the mistakes, I tried to fix myself and none of it
ever worked. And then I turned to Jesus and I
embraced His. I embraced his grace and His
mercy and I found out that God's grace was always greater than
any of my messes. So here's the question for you.
Has there been a point in time, a specific point in time, to
where you have said yes? I have asked Jesus to forgive me
of my sins and I've asked Him to take control of my life and
committed to following Him for the rest of my life.
That is a yes or no question. If it is yes, praise God.
If it is a no, then I have great news for you.
You're going to have an opportunity to leave here
changed. If it is a man, I hope so.
Or maybe here's where I would tell you, man, that chance is
not worth taking at all. This morning could be the
morning that you nail that down. But second question is this.
How are you allowing pride, shame, or fear to rob God of His
glory? What parts of your story has He
redeemed? What parts of your journey would
you have never have rather not walked through?
But He walked through with you, and He's brought you out on the
other side that He can use your story for His glory.
Is there something in your life right now that you're holding on
to? Are you allowing your pride,
your shame, your fear to have a stronghold and have a grip on
your life? And maybe this morning, the most
freeing thing that you can do, and we're about to open up the
altar for you to come down and pray and just have a moment of
release is to say, hey, God, I want to let go of my pride, my
shame, and my guilt. Use my story for however you can
get glory. It's never about your ability.
It's always about your availability.
And that's exactly how it looks like.
So here's what we're going to do.
I'm going to pray over us. We're going to have some pastors
down here at the front if you would like to come pray with us
or talk to us. Maybe you're someone that that
first question, you're really struggling with that first
question. We would love to talk with you
and pray with you. Maybe you're one of the many
this morning that you need to let go of some pride, some shame
and some fear in your life and say, Hey God, whatever it looks
like, use my story for your glory and to walk back fully
released and fully ready for God to use you however He sees fit
to use your story for his glory. Pray with me, God, we love you
and God, we thank you for your word.
God. It is such not just a challenge
to us God, it is a mirror to us God.
The more that we look into the life of Jonah, God, the more
that we see deep down within ourselves, God, the the choices
and the decisions that Jonah faced.
God, every single one of us here this morning, we face the same
decisions and choices. We can either give in to the
voices of pride or shame and fear, or we can consider your
grace, your voice to be greater than all of those other voices.
God, would you help us to understand that?
God, your grace and your invitation to second chances to
us this morning. God, your voice is greater than
anything that we may ever hear. God is greater than any force
that we may ever encounter. God, I pray that if there's a
man or a woman or a student in here with us this morning or
with us online that knows that he or she has not ever fully
surrendered their life to you. God, they're looking at the at
the life and at the examples of, of Tia of dawn of Christie.
God, they know that they need to take that step of obedience
through baptism or they know that they need to fully
surrender their lives to you. God, I pray that this morning,
God, that you would break down any walls of hesitation in their
lives. Thank God that they would come
forward. They would come talk to a pastor
and God that they would leave forever changed and transformed.
God, for those who have surrendered their lives to you.
God, would you help us to lay down our pride and our shame and
our fear? God, that we would consider
being used by you. God, understanding that our
story is not about perfection, our story is about redemption.
God that you want to use our story for your glory.
God, would you help us to understand that it has nothing
to do with our abilities or our talents, has everything to do
with our availability. And God, we make ourselves
available to you by saying, God, I lay down my pride.
I lay down my shame. I lay down my fear.
Use my story in however ways in which it'll bring you the most
glory. God, I pray that you would move
among us this morning. God, I pray that you would grant
freedom this morning. God, I pray that you would bring
change and transformation in and through us.
This morning is in Jesus name that we pray.
Amen. Thank you for listening to the
Riverbend Church Podcast. Learn more about who we are as a
church and how to connect, you can head over to our website,
Riverbendchurch Life.