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.
Man, nothing like being able to start off our Sunday with some
baptism. We actually get to celebrate
more baptisms in the 11:00 service.
So really excited about that. If this your first time with us
at Riverbend, let me go ahead and tell you if somebody hasn't
told you yet. Thank you so much for choosing
to be here with us. We hope that you have already
felt so very welcomed and very much at home.
My name is Ben. Get the service lead pastor.
We'd love to personally thank you.
After the service, meet with you, place a small gift in your
hand. You just do us the greatest
favor by doing two things. If you're new to riverbend #1
simply make yourself at home #2 that Connect card that you
received on your In whatever info you feel comfortable
passing on that Connect card, just jot it down.
That let's us know where to ship a small thank you gift out to
you in the mail. But coming off of Easter week,
man, incredible, incredible week.
We can't get over everything that God has done throughout the
past week or so, and we hope that you can't either.
But this morning we're going to be starting a brand new series
going through the life of Jonah. We're going to be doing an in
depth exploration of the Old Testament book of Jonah.
And Jonah is probably most famously known for what, being
swallowed by fish or whale. Yeah.
So I think it's only appropriate to kick off this series by
giving some giveaways. Here's some hats you probably
want to look up. It just says, get in, loser.
We're following God's will. So there you go.
There you go. That one curved.
That one curved again. So nothing makes you feel better
on a Sunday morning than the pastor throwing you a hat that
says get in loser, right. Anyway, so one of the things
we're going to find out throughout this series, really,
really excited about it. Several things.
I just want to let you know on the on the forefront of it.
I believe that what we're about to walk through over the next
several weeks together through the life and the teachings of
the book of Jonah is going to be the most important, probably the
most applicable series that we have gone through walkthrough
throughout this year to date. Second of all, I believe that
some of us are going to experience a freedom like we've
never experienced before throughout this series.
But in order for us to understand and for, in order for
us to receive and get everything that God wants to give us
throughout this series and throughout the book of Jonah, I
got to go ahead and give you a heads up and a warning.
It's going to require some pretty uncomfortable and brutal
level of honesty, self-awareness, being honest
with yourself about yourself. And the fourth thing that I
would tell you about the book of Jonah is, even though it's
probably probably most well known for the incident in which
Jonah's swallowed by a great fish.
We'll get to that next week. But even though it's it's
probably most well known for that incident, the Book of Jonah
is not really about a fish. The Book of Jonah is really
about freedom. And really the book of Jonah, if
I were to summarize it into one phrase, the book of Jonah is
really about the lies that we so easily believe and the truth
that can actually set us free. So let's go ahead and dive in
really quick. Book of Jonah, If you have a
Bible with you, Jonah chapter one verse one for you super
spiritual people out there, there's no shame in using the
table of contents because it's a really tricky book to find in
the Old Testament. But if you don't have a Bible
with you, no worries. The passage is on the top of
your note sheet and it's on the screen.
Jonah chapter one, verse 1, verses one through 3, says, now
the word of the Lord came to Joseph or Jonah the son of Amata
saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out
against it, for their evil has come up before me.
But Jonah rose and fled, rose to flee to Tarshish from the
presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa.
We're going to see if that's the seaport in a moment, and found a
ship going to Tarshish. So we paid the fare and he went
down into it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence
of the Lord now sets the stage for the entire book of Jonah
sets the stage for the entire series that we're about to walk
through. But I think before we go any
deeper, I think that it's really important that we have some
background info on who Jonah is and exactly what's going on.
Who is Jonah where and, and, and what is Nineveh and, and, and
what's the big deal with all of it?
Well first of all, Jonah was an Israelite prophet.
He was a prophet of Israel and he actually ministered in around
the 8th century BC, so 8 centuries before the birth of
Jesus. We first see Jonah appearing in
the pages of scripture in Second Kings chapter 14 to where he's
ministering up underneath Israel's King Jeroboam.
Jeroboam. Now what made Jonah different
from his contemporaries, especially Amos and Hosea?
Amos and Hosea had a way of prophesying, getting a word from
God and prophesying and criticizing the the royal
administration's stance of of injustice on its people and
unfaithfulness towards God. Jonah, on the other hand, were
able to read in Second Kings 14. Jonah actually was a fan of
Jeroboam. King Jeroboam's aggressive
military policy that sought to expand the borders, expand the
power, and expand the influence of Israel.
That's one of the things that made Jonah unique from his
contemporaries. Another thing that we'll see
about Jonah throughout this book of the Old Testament is Jonah
struggled greatly with racism and nationalism, greatly with
racism and nationalism. A very unique thing about
Jonah's calling is God actually called Jonah not just to
prophecy against foreign kingdoms and foreign powers and
empires, the Assyrians in this case, he actually called him to
go to those, to those places that that was very, very rare.
Very few of any of the Old Testament prophets did God ever
call to go to a foreign land to prophecy against them.
Jonah was pretty much the only one that we're able to read
about in Scripture. Now, why did Jonah, when he got
the call from God to go to Nineveh, why did he go to
Tarshish? Why did he go the opposite
direction? Well, like I just said, he
struggled greatly. And we'll see this playing out
through the book of Jonah. It's only four chapters long,
but Jonah struggled greatly with racism and nationalism.
I think that was reason number one reason #2 is Jonah could not
fathom how God could ever pour his grace out on a people that
were so brutal. Now, us sitting here,
Gainesville, GA 2026, a lot of times we don't know about the
brutality of the Assyrian Empire.
Nineveh just so happened to be the capital city of the Assyrian
Empire. But let me kind of give you some
stats. So let me kind of give you a
depiction of what Jonah would have been facing here.
He struggled to go to the Assyrian Empire because they
were known as the cruelest, most violent empire on the face of
the planet. The Assyrian kings would often
tell stories or depict their victories in battles by
explaining planes, entire planes or fields of corpses and cities
burned all the way down. There was a famous Assyrian king
by the name of Shallow Mancer the Third.
Shallow Mancer the Third actually had artwork
commissioned and in which he depicted through stone large
stone tablets and released the decapitations of his of his
enemies. The Assyrian army was very very
well known for after they conquered a people they would
gather all the people together. They would cut off their legs
and cut off 1 arm just so that they could shake the hand of the
dying person as one last final insult to them.
They were very well known for for for forcing loved ones and
friends to carry the decapitated heads lifted up on poles and
parades throughout Nineveh. They were also very well known
in the city of Nineveh to take to take prisoners, to take
foreigners. They would stretch them out,
flay them alive, and hang their skins outside of the city walls.
We're talking about some bad, bad people here.
This is not who you would necessarily want to just go
straight into. So we're starting to get a
picture of what Jonah would flee in the opposite direction.
The the geopolitical background here is you have the Assyrian
Empire exacting a heavy, heavy tax on the Israelite country and
then even always threatening their very existence.
And you can read throughout history in, in, in around 744
BC, you have, you have an Assyrian king by the name of
Sennacherib who finally just goes and wipes out Samaria, the
the capital city of Israel and takes them away.
So again, we're starting to understand a little bit why when
God calls Jonah to walk 550 miles east, he hops, he goes
down to the near seaport, gets on a ship in Joppa heading 2500
miles West. You see Nineveh.
He called him to go to Nineveh, which is modern day Mosul, Iraq.
Instead, Jonah decide not I'm not going there, I'm going to
sail towards modern day Spain. And here we have here we have
the 1st example or exhibition of a lie that Jonah believed.
And it's so easy for you and I to believe.
It's so easy for you and I to believe.
But I think like after going through all of that, you may be
sitting here thinking, OK Ben, thank you so much for the
history lesson or not. I could have done without the
fillet alive and skins hung on the walls.
Thank you for that though. But man, it's good to know, but
I'm not a prophet. Glad I'm not a prophet.
Glad I'm not called by God. Well, yes and no.
No, you're not a prophet like Jonah.
None of us are. But yes, you and I are called by
God. Let me get you to do an exercise
with me. Take out the bullets in the note
sheet that you received on your way in.
At the top of that note sheet there's a TTCE that stands for
the Truth that Changes Everything.
Jot this down really quick. Every person has a God-given
call on their life. Every person has a God-given
call on their life. Look at the person next to you
and say you have a God-given call on your life.
Look at the person on the other side of you and say you too.
Every person has a God-given call on on on their life.
That God-given call is to know God to to grow in a relationship
with God and to be used by God. All of those things and and that
has to be put into practice daily.
Now, we're not like Jonah in that Old Testament office of
prophet, but we still have a God-given call on our lives.
But just like Jonah, we do have the option to embrace that
God-given call or to reject that God-given call.
Here's what I would tell you if you and I were to take seriously
and to embrace this truth that changes everything.
Man, we'd set the world on fire to where instead of just getting
up and going through the motions and, and, and qualifying
ourselves of hey, I'm just a blank.
I'm just a student, I'm just a store worker.
I'm just an employee. I'm just a mechanic.
I'm just a, a doctor. I'm just a lawyer.
I'm just a stay at home mom instead of qualifying ourselves
in those ways. And if we qualified ourselves as
hey, I have a God-given call, the day that each day that God
wakes me up is an opportunity for me to embrace and to run
towards this God-given call that would change absolutely
everything. Now when we talk about this
God-given call, and maybe it's just me, I think our minds often
wonder to all the ways in which we've fallen short and all the
ways that we've blown it, say, well, Ben, you tell me I have a
God-given call, but you don't know my past.
You know, I've really blown it. Well, me too.
And this is where I want to introduce us to a main truth or
the big idea that's going to be running throughout this series.
Here it is if you're taking notes with us.
Main idea, big idea. God's mercy is greater than my
mess. God's mercy is greater than my
mess. Turn to the person next to you
and say, God's mercy is greater than your mess.
Turn to the person on the other side of you and say, and that's
a big mess. But then look at them and say
God's mercy is greater. God's mercy is greater than our
mess. There's no exception clauses to
that. It doesn't matter the longevity
of your mess. It doesn't matter the severity
of your mess. It doesn't matter the complexity
of your mess. God's mercy is greater than your
mess. God's mercy is always greater
than your mess. But what ends up happening is we
often accept a law and we don't live in the truth and the
freedom that is found in that principle that God's mercy is
greater than my mess. So what do we do?
We end up we just stay stuck in the mess, right?
So I want to show you something talking about how God's mercy is
greater than our mess. I want to go back and read these
first 3 verses of Jonah one again together, and then we're
going to talk about the lie that we so often believe.
Check this out again. Jonah 11 Now the word of the
Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amata, saying, arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their
evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.
So we paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to
Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
And right there we had the first example of the lie that we often
believe. Check this out if you're taking
notes with us. This is the lie that we often
believe. The various opportunities for me
to display or to disobey God are just random everyday
occurrences. The opportunities for me to
disobey God are just some sort of random everyday occurrences.
Think about what we just read in Jonah 11 through three word of
the Lord comes to Jonah. Jonah, I want you to go to
modern day Mosul, Iraq. Jonah's like, no, I think I'm
going to go to the local seaport, Joppa.
And hey, it must be my lucky day.
There is a ship waiting here in the harbor that just so happens
to be heading in the exact opposite direction that God's
called me to go. What are the odds?
And apparently it must have been an affordable rate for that
cruise. Jonah paid the rate.
He hopped on board, went down below decks, and then he
probably, like, tucked himself into bed and he took a nap.
And we'll see how Jonah's woken up next week in the midst of a
storm. But Jonah's probably sitting
there going, man, what are the odds?
Now, you and us sitting here in this room or joining us online,
we would sit there and go. I don't think that that was just
coincidental or, or, or, or just happenstance.
Well, you know, the same thing is true for for us.
Let me kind of unpack that. This lie that we believe,
listen, it's so easy to believe that the temptations that I
face, they're just coincidental, they're just casual or they're
just common. These lies that we face, they're
just coincidental, casual are common.
We think maybe the temptation that, that, that, that we face,
we think that they just appear out of nowhere.
They're just, they're just random.
We think the temptations that we face, they because they don't
come at us in loud and obvious ways.
They seem small. Or the temptations that we face,
they, they just seems like everybody faces them.
They, they, they feel, they feel normal.
And because they feel random and because they feel small and
because they feel normal, there's another truth.
That's actually what makes them dangerous.
Because if you keep tracking with us, here's what we're going
to find out is the danger with sin giving into that temptation.
The danger with sin is how easily it feels harmless, how
easily it feels harmless. And it's really easy just to
give in to that, that sin or that temptation that feels
random or feels small or it just feels normal.
It's just so easy. But that's actually the danger
because it feels harmless. And I would tell you that it's
anything but harmless. I want to read to you.
There's a, there's a quote that I came across that really
explains the consequence of sin better than I've ever heard it
stated. It's a quote from Tim Keller.
This is what he wrote. He said the results of sin are
often more like the physical response you have to a
debilitating dose of radiation. You don't suddenly feel pain the
moment that you're exposed. It isn't like a bullet or a
sword tearing into you. You actually feel quite normal.
Only later do you experience symptoms, but by then it is too
late. Sin is a suicidal action against
the will upon itself. It's like taking an addicting
drug. At first it may feel wonderful,
but every time it gets harder to not do it again.
Here's just one example when you indulge yourself in bitter
thoughts. I know that none of us ever do
that, right? All right, yeller, holier than
me. When you indulge yourself in
bitter thoughts, it feels so satisfying to to fantasize about
payback. Man, I am a great defense
attorney in the shower. I can argue a situation from two
years ago. I'm awesome.
Don't believe me? Ask me later, I'll tell you.
But you do that slowly and surely.
It will enlarge your capacity for self pity.
It's going to erode your ability to trust and enjoy
relationships, and generally drain the happiness out of your
daily life. Sin always hardens the
conscience, locks you in a prison of your own defensiveness
and rationalizations, and eats you up slowly from the inside.
Check this last statement out. All sin has a mighty storm
attached to it. Isn't that so true?
All the calls? A random thought just to indulge
in in in in bitterness. Just to entertain bitter
thoughts and fantasize about payback and just toss them
around and turn them around in our heads.
Something that seems random, something that seems small,
something that seems very normal and ordinary.
It ends up going to have drastic and destructive consequences.
So how do we, if that's the lie that we believe that like these
opportunities to disobey God are random, what's the truth that
God wants us to see this morning?
Taking notes with us quickly. The opportunities to disobey
God, they're not random. They're strategically and
intentionally positioned to pull me away from God.
They're not random. The opportunities and the
temptations that I face, the opportunities to disobey God,
His word, His call on my life. Hey, God, instead of taking the
opportunity this day to know you, grow in you, and to be used
by you, I think I'm just going to do my own thing today.
Those opportunities, those thoughts, they're not random.
They're strategically and they're intentionally positioned
to pull me away from God. Instead of Jonah going man down
here at the harbor, there's a there's a ship heading to
Tarshish. It's still in the harbor and
it's an affordable rate. It must be my lucky day.
We should look at that and go, of course there was, of course
there was. There's always going to be an
opportunity, a very strategic, precise opportunity for you and
I to disobey God's call on our lives.
Let me get you to do an exercise really quick.
I want you to think about in the room online with us.
I want you to think about what is your greatest area of
temptation? What is your greatest area of
temptation? Where do you struggle the most
in temptation? It could be it could be anger,
it could be it could be lust, it could be materialism, it could
be, it could be anything. What?
What's your what's your greatest temptation like you knowing you
deep down, What's your weakest spot?
Now turn to the person next to you and tell them, I'm just
kidding. Don't do that.
That'll make it really weird.
But I wanted to get you to think about something.
Do you realize that not everybody had the same thoughts
when I said, hey, think of the greatest temptation, the
greatest struggle like your weakest part.
Do you realize that not everyone, the same thing came to
everyone, everyone's mind? Why is that?
Well, let's look a little bit deeper into it.
You see, when we're talking about strategic and
intentionally positioned, I believe the temptations that I
face and you face, they're specifically shaped for me based
on my story, my struggles, my surroundings and my season.
They're tailor made for you. They're tailor made for me.
That's why as a church, River Bend Church, we are committed.
We are not going to tier or to level temptations or struggles
like, hey, if you struggle with this, you're welcome.
If you're struggle when struggling with that, you need
to clean up your act. And then once you get your act
together now you can come and join us.
Listen, we're not going to tear or to level out different
struggles or temptations because they're all going to be unique
to the unique uniqueness that God created all of us in.
You see, here's the thing, my story, our enemy, our enemy will
actually leverage your past to derail your calling.
Our our enemy. He knows your struggles and he
will exploit your weak spots to distract you from your calling
your, your surroundings like who, who you, who you're around
and and what is normalized in, in your in your sphere of
influence in your circle of life.
He will use those things to absolutely wreck your calling
the season that you're in. He will use that season as an
excuse to get you to try to tempt you and convince you that
you don't have to live out this calling.
And that's just simply not true. And here's the here's the thing.
This is where we have to be very, very self aware is as my
story changes, my struggles change, my surroundings change
and my seasons change, the temptations that come against me
will also change and they'll morph.
That's why I always have to be very self aware of the
temptations and the opportunities for me to disobey
God in my life. Listen, I cannot even begin to
tell you. I can't even begin to tell you
pop up that next statement force.
I can't even begin to tell you how important this truth is.
Write this down. What is pulling me away from God
is actually pushing me toward toward a wrecked life.
It's amazing how easy it is for us.
And I say us because I'm included in this.
It's amazing how easy it is for us to actually believe.
Listen, I may not be following God's will for my life, but
that's not the same as heading toward a wrecked life.
Again, that is a lie. Here's what I would tell you
looking at the life of Jonah. Jonah was not just running away
from the call of God. He was actively running toward a
consequence that he could never fathom.
He was actually running towards a storm that he had no idea was
on the horizon. Listen, I'm not saying that
every storm in life is the result of sin, but what I will
tell you, every sin has a storm attached to it.
You see, Jonah wasn't just running from God, He was running
toward a wrecked life. So there's no riding the fence
of I'm going to be halfway in, halfway out with God when it
comes to living out my daily calling and my daily mission to
know Him, to grow in Him, and to be used by Him.
If I'm not being pulled towards God, I'm being pulled away from
God. And if I'm pulled towards God,
I'm being pulled towards towards holiness and godliness.
And if I'm being pulled away from God, I'm being actually
pulled away from godliness and holiness and toward a wrecked
life again. I can't even begin to tell you
how many conversations I've had with people that they've slowly
but surely drifted away from God.
And by the time I'm having a conversation with them, there's
a lot of wreckage and baggage. Unnecessarily unnecessary
wreckage and baggage, all because of a drift away from God
and toward a wrecked life. Now there's grace in that mess.
God's mercy is greater than that mess, but it's also unnecessary.
So how do you and I, how do we avoid going down that same path?
In other words, how do we reject the law and embrace the truth?
Give you 3 things as we head towards the close this morning.
My daily purpose is to live out my God-given calling.
The number one question that I'm often asked has been how do I
start and what do I do to start if I really want to grow in my
relationship with God? Great question.
My favorite question ever. And I would tell you, I would
tell you the same thing that I tell every person that I ask the
question number one, we've got to prioritize.
We've got to prioritize reading the Bible.
That's God's word to US. Prioritize reading the Bible,
and I understand that that seems pretty daunting to some of us.
Let me go ahead and kind of set you free for me in my life.
I've done it both ways. I've read long stretches of
passages. I've kind of had it in my brain
like, hey, no matter what, I have got to make it through
these 4 chapters of Hosea. I may not know what they mean,
but I'm going to make it through these 4 chapters of Hosea.
Hosea is a great book, by the way, but what does it benefit me
if I if my main goal is just to make it through?
One of the things that I've I've discovered that the way in which
God has helped me the most is not necessarily concentrating on
large passages, large stretches of Scripture, but actually more
specific pointed passages or verses that speak directly to
where I am. And when I prioritize reading
those passages and, and, and, and meditating on those passages
or thinking through them, studying them, memorizing them,
quoting them, or praying those passages back to God.
God loves it when we pray his word back to him and even
writing those passages down to where I come across those
passages. And there's such life in that
I've got to prioritize. And if I'm going to reject the
law, embrace the truth, I've got to prioritize reading the Bible,
but I've also got to normalize prayer.
And prayer is just simply talking to God throughout the
day. Prayer is simply talking to God
throughout the day. I also think that it's very
important, it's very key for us to wake up in the morning with
just a short prayer to God and say, God, I want to give you
this day everything that I'm about.
Got my main goal today is to know you to grow in you and to
be used by you God would you help me to walk in holiness and
righteousness today and then at the end of the day a pretty good
self diagnostic is maybe just applying and we've put verbiage
around this as our church's mission statement.
Just asking yourself, spending some time alone and with God in
prayer and asking God, God, would you show me like, did I
really bring myself to you today?
God, did I really did? Did did I, did I grow in you
today? What, what what have you taught
me about you and what have you taught me about me and how?
How have I slowly but surely let go of more myself and invited
more of you to take control? God, did I live sent for you.
Today as a church we talk about like, bring people to Jesus,
grow generations in Jesus, send disciples for Jesus.
It's not just a corporate church thing.
That's a personal thing. God, did I bring my full self to
you? God, did I grow in you?
God, did I live sent for you. In the ways in which I fall
short, say God, I know that your mercy is greater than my mess.
Would you help me to bring my full self to you tomorrow, to
grow in you tomorrow, to live scent for you tomorrow?
The first way that we reject the lie, embrace the truth is living
out that daily that God-given calling daily.
Second thing is understanding. I cannot walk in God's will
while running from God's word. I can't walk in God's will
without running from God's word. Let me go ahead and say this as
plainly as I know to say it. God will never bless our our
disobedience. He will never bless our
disobedience. We've got to know His word.
A lot of times we want clarity. And then God, if you give me
clarity, I'll obey your word. Can I let you in on something?
God very rarely, if ever, gives clarity before obedience.
God most often, if not always, gives clarity through obedience.
And there's a big difference between the two.
Hey, God, you show me the five year plan for me and then I'll
be obedient to you. And God's like, no, no, no, you
be obedient to what I've already shown you and then I'll show you
the next steps. You see, it's not clarity before
obedience. It's clarity through obedience.
So what are we called to do? We're called to read the Word,
know the Word, study the Word, apply the Word, third thing,
third and final thing this morning.
How do we reject the lie and brace the truth?
Discernment is realizing that not every open door is from God.
Discernment's realizing that not every open door is from God.
You and I, we need to be on the on the intentional, the active
lookout for the temptations that that want to pull us away from
God and want to push us toward a wrecked life.
You and I, we have a very real enemy that he will bring some
open doors or opportunities to destroy your life.
He'll bring some open doors or opportunities to distract you
from your calling. Let me let me tell you, if
nobody has ever told you this before, not all opportunities
are from God. Many times temp, many times
temptations come wrapped as opportunities.
Not all open doors are from God. And you say, well Ben, it's
funny that you should mention an open door because right now I'm
facing an open door. I'm facing kind of a fork in the
road or a crossroad in my life and I just don't know which way
to go. So what in the world should I
do? Well #1 you should know that if
that opportunity, if that open door, if it violates God's
words, you know that it's not from God.
Then I have prayed for more financial freedom and I just got
this call from a Mexican drug cartel that wants me to be their
chaplain, not from God. Well, Ben, they need Jesus.
True, that open door is not from God.
Wouldn't it be? So?
Wouldn't it be a lot easier if it was just like that?
Hey, cartel's bad. Here's here's what's worked in
my life. I've shared this story a lot,
but for me, when it comes to open doors and just kind of a
fork in the road, I typically pray that God opens up about 5
or 6 of them and gives me the discernment which one to walk
through. But God knows that I'm too
stupid, so he closes all of them, opens 1, and kicks me
through it. But in that process of opened
and closed doors, you know what I've learned To pray for God.
Would you give me an an inescapable peace about this?
Or maybe an inescapable lack of peace about this.
Over 7 years ago, Almost 7 1/2 years ago now, this was exactly
where where Julie and I were when we were praying about
whether to come here to Riverbend.
We weren't looking to leave where we were, but we began to
pray. God, would you give us an
inescapable peace? God, when, when?
When I think about when I think about Riverbend, when I think
about the Gainesville community, Hall County, when I think about
it, Would you, would you overwhelm me by your peace or,
or God? When I think about, when I think
about staying where we're at, where we're where we're
comfortable, Would you overwhelm me by lack of peace?
And, and here's what I would tell you if you're facing a fork
in the road or, or big decision, an open door and you're trying
to discern if it's from God or not.
Don't just sit there like Jonah and go, hey, there's a ship
waiting in the harbor going in that direction at a fair that I
could pay. Because again, sometimes the
temptations are disguised as opportunities.
Pray God, would you don't jump straight into something, but
God, would you give me when I pray about this opportunity?
Would you give me? And by the way, if you're
married, pray this together, husband and wife, both of y'all,
God, would you give us an inescapable peace about whether
or not we should step forward in this open door?
Or would you give us an inescapable lack of peace?
There's, there's just a, there's just a check in your spirit that
you just can't get past. Like I said at the very
beginning of this time, the book of Jonah is not about a fish.
The book of Jonah is about freedom.
And freedom only happens in the context of rejecting lies and
embracing truth. And as we as we close things out
this morning, I want to walk us through three key questions that
will hopefully guide your time and prayer with God this
morning. Here's the first one.
What is God calling me to do that I'm hesitant to do in the
room online? The youngest person in the room,
oldest person in the room, most experienced church member in the
room, Very new. First time in a church online.
Same way. What is God calling me to do
that I'm hesitant to do? Is it a move?
Is it a conversation? It is a is it a step forward?
Is it a step back? What is God calling me to do
that I'm hesitant to do #2 Is there a Tarshish in my life?
In other words, what am I justifying now that I know deep
down as disobedience? Man, we are so good at
justifying and rationalizing aren't we?
What it what? What am I participating in right
now in my life that deep down I know is disobedience?
3rd question am I man this is a this is a game changer of a
question. Am I actually seeking God's will
for my life or am I just asking Him to bless mine?
Man, that's huge. Am I actually seeking God's will
for my life or am I just asking him to bless my will for my
life? Sprinkle it in a little God dust
over here. Bless what I'm doing.
And you know that that's not what he's calling you to do to
begin with here. Here's what I want to do.
I just want to invite us into a Tom with our, with our heads
bowed and, and with our eyes closed.
And I want to, I want to just guide us and just kind of kind
of prep the time of response that we're about to enter into.
So wherever you're at, let me kind of read those three
questions over you. And if any of those questions
resonate with you or, or apply to you, I just want to invite
the Holy Spirit of God to go into the deep places of us to,
to, to expose and to, to rise to the surface, to bring to the
surface of our lives and to our minds so that we can bring them
before him anything that he needs to.
Let me ask you a question. What's God calling you to do
that you're hesitant to do? Is it taking that step of
obedience like we just celebrated with Parker?
You sit there and go, man, that's awesome, man.
He, he, he, he took that step of obedience.
And I know that that's something that I need to do.
I'm just so hesitant. Listen, let go of that
hesitancy. You be obedient to God.
Is it finally letting go and surrendering your life over to
Jesus? Is it saying yes to that job
opportunity? Is it saying no to that offered
promotion? What is God calling you to do
that you're hesitant to do? What are you justifying that you
know, deep down it's actually disobedience, kind of bringing
our minds back to the to the Keller quote, Man, it's a slow,
slow burn. Keep in mind, what we justify is
not just pulling us away from God.
It's actually pushing us toward direct life.
And I got great news for you. God desires so much more for you
than that, but at some point in time, you've got to acknowledge
what you're part of is disobedience to God's, God's
will, his ways and his word, and turn back to him.
And then I think this is a great question, a great gut check
question for all of us. God, would you show me, am I
really seeking your will or am I just asking you to bless mine?
In just a moment? We're going to, I'm going to
pray over us. And we have an opportunity to
stand and worship God through song again, but also another
opportunity for us to come and pray.
And if there's anything that you need to bring before God, if
there's anything that you want to pray over with somebody,
bring somebody with you to pray. If you want to come and pray, I
promise you won't. You won't have to pray alone.
If you want to come and pray with a pastor, we'll have a
pastor that's here to to pray with you and to talk with you as
well. But our main aim this morning is
to just allow the Holy Spirit to move in freedom and empower and
for us to respond in obedience to his movement.
God, we love you. We thank you for your word.
God, we thank you for your presence.
God with us in this place, in this space, in this moment.
God, we thank you. How your word that you give us.
God is not just simply information, is an invitation.
It is living, it is active. God, it exposes us.
God, it gets to the deep down parts of us.
God, for the man or the woman or the student.
God that is so hesitant and is holding on to be faithful and
obedient to what they know that you've called them to do.
God, I pray that you would provide freedom and release for
them. God, that they would have a
greater love for you than a fear of their peers.
God, for those that may be struggling with justifying some
type of disobedience in their life.
God, I pray that you would allow them to let go and that you
would set them free. God that they would turn back to
you. God, for all of us.
God, I pray that our combined prayer would simply be this.
God, would you search me and know me?
And God, would you answer this question about me?
God, am I truly seeking your will for me or am I just simply
asking you to bless mine? God, I pray that you would not
allow any of us to walk off of this campus and out of this room
the same way that we walked in God, that we would have been
with you. God, I pray that we would be
obedient to what you call us to do over the next several moments
together. And it's 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, Riverbend Church dot
Life.