1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,200 Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast. 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:11,560 To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church, 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,920 connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live. 4 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:21,880 This week we're going to continue on. 5 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,880 We're actually closing out our series through the book of 6 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,040 Jonah. It's a book of four chapters, 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,280 but we've been walking through this is the 6th week of the book 8 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,880 of Jonah. And one of the things that we 9 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:38,240 have seen throughout this throughout this entire series, 10 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,120 we have learned truths. God is tall as truth, pointed us 11 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,440 to the truth in his word that the different opportunities that 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,560 that that may arise in our lives for us to be disobedient to God, 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,840 that they're they're not accidental and they're not 14 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:54,440 coincidental. They're very strategic. 15 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,200 In other words, God has a plan for for you and I God has a plan 16 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,840 for every single one of our lives and every single one of 17 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:02,360 us. We're tempted to turn away from 18 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,400 that plan. Those temptations, they're not 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,160 accidental, they're not coincidental, they're very 20 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,520 intentional and they're very strategic because we have a very 21 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,840 real enemy that does not want us to live in alignment with the 22 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,280 heart of God. We've also talked about we've 23 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,800 also looked at how through the life of Jonah that so many of 24 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,120 us, I think every single one of us at one time or another, we 25 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,120 ran from the plans that God had for for us and, and we we walked 26 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,240 in disobedience to God. And but God loves us so much 27 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,160 that he will go to great lengths to get our attention to draw us 28 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,320 back to his heart. And then we looked at one Jonah 29 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:38,520 was in the belly of that fish for three days and three nights. 30 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:43,760 We've looked at how grace or we can find grace at rock bottom. 31 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,440 If we look at our rock bottom through the lens of I can be 32 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:52,440 frustrated, all the things that I can't control, but I can also 33 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:54,400 look at all the things that I can't control and realize that 34 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,000 God never lost control of those things. 35 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,600 That's when panic turns to prayer and that's when I can 36 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,280 find actually God's grace right there at rock bottom. 37 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,000 We talked about how God is a God of, of second chances. 38 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,680 If you were here with us last week, we took a look, an in 39 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,800 depth look at how there's a distinctive difference between 40 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,480 remorse and repentance. And, and, and Jesus calls us to 41 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,520 repentance, not just remorse. And there's a huge difference 42 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:23,840 between the two. But this morning we're going to 43 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,280 be taking a look at Jonah chapter 4. 44 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:34,000 This chapter is what author and pastor Tim Keller refers to as 45 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:40,360 the most forgotten and the most unexpected chapter of the entire 46 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:42,160 Bible. And this is what he means. 47 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,840 I I agree with him, but this is what this is what is meant by 48 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:50,400 that is most everybody has heard of Jonah and being swallowed by 49 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,480 a fish. Most people, they, they, they 50 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,400 know that Jonah was swallowed by a fish. 51 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,720 They've heard the storage on a swallowed by a fish that he 52 00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:59,920 repented and then he was released from the fish. 53 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,760 Most people think that that's where Jonah's story ends. 54 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,760 Some, however, they know where we spent the last two weeks. 55 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,200 They know that after being released from the fish that that 56 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,880 Jonah goes into Nineveh and and tells the people of Nineveh the 57 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:18,160 message that God gave him. And the revival fell that day on 58 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,720 the capital city of the Assyrian Empire on the people of Nineveh. 59 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:28,160 Very, very few people know how the rest of Jonah chapter 4 60 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:30,920 ends. Most people just assume that 61 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,080 revival fell on Nineveh. Jonas celebrated revival, 62 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:37,680 celebrated this great movement of God with the people of 63 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:40,320 Nineveh. He probably went to a potluck 64 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:42,920 dinner, probably brought a casserole. 65 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,360 And then he went skipping out of the city limits all the way back 66 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,120 to his hometown, telling everybody about this great 67 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,640 movement of God that he was able to be a part of and what he was 68 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,280 able to see and, and just excitement everywhere. 69 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,840 And then he got back to his hometown and he he, he stood up 70 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,040 in church and he gave the report and he ended up writing a book 71 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,280 and going on a conference, sticking to her and probably 72 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:06,480 even started a podcast. That's what most people assume. 73 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,560 That's not what happened. That's not at all what happened. 74 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,560 To give us a little bit of context of what happened at the 75 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,680 book of at the end of the book of Jonah, I want to ask that 76 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,680 you've joined me in Jonah chapter 3, verse 10. 77 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,040 There's going to be a little bit of an overlap to give us a 78 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:28,240 fuller view of the context. But Jonah 310 says when God saw 79 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,320 what they did, the people of Nineveh, how they turned from 80 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,320 their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said 81 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,600 that He would do to them, and He did not do it. 82 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,080 Jonah 414 verse one. But it displeased Jonah 83 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,200 exceedingly. And he was angry, that phrase, 84 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,360 and he was angry. We're going to come back to that 85 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,480 in just a second. And he prayed to the Lord and 86 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:55,960 said, O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my 87 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,960 country? That is why I made haste to flee 88 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:04,120 to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, 89 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,640 slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and relenting 90 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,560 from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please 91 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,440 take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to 92 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,720 live. And the Lord said, Jonah, do you 93 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,040 do well to be angry? Jonah went out of the city and 94 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,480 sat at the east of the city and made a booth there for himself 95 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:30,240 and he sat under it in the shade till he should see what would 96 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,080 become of the city. Now in case you missed anything, 97 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,640 let's kind of review and unpack what just happened. 98 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,720 God sent his chosen prophet and preacher Jonah to preach the 99 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:43,920 message. Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be 100 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,040 overthrown to the people of Nineveh. 101 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,200 Jonah goes 1/3 of the way into the city, gives that message. 102 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:53,280 Revival falls on to the city. Jonah, this prophet of God, this 103 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:57,240 chosen preacher of God, he gets ticked, he's furious, he's 104 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,440 angry. We know that the Old Testament 105 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:01,680 is written in the Hebrew language. 106 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,280 Remember that phrase that I told you come back to and he became 107 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,200 angry. Jonah chapter 4 verse one. 108 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:13,280 The Hebrew for that is by you Char value char, emphasis on the 109 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:18,120 char there because it literally means to be burned up, to be 110 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:22,200 kindled with anger. He was ticked. 111 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,640 He was ticked that God did not destroy the people of Nineveh. 112 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:30,560 And not only was he ticked, he told God all about it, right? 113 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,800 He told God all about it. And he even goes to the links of 114 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,720 saying, hey, God, I would rather die than live in a world to 115 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,560 where you show grace and mercy to the people of Nineveh. 116 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:48,080 And then we read about how Jonah storms out of the city, climbs a 117 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,360 hill, the tallest hill overlooking the city, basically 118 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,920 lays out a blanket, sets up a picnic for himself so he has the 119 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,600 best seat in the house. Hoping that God would finally 120 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,840 come to his senses and start raining fire down from heaven 121 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:05,200 and destroy the city, Jonah got a bird's eye view of the 122 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,600 impending destruction that he was hoping would come. 123 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:13,480 Now a lot of us are sitting here thinking, wow, I had no idea. 124 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:15,720 That's how the book of Jonah ended. 125 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:19,360 And then we were left with two questions. 126 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,200 Then was Jonah really that big of a jerk? 127 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,360 And the answer to that question is yes, Yes, he was. 128 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,160 But then the the most overarching question is how 129 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:36,480 could a prophet and a preacher of God prophet and a preacher of 130 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,160 God, How could he ever become so hard and calloused towards 131 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,840 people? How in the world could Jonah 132 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,600 ever become so hard and calloused to where he was so mad 133 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:51,120 that God didn't destroy every man, every woman and every child 134 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,920 in the city of Nineveh? And then goes and sets up 135 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,280 basically a picnic for himself, hoping to get like the best seat 136 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,640 in the house to watch the destruction happen, to watch 137 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,440 Nineveh burn and all the people be incinerated and die. 138 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,080 How in the world could a prophet and a preacher of God become so 139 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:12,560 hard and callous towards people? I believe that Jonah believed a 140 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:14,480 lie. That's so easy for us to fall 141 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,080 for. Here's the lie if you're taking 142 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,400 notes with us. Whatever matters most to me must 143 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:23,000 matter most to God. Whatever matters most to me, 144 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,800 man, that most that that must matter most to God. 145 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:32,440 What mattered most to Jonah? People of Nineveh, they get 146 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:36,760 what's coming to them. So that must matter most to God. 147 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,840 So when God didn't do what Jonah thought that God should do, 148 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:42,799 guess what? Jonah gets ticked off with God 149 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,760 never taking a heart check, never taking a heart check. 150 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,600 And this is where you and I, this is where we're going to be 151 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:52,320 wrapping up this series this morning. 152 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:57,480 It is really asking God to do a heart check, to do a heart check 153 00:08:57,480 --> 00:08:59,720 to where we do not fall for the law. 154 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,000 Hey, whatever matters most to me, it must matter most to God. 155 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,280 I believe that there are three different categories, 3 156 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:10,920 different areas that matter most to most people. 157 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,040 If you take a notes with us, here's the first one. 158 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,640 It's our passions. It's our passions. 159 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:18,080 What I'm most passionate about, that must be what God's most 160 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,000 passionate about. But I think Jonah goes a step 161 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,000 further. You see Jonah's passion or his 162 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,840 calling was to be a prophet of God. 163 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,520 He was, he was hand selected by God. 164 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,640 He was God's chosen mouthpiece as a prophet. 165 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,200 Now in the Old Testament. Now now like pass a New 166 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,240 Testament, we don't have prophets with capital P anymore 167 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,160 because we have like the full word of God. 168 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:43,400 We have all 66 books of the Bible. 169 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,120 We don't need prophets with a capital P. 170 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:48,800 But way back in the day, Old Testament, you would have these 171 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:52,000 prophets, capital P prophets, that their job was to hear 172 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,160 directly from God and then to say that message from God to the 173 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,880 people of God. So a prophet, Jonah was directly 174 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:04,160 responsible for pronouncing blessings on the people of God 175 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:06,520 and rebukes on the people of God. 176 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:09,640 That meant that Jonah wasn't the most popular guy in his 177 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,520 neighborhood, right? But here's where I think that 178 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:17,320 Jonah started to go sideways. Jonah started to believe. 179 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,560 I believe Jonah started to believe that God needed him, 180 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:24,640 that God needed his input. God needed his take. 181 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,120 God needed his advice on what God should do. 182 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:34,440 Hey, God, I feel like we've been in this relationship long enough 183 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,760 to where I can predict what you're going to say. 184 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,520 And here's some advice. You didn't ask for it, but I 185 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:45,040 think this would be a good idea. It's that's not how it it's not 186 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:49,120 how it works. And I don't know about you, but 187 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,280 it's really easy. It's really easy. 188 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,520 The the longer you've walked with God, the longer you've been 189 00:10:55,520 --> 00:11:00,320 in a relationship with God, the easier it is to exchange Jesus's 190 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:07,480 call to ask, seek and to knock. We replace the ask seek knock 191 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:14,680 with tail point and walk away in in other words, I think a lot of 192 00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:17,520 us we we're so guilty. I know that many times I am 193 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:20,400 we're so guilty of saying, hey God, this is what I'm going to 194 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,560 do today. This is what is is involved in 195 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:24,760 my day. I just need you to bless it all 196 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:30,000 along the way instead of hey God, how can I bring glory to 197 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,760 you today starting my day off with God, today is the day that 198 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,160 you have given me. How can I bring the most glory 199 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,760 to you? Most of the time, if we even 200 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:42,800 think about spending time with God in prayer at the beginning 201 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,800 of the day, it's kind of like, hey God, I'm looking at my 202 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:46,200 calendar. This is what I know that I have 203 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:47,960 coming up. I just need you to bless it. 204 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,320 And that's where we start to go a little bit sideways. 205 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:55,800 And when we start to live that way for a stretch of time, 206 00:11:55,800 --> 00:12:00,200 here's what happens is the inevitable hard times will hit. 207 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:04,400 Things won't go our way and predictably, we will start to 208 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:09,160 get really mad, furious, angry, and ticked off at God for not 209 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,440 coming through on something that he never promised to do to begin 210 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,360 with. And we could have avoided the 211 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:19,120 whole thing because we fell for a lie that, hey, what matters 212 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,760 most to me must matter most to God. 213 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,480 It's our passions. I think second, the second thing 214 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,880 that matters most to most is people is people. 215 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:31,320 Let's go back for a moment. Little 8th century BC 216 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,600 geopolitics there. Sounds like a double jeopardy 217 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,480 category, doesn't it? If you go back to the very 218 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:40,640 beginning book of Genesis, you got this guy by the name of 219 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:42,440 Abraham. Abraham and Sarah, they're 220 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,600 elderly and they have no kids. And yet God tells Abraham, hey, 221 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:50,360 through you, I'm going to create a, a, a nation that will be my 222 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,840 own and it'll outnumber the stars in the sky. 223 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,920 And Abraham and Sarah, both around their 70s, are sitting 224 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,800 there going, OK, God, cool. Can we just start with one? 225 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,400 And if you, if you know the story about Abraham and Sarah, 226 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:08,320 you know that Sarah miraculously gets pregnant in her old age 227 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,680 with Isaac. Isaac is born and then he gives 228 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:15,440 birth to, he has some kids. Two of those kids are Jacob and 229 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,480 Esau. God changes Jacob's name to 230 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:21,480 Israel, and then Israel's going to have a handful of kids, two 231 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:23,640 handfuls of kids. They're going to go on to become 232 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:27,000 the 12 tribes of Israel. So from the very beginning, you 233 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:28,960 have the Israelites or the Jewish people. 234 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:32,400 Those are God's chosen people. Those are God's chosen people. 235 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,280 So God, throughout the history of Israel and the Jewish people, 236 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,960 God will select a prophet from the Jewish people to the Jewish 237 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:45,080 people. It was very Jewish centric, if 238 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,360 you will. That was for Jonah, the Jews, 239 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,920 those were his people. It was the Jews. 240 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:55,560 And then it was all outsiders. It was US versus them. 241 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:00,600 And then to make matters worse, the Assyrian Empire, they pose a 242 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,880 great economic threat to Israel, to the people of God. 243 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:08,160 And they, they, they, they, they pose a great military threat to 244 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,720 Israel, to the people of God. As a matter of fact, we know 245 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,400 historically, 50 years after the book of Jonah under the, the, 246 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,080 the King's command, a God by the name of Shalom answer the fifth, 247 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:19,680 he sends one of his most prominent generals, a God by the 248 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,680 name of Sennacherib. He goes to the northern capital 249 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:26,000 city of Israel, Samaria, and completely ransacks it and then 250 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,520 brings all the people. If they don't, he brings them 251 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:34,080 all back to Assyria, back typically to Nineveh as slaves. 252 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,400 So this people, the Ninevites, the Assyrians, they're a nasty 253 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:44,200 group that pose a great, great threat to the people of Israel. 254 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,840 And here's the thing that we see happening here through the life 255 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,680 of Jonah. Jonah allowed his patriotism to 256 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:56,280 usurp his prophetic call. He allowed his patriotism to 257 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,080 usurp his prophetic call. Now if you know anything about 258 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,840 sociology, sociology is basically the study of people 259 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,840 and how people interact with other people. 260 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:11,040 And a main branch of sociology has to do with how groups 261 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,560 interact with different groups. And basically, to summarize it, 262 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,360 I had to make sense because I graduated from Dacula High 263 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:22,440 school, class of 97 go Falcons. So I had to like read like the 264 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:26,280 dumbed down version of it. But this is what I understand 265 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,240 that every single one of us, that we are prone to be drawn to 266 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,640 people who like us and who are like us. 267 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,160 And we kind of call sociologists, call those groups 268 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,720 of people our tribe, if you will. 269 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,360 And there's nothing wrong with our tribes, but our tribes will 270 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:49,600 inevitably and inherently tint the lenses through which we see 271 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,880 other people who are not like us. 272 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,480 Let me give you some examples. Generational lines. 273 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,880 If you're young, if you're of a younger generation, it became 274 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,520 very vogue to, you know, if somebody that was older than you 275 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,480 said or did something that you didn't like, you is go, OK, 276 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,920 boomer categorizing the boomer generation. 277 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,080 If you're older and you're looking down on a younger 278 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:13,480 generation, you just shake your head and you go, ma'am, 279 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:15,920 millennials, what's up with millennials? 280 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,320 Generational lines? They, they, they, they color our 281 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,080 perspective, our tribe, our personal tribe colors and tents, 282 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:25,600 the lens through which we see groups that aren't like U.S. 283 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:31,280 team affiliations. So if you are of the Tribe of 284 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:35,920 Georgia Bulldogs fans, you know that if you're a Georgia Tech 285 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,520 fan, that you've given up on football. 286 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,960 If you are of the Georgia Tech tribe, you know that Georgia 287 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,600 fans, the Georgia Tribe, they've given up on speed limits. 288 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,440 But we also have these other lines like play place of origin, 289 00:16:55,400 --> 00:17:00,600 NS with American, international, European. 290 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:06,880 We place of origin, language, culture, religious background. 291 00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:10,640 We have all different groupings of people. 292 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:12,440 And here's what I would tell you. 293 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:17,640 Even though our gravitating to our tribe is not inherently 294 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,079 wrong, we have to be very, very careful that two things don't 295 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:24,760 take place #1 that we don't start mistakenly assuming that 296 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,760 some people actually deserve God's grace more than others. 297 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:32,760 And #2 we've got to become very, very careful not to step over 298 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:38,240 into just outright racism. So when we look at the things 299 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:41,960 that matter most to most people, we can see like how our personal 300 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:47,280 passions or how our people, our tribes impact or matter most to 301 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:48,520 most people. But then there's a third 302 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,920 category, and that's our preferences. 303 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,800 That's our preferences. All right. 304 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,640 So going back life of Jonah, prophet of God, Jonah had been 305 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,000 had been journeying with God for years before the book of Jonah 306 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,080 has ever written. So he kind of has a template for 307 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:09,400 how God worked in the past. And typically the template that 308 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:16,960 Jonah had seen was chosen people of God, Israel, other people 309 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,000 groups or nations don't like Israel. 310 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,720 So God pronounces judgement on the other people and he 311 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,240 basically rains down fire and destroys those other people. 312 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,320 So Jonah is called to the capital city of the Assyrian 313 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,920 Empire. Nineveh said 40 days, yet 40 314 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:34,880 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. 315 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:40,440 And Jonah's probably setting his clock going 39 days, 38. 316 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:43,720 And the closer it's ticking down, the bigger his smile gets. 317 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,400 And as a matter of fact, Jonah goes to the outskirts of the 318 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,000 city like we just talked about. Gets a bird's eye view best seen 319 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,720 in the house to watch the destruction the the the hopeful 320 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,960 and pending destruction. Almost with this thought, Hey 321 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:01,480 God, let's get this smiting thing over with man, y'all about 322 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,240 to get all lit up y'all, Y'all think y'all seen fireworks? 323 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,240 Y'all ain't seen nothing yet. God is about to rain down fire 324 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:09,440 on y'all. Why? 325 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:12,240 Why did Jonah take that attitude? 326 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,040 Because I think that he had seen it before. 327 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,600 Jonah didn't have a category for, hey, what happens if the 328 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,680 people repent? What happens if the people 329 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:23,800 repent? You see, his preference was 330 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,600 based on what he had always seen. 331 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,680 I think that his preference was based on like maybe even 332 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,680 something that he experienced at a very formative time in his in 333 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,960 in his spiritual relationship. I think that's how all of our 334 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:38,680 preferences start. By the way, there's nothing 335 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,720 wrong with personal preferences. I think that all of our personal 336 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,760 preferences start by going back to a point in time to where God 337 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:49,160 had the biggest impact and moved the most powerfully in our 338 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,160 lives. So let me give you an example. 339 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,640 For me, you'll know the song Shout to the Lord. 340 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,600 Shout to the Lord might as well have been the soundtrack to 341 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,960 several mighty moments of God moving in my life and working in 342 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,680 my life in my high school years. As a matter of fact, if it were 343 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,800 up to me, I'd have the lyrics of Shout to the Lord printed in the 344 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:10,840 back of every Bible. I think that it's almost 345 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,920 inspired by God. I will tell you just how foolish 346 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:16,840 we were. The guy that would always lead 347 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:18,680 shout to the Lord for our retreats. 348 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,200 We were convinced that he was the one that wrote it. 349 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,240 So imagine like my shock, I was like, who's Darlene Scheck? 350 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,720 Like they're writing worship songs from Australia, Huh? 351 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,000 Who knew? But that's my that's my 352 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,640 preference. A lot of times our preferences, 353 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:36,680 especially when it comes to music, if you think about it, 354 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,920 the songs that we gravitate towards the most are the songs 355 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,720 that were almost like the background soundtrack four times 356 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,280 that we experienced the movement of God the most in our lives, 357 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:49,160 right? And there's this assumption 358 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:50,760 again, there's nothing wrong with that, but there's this 359 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,760 assumption there that if we just go back and do now what we did 360 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,560 then, then God will move now just like he did then. 361 00:20:58,320 --> 00:20:59,800 And there's 2 problems with that. 362 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,720 Number one, who gets to determine when the when is and 363 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,800 then #2 is. It makes God very formulaic. 364 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,280 It, it, it, it is almost our attempt to like harness the 365 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,680 power of the Holy Spirit. It makes God, tries to make the 366 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:19,600 Holy Spirit of God predictable and tameable, to which he's not. 367 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,160 I believe that one of the reasons that that Jonah raged 368 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:28,960 against God is because Jonah accepted this law that what 369 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:31,680 mattered most to him must matter most to God. 370 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:37,320 And when Jonah's, when his personal passions and his own 371 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,480 people, the view of his own people and as it conflicted with 372 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,120 God's view of people and his own preferences, when that clashed 373 00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:48,040 with God, that's when Jonah raged. 374 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,480 So here's my question to you. What's our recourse? 375 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,760 What's our recourse to keep that from happening to us? 376 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:01,600 What is our recourse to keeping our hearts so that God can keep 377 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,600 our hearts tender and soft towards other people that aren't 378 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,600 like us? I want to show you where we left 379 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:10,920 off in the book of Jonah. That's not how the book of Jonah 380 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:12,880 ends. I want to show you let's go back 381 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,760 to Jonah, Jonah chapter 4 and let's go back and let's read 382 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,400 through how the how the back half of Jonah 4 ends. 383 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,520 It says Jonah went out of the city and sat down to the east of 384 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,280 the city and made a booth for himself there. 385 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,800 He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would 386 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:30,600 become of the city. Now the Lord appointed a plant, 387 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,400 and made it come up over Jonah, that he might be, that it might 388 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,360 be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. 389 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,520 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 390 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,520 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that 391 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,240 attached the plant, so that it withered when the sun rose. 392 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,960 Got appointed A scorching E wind and the sun beat down on the 393 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,040 head of Jonah, so that he was faint. 394 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,360 And he asked that he might die. And said, God, it is better for 395 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:03,680 me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, do you do 396 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,320 well to be angry for the plant? And Jonah said, yes, I do well 397 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,400 to be angry, angry enough to die. 398 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,640 And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not 399 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,120 labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night 400 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:18,160 and perished in a night. And should I not, should not I 401 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,480 pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 402 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,920 120,000 persons who do not know the right hand from their left, 403 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:32,200 and also much cattle? And that's how the book of Jonah 404 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,760 ends. That's how the book of Jonah 405 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,760 ends. He may say, OK Ben, So if what 406 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:43,600 matters most to me must matter most to God, if that's the lie, 407 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,320 what's the truth that God was pointing Jonah towards? 408 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:50,880 If you go throughout the entire book of Jonah, you'll see 409 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:53,680 several, you'll see a pattern. There's 4 chapters in the book 410 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,400 of Jonah. And in those four chapters we 411 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,200 see where God appointed says that he, he appointed a great 412 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,960 fish, He appointed a plant, He appointed a worm, He appointed A 413 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,880 scorching E wind. What was the point of God 414 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,720 appointing those things to get Jonah's attention? 415 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,680 And I think that the what God was trying to get Jonah's 416 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,000 attention for and pointing him to was a truth that he wants us 417 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,000 to know this morning. Here it is if you're taking 418 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,200 notes with us. God's calling me to step out of 419 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:21,760 my box and into His global mission. 420 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:28,840 God is calling me to step out of my box and into His global 421 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:31,840 mission. Let me get you to do me a favor. 422 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:35,800 Think back when you were a kid and you'll go into your living 423 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,440 room and and you would make you make a pillow for it. 424 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,640 Good days, right? You would take all the cushions 425 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:44,520 off the couch and out of the chair, and your parents would 426 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,680 find loose change. But you you take those cushions 427 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,960 out and you would arrange them. You'd set them up on their side 428 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:51,800 to where they would form the walls of your Fort. 429 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,680 And then once you got the walls set, then you would go gather up 430 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,280 like the blankets or the sheets. And then you would drape those 431 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:59,200 blankets and sheets over your Fort. 432 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,280 And, and before you went into your architectural masterpiece, 433 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,840 you would go into your room and you'd get your favorite like 434 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,440 toys and you'd bring them in both arms and then you'd like 435 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,640 shove them into your Fort. And then you would go into your 436 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,120 Fort. And that's that's where you 437 00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:12,880 would play with like your favorite toys, right? 438 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,880 You'd hang out you you'd play it, it occupy you for, for at 439 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:18,600 least a few hours. Man, that was the best, right? 440 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,640 Well, kind of. At least it once was. 441 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,440 You see, a few years after that, several years down the road from 442 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:35,120 making pillow forts, you would experience for the first time 443 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,640 the exhilaration of being able to drive down the road with your 444 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,800 windows down on a nice day and feel the wind whipping through 445 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,040 your hair. Or you would you would discover 446 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,960 just the awe of the ocean, or the OR the mountains. 447 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,480 Maybe, maybe you would stand. Years later, you would stand at 448 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:59,320 A at an altar across from the love of your life and you'd 449 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:04,240 exchange vows to one another. Or you would be in a hospital 450 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,360 room and that doctor, that nurse, for the very first time, 451 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:09,840 would place that newborn baby into your arms. 452 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:16,680 Your new dad, your new mom, and thousands of other wow moments 453 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,760 that would all make the memories of how great we used to think 454 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,440 the pillow forts were pale in comparison. 455 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,400 Here's my point, Church. I'm convinced that a lot of us 456 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,480 are spiritually stuck in our pillow forts when God's calling 457 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:37,640 us to step out of our pillow forts, step out of our box, and 458 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:42,080 step into His global mission. So in order for us to step out 459 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:46,680 of our box, to step out of our pillow Fort and step into His 460 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:50,080 global mission, there's three choices that we've got to make 461 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:51,640 and we've got to make them this morning. 462 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:55,600 Here's the first choice is I've got to allow God to order my 463 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,000 life and to trust him with what follows. 464 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,080 I've got to allow God to order my life and to trust him with 465 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:07,520 what follows. Let me ask you a deeply, deeply 466 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,480 personal question in the room and online. 467 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:17,000 When's the last time that you just sat down with God in a 468 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:23,520 quiet space, in A at a quiet place uninterrupted and just 469 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,280 said, OK, God, here, here I am. I'm laying my whole life in 470 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,680 front of you. I'm laying it down like I'm not 471 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,920 holding anything back from you. God, you have my permission. 472 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,920 God, I'm asking, I'm begging you for your Holy Spirit to go to 473 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:41,120 the deep places of me that only your Holy Spirit can access. 474 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,880 And God, I want you to show me here in this, in this quiet, 475 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,960 just me and you. I want you to show me what in my 476 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:55,800 life needs to leave, it needs to go, what in my life needs to 477 00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:02,920 stay and what in my life needs to needs to change that right 478 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,720 there. That is openness, vulnerability 479 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:12,520 and full on surrender to God. God here I am laying my life out 480 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,480 completely before you, holding nothing back. 481 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,600 God, you, you have, you have an all access pass to every part of 482 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:22,920 my life, not just like the highlight reels of me, but the 483 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,440 really nasty, dirty parts of me. God send your Holy Spirit to go 484 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,280 to the deep places that only he can access, that only he can get 485 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,800 to and show me the parts of me that need to change or that need 486 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:35,680 to go, that need to stay and need to change. 487 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:43,480 And I think it's out of that. I think it's out of that that we 488 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,280 begin to allow God to properly order our life and trust him 489 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,800 with what follows. Because the alternative is this, 490 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,920 Hey God, this is what I'm doing, will you bless it? 491 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:57,880 Church, can I challenge you with something? 492 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:04,080 We cannot afford to waste any more time wondering if we're on 493 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,160 the right track yet asking God to bless the decisions and the 494 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:12,560 choices that we've already made. If we understand that there's a 495 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:17,360 community around us, that there are people within our homes, 496 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,800 people within our families, people within our friend groups, 497 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:25,400 people within our community that need Jesus, that need the hope 498 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:30,680 of Jesus, we cannot afford to waste any more time wondering if 499 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,720 we're on the right track while at the same time asking God to 500 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:35,560 bless the decisions that we've already made. 501 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,400 You see, so many times, we'll get it out of order. 502 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:41,280 Hey God, this is what I've already decided to do. 503 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:42,400 Would you bless it along the way? 504 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,560 Well, what if that's not what God wants you to do? 505 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,800 You see, the first choice is this, allow God to order my life 506 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,600 and trust Him with what follows. Second decision is this. 507 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,560 Live like every person is made by God and is in need of God. 508 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:04,520 Live like every person is made by God and is in need of God. 509 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:11,280 Have you noticed that we live in a culture that is really 510 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,520 effective in monetizing division? 511 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,800 One of one of the buzzwords around church is this 512 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:23,000 discipling. Did you know you might you this 513 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,920 may be your first time in church and if this your first time in 514 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,000 church, welcome. Thank you so much for being 515 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:29,960 here. But did you know that you've 516 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:31,640 been discipled? You are being discipled. 517 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,920 Every single one of us is being discipled by something or 518 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,040 someone. And, and here's what we see to 519 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:42,720 be true is many, many people are discipled through cable news. 520 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,360 Many people are discipled by the algorithms of their social media 521 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:54,440 feeds and, and, and reels. And when we are become discipled 522 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,200 and when we become saturated and cable news and social media 523 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:02,720 algorithms and reels, here's what we tend to do is we start 524 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,680 to look at the people who don't like us and who are not like us 525 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,640 as issues to fix rather than people to love. 526 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,080 So in order for us to make the transition, to live like every 527 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,320 person is made by God in his need of God. 528 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,440 That means that we've got to pray differently. 529 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,520 Let me give you some handles of how we can pray differently. 530 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,520 It means that we pray differently for every single 531 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,000 person that we may encounter. In other words, the people that 532 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:36,400 like me, the people that they like me, I view that person not 533 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,960 as like necessarily, just first and foremost as a friend or a 534 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:43,760 fan or anything like that. I view that person as somebody 535 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,640 who is made by God in the image of God and in desperate need of 536 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,800 God. So I pray for them that way. 537 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,520 Or when you come across people who are like you, similar 538 00:31:55,520 --> 00:32:01,040 interest, geography, political, whatever, similar interest, the 539 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:05,680 people who are like us, we've got to see them as people that 540 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:07,960 are made by God, in desperate need of God. 541 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,320 How about this, the people who don't like me? 542 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:14,200 He may say people don't like you. 543 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,000 Oh, yeah, I give people all kinds of reasons not to like me. 544 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,880 My mom will fight you. But no, the people that don't 545 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,120 like me, those aren't my enemies. 546 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,200 Those are people that are made by God in the image of God, in 547 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,360 desperate need of God. They're not in desperate need of 548 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,680 God because they have a bad opinion of Ben Wallace. 549 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,240 They're in desperate need of God because they're in desperate 550 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,600 need of God. Or how about this, the people 551 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:42,040 that are not like us, that that think differently, look 552 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,880 differently, talk differently, vote differently, the whole 9 553 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:46,600 yards. The people who are not like us, 554 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:51,200 they are people made in the image of God, made by God, in 555 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,400 desperate need of God. So guess what we do? 556 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,640 We go out into Jesus name and we lift up the gospel. 557 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:03,760 We we point people to the hope of Jesus, to people that are 558 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:05,640 hopeless. And guess what? 559 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:09,000 The people who like me, many of them are hopeless. 560 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,880 The people who are like me, many of them are hopeless. 561 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,480 The people who don't like me, many of them are hopeless. 562 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:16,880 The people who are not like me, many of them are hopeless. 563 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:23,240 Listen, it is about keeping Jesus first and foremost. 564 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,440 Paramount above it all, paramount above it all. 565 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,960 But I've got to live like every person is made by God and is in 566 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,760 need of God. Third this morning is exchange 567 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,720 my preferences for Kingdom effectiveness. 568 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:39,400 I've got to exchange my preferences for Kingdom 569 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,240 effectiveness. River Bend Church, one of my 570 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:48,480 honors, and I say this with with complete honesty, one of the 571 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:51,880 true honors of my life is to be able to to journey alongside and 572 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,880 to serve alongside of you. Do me a favor. 573 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:57,800 If you're in here, raise your hand. 574 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:00,400 Didn't do this in 930 service, but raise your hand. 575 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,240 If you have started coming here within the last six years, raise 576 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,360 your hand. Awesome. 577 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:12,800 If your hands raised, you've always known these seats before 578 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,320 these seats were here. You know what was here? 579 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,280 Pews. You know where the pews went out 580 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:22,280 those doors. Not because we tried to be cool 581 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:24,880 or, or contemporary or anything like that. 582 00:34:25,679 --> 00:34:28,800 You know what we just started to realize is listen, if the church 583 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,159 exists, not for the church, but the church exists for the 584 00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:35,600 community, the, the, the biggest flat area in on our entire 585 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,520 campus is in this room. And it's really hard to host 586 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,960 other people with pews in the way. 587 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:45,679 So what do we do? We remove the pews. 588 00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:47,480 We put in chairs to where we can stack the chairs. 589 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:48,760 We can put the chairs against the wall. 590 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:50,520 We can rearrange the chairs however we want. 591 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,880 We need to rearrange the chairs. Do you know how many people 592 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:59,720 would prefer the pews? A lot going back to the going 593 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:02,960 back to the analogy that, that, that I gave, you know, shout to 594 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:04,960 the Lord. I think that the Holy Spirit of 595 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:06,480 God moves during that key change. 596 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,280 If you don't know what I'm talking about, go listen to it 597 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:13,600 and you'll get saved again. Can I let you own a secret? 598 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:18,400 I'm not the biggest fan of every song that we do, every song that 599 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,120 we sing here. But you know what? 600 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:24,360 It's not about me. It's not about me. 601 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,120 It's not about my preferences. It's about Kingdom 602 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:31,240 effectiveness. Listen, if, if, if you were to 603 00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:36,800 look around this room, you would see the faces of men and women 604 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,480 that have chosen, that have lived so sacrificially and 605 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,040 they've laid down their preferences all for the sake of 606 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:47,200 Kingdom effectiveness. I would put Riverbend Church. 607 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,240 I would put you up against any church I've ever encountered, 608 00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:53,640 any church that I've ever known of when it comes down to laying 609 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,080 down personal preferences and picking up Kingdom 610 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,520 effectiveness. But I'll go ahead and tell you, 611 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,840 sometimes it's very easy for that bug to kind of like jump 612 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,960 back up and nip at us. In those times. 613 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,680 I want to give you 3 questions to kind of walk through. 614 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,360 These aren't, these aren't in your notes. 615 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:12,520 This is really just for us to kind of hear. 616 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:13,880 If you want to jot them down, you can. 617 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:19,440 How do I exchange my preferences for Kingdom effectiveness? 618 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:25,480 First question, am I approaching this service as a consumer or as 619 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,040 a worshipper? That's convicting for me. 620 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:35,240 Let me kind of let you in kind of behind the scenes as, as I 621 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:38,400 like prep and plan for, for different series and different 622 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,880 messages. God gets to beat up on me a lot 623 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,800 earlier than than the messages preached. 624 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:50,040 So in a way I just get to pass along God's beating over me, 625 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,880 God's conviction. So these questions, they come 626 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:56,120 out of questions that God has like really convicted me on. 627 00:36:56,240 --> 00:36:59,520 Am I approaching a Sunday morning service as a consumer or 628 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:03,400 as a worshipper? In other words, like I could 629 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,600 very easily go, man, I, I just don't, I don't, I don't like 630 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,200 that song, but that's OK. It wasn't sung to me. 631 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,120 It's not about me. I'm not a consumer. 632 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,520 I'm a worshipper. Was God's name lifted up #2 633 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,840 where's God stretching me to grow and guiding me to lead? 634 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:23,360 One of our, one of our core values as a church is growing 635 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:27,120 generations in Jesus, bringing people to Jesus, growing 636 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,400 generations in Jesus, sending disciples for Jesus. 637 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,040 Growing generations in Jesus means that there's not a single 638 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:33,520 one of us that God has finished with yet. 639 00:37:33,720 --> 00:37:36,280 There's not a single one of us that God has finished growing 640 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:41,160 and stretching and guiding. And then the third question, are 641 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,960 people being transformed? And is God's Kingdom growing? 642 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,080 Are people being transformed? And is God's people, is God's 643 00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:55,760 Kingdom, is it growing? Here's why I would tell you in 644 00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:01,160 in so many ways, our call, our mission as a church is to do the 645 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,840 hard work of, of, of cutting through the noise and drilling 646 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,320 down to the main truths. And these are the main truths 647 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:13,000 that God loves people. God loves people and God has 648 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,160 chosen, God has chosen the church. 649 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:20,480 God has chosen us to be His instruments, to bring his hope 650 00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:26,000 to the hopeless, His healing to the hurting, and His salvation 651 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,760 to the lost. So here's where we're going to 652 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,880 be ending things. This morning ended at the same 653 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:38,120 way 930 is. Our prayer is simply this. 654 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:43,360 God, would you send God? Would you rain revival down, not 655 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,600 just in Riverbend Church, but in this community? 656 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:50,520 Would you change lives? Would you change generations for 657 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,000 your glory? And here's where it starts. 658 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:58,880 It starts with each and every one of us praying for the one or 659 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:03,120 two people in our lives that we're pretty sure needs Jesus. 660 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:08,840 God, would you reach them in a way that only you can reach 661 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:10,960 them? God, I'm so willing to step 662 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:16,080 outside of my box, outside of my comfort zone of my own passions 663 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,600 and, and, and my own people and my own preferences. 664 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:21,680 God, I want to see your Kingdom grow. 665 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,280 God, I want this person to be a part of your Kingdom. 666 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:28,600 So here's the twofold call as we come to a close this morning. 667 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:30,600 Number one, I'm going to challenge you. 668 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:35,640 Lift up at least one person by name that you know needs Jesus. 669 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:41,720 Now here's a caveat. Some, some, we may struggle, 670 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:47,840 believe it or not, we may struggle to think of someone in 671 00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:49,920 our lives that we're close to that needs Jesus. 672 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,200 That means that we've insulated ourselves way, way too much. 673 00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,360 So our prayers, if you're struggling to, to, to name 674 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,120 someone in your life that needs Jesus, God, would you bring 675 00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:02,840 somebody into my life that needs you? 676 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,640 That's your prayer. God, I want to pray for this 677 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:08,880 person by name. That's phase one. 678 00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:11,360 Phase two. God, would you set a divine 679 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:15,600 appointment for me to where I will have the opportunity? 680 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,640 Will you set the stage for me this week so that I will have 681 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:23,200 the opportunity to share your hope with that person as your 682 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:26,120 pastor? I dare you to pray that. 683 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,600 I dare you to pray that. Because the people that we love, 684 00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:31,880 guess what? God loves them more. 685 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:36,360 And as much as we want to be used as instruments in the hands 686 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:38,640 of a holy God, God desires to use you more. 687 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:41,000 But it's always going to start with prayer. 688 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:45,160 So would you pray with me? I'm going to pray over us. 689 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,040 And then we're going to open up this altar. 690 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:49,000 If you want to come down, pray for somebody by name. 691 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,400 If you want to stay where you are, pray for them by name. 692 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,160 But again, twofold prayer. Pray for the person by name. 693 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:58,000 And then God, send me. Excuse me. 694 00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:00,920 God, we love you and we thank you for your word. 695 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,040 God, we thank you as we come to the end of of the book of Jonah 696 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:12,160 God, that through the life of Jonah, God, you show us a mirror 697 00:41:13,720 --> 00:41:17,560 of how easy it is for us to wrongly assume that what matters 698 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,600 most to us must matter most to you. 699 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:27,320 God, would you help us to understand that what matters 700 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,120 most to you or or or or people? The people who like us, the 701 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,520 people who are like us, the people who don't like us and the 702 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,640 people who are not like us people. 703 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,120 There's not a single person on this planet. 704 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:39,920 There's not a single person in our neighborhood. 705 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:41,480 There's not a single person in our family. 706 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:42,920 There's not a single person in our workplace. 707 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,480 There's not a single person that we will cross paths with today 708 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:51,520 or this week that is not made by you in your image and therefore 709 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:57,640 precious God, would you help us to cut through the noise of 710 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:01,840 divisions and unnecessary barriers so that we can see 711 00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:08,200 people as treasured masterpieces created by you that are in 712 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:12,760 desperate need of you. So God, in this time, God, we 713 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:16,720 lift up by name. The men and the women and the 714 00:42:16,720 --> 00:42:21,040 students and the kids that are already close to your heart got 715 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:22,920 us. Lifting them up by name is US 716 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,560 simply putting ourselves in alignment with your heart and 717 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,720 God not just stopping there, but understanding that you have 718 00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:35,520 chosen us to be instruments in your hands to reach that person. 719 00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:39,640 So God, as we lift them up by name, God, we also follow up 720 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:44,600 that request by you by asking you to set a divine appointment 721 00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:49,520 for us that we would have the opportunity to give your hope to 722 00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:53,800 someone without hope, God, to be able to point someone that is 723 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,840 lost to a life that can only happen through you. 724 00:42:57,720 --> 00:42:59,240 And it's in Jesus name that we pray. 725 00:42:59,720 --> 00:43:04,600 Amen. Thank you for listening to the 726 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:07,640 Riverbend Church Podcast. Learn more about who we are as a 727 00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:09,760 church and how to connect. You can head over to our 728 00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:11,920 website, Riverbend Church dot Life.