Well, perhaps you've already heard what happened to Adrian
Simonicus on my birthday, February 8th, 2025, while I was
eating cake and hanging out with family.
He was in the Magellan Straight kayaking with his father named
Dell. And if you haven't seen the
video, here it is just kayaking along and Oh yeah, your lunch.
According to the AP News, if you listen to the footage captured,
his father is saying after the whale spit him out of his mouth.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
Like, hey, dad, shut up. I just got eight.
You might think that this was a one off event.
I mean, how often do people get eaten by a whale?
Well, in 2021, a lobster diver named Michael Packard was
trapped in the mouth of a humpback whale for 40 seconds.
When he got out, they were super excited because he only had soft
tissue damage, which I don't know what that is, but I bet
that hurt. And he's just like, hey, you're
fine, brush it off. I mean.
Then in 2019, a wildlife photographer named Rainier Skimp
was scooped up into a Brutus whale's mouth while
photographing. This is a weird sentence, a
sardine run, which is why I don't run.
OK. Now today we are beginning a
brand new series on. And for those of you who are
Bible people, you already know where I'm going on the book of
Jonah. Now I want to welcome all of you
joining from all of our different locations, those of
you watching online, those of you who are part of the crossing
inside. I also want to welcome those of
you who are new here, whether it's your first time or your
first time in a long time, or maybe you've been here for a
while, but you've never kind of raised your hand and said, hey,
I'm actually coming here. We would love a chance to meet
you. And I want to invite all three
of you. First time, first time in a long
time or been around for a while and never actually said, hey, I
actually come here. We would love for you to swing
by the new here booth in all of our lobbies.
And to those of you who are watching online, I want to
encourage you to participate in the online platform,
specifically in the chat. I had a great opportunity to
talk to some of the people that are a part of our online family
this week. And I just want, you know, we're
trying our best to pastor you and love you and walk with you.
So don't just be somebody who spectates.
We'd love for you to engage in the chat.
We have an incredible group of people that serve in that
ministry area. Now, before we jump into the
sermon, I got to lay some groundwork.
One, I'm going to actually take you through this verse by verse.
So some of the questions you're going to have from chapter 1 are
not going to get answered until chapter 4.
And some of you just went, OK, so this is a four week series,
so if I don't like this, I got to wait three weeks.
That's exactly right. OK, when we get done with this
series, we will be on Easter weekend.
So start thinking about the people that you're going to be
inviting on Easter weekend. And I think that this sermon
series is going to be a great way for us to get ready for
Easter. So if you're the kind of person
that likes to open your Bible, you can turn to Jonah chapter 1.
If you're a person who uses your phone for your Bible, you can
hop on that. If you're the kind of person who
pretends to use your phone for the Bible and want to check your
Facebook or the March Madness scores, God is watching you.
But we're glad you're here. Ready, Jonah, chapter one, verse
one, the word of the Lord came to.
Jonah, son of a Mitai, How many of you wish that you got a word
from the Lord? Like you just wish God would
speak to you, make it super clear how you're supposed to
live, what you're supposed to do.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah.
I got good news for you. God is always speaking, always
revealing His word. His will is not hard to find.
Jesus is the one who says He who seeks finds, the one who knocks.
The door will be opened. And the three primary ways
through which God speaks to you and I His people, is through His
Word, through His Spirit, and through His people.
Second Timothy chapter 3 tells us that God's Word, the Bible,
is God. Breathe.
And it is useful for you and I to not only become who He has
called us to become, but to accomplish what He has called us
to do. Many of us are in a desperate
need for a word from the Lord, but we are not spending any time
in His Word. We want a word from the Lord,
but we are not sensitive to His Spirit.
We want a word from the Lord, but we are not interacting with
God's spiritual people to guide us.
God is not silent, we just don't like to listen.
Jonah chapter one, verse 2. You guys are going, how many
verses are here? OK, here we go.
Go. This is what God says to him.
Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because
it's wickedness has come up before me.
Jonah was not expecting this word.
For those of you who raised your hand at all of our locations
going, I wish God would give me a word.
Jonah gets a word and he's like, I didn't want that word.
Can I get a different one? Not, not Nineveh, not the
Ninevites. You see, Nineveh was a major
city in the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian Empire, for those
of you who want to know, it occupies what would be modern
day Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.
Here it is. This is geography class with
Clayton. Everybody touch your put your
finger on your nose. This is how I would do it if I
was in 7th grade. Pay attention, everybody paying
attention. OK, here we go.
This right here is the big continent of Africa.
Here we got Spain. I think this is Portugal.
Over here you got Italy because that's the one with the boot.
You come all the way over to here, right?
There is Israel. That's the one that's in the
news. This is the Arabian Peninsula.
This big orange part is the Assyrian Empire.
OK. And Jonah hears that, hey, this
is where I'm supposed to go. And he's like, I don't want to
have anything to do with the Ninevites.
They are the worst people ever. He's not wrong.
Nineveh was a place known for its savage dealings with people.
Let me just kind of walk you through the highlight reel of
the Ninevites When they captured a city.
They would kill all the children, abuse all the women.
They would pile the skulls next to the city gates in a pillar.
They would take people and filet them alive and put their skin as
decoration on the city walls. One ruler bragged about taking a
foreign king and passing his dagger through his jawbone,
running a rope through it and put running him around like he
was a dog and made him live in a dog kennel.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah.
Go to the Ninevites if you're a Bible reader and you were to go
to the book of Nahum. In Nahum chapter 3, it calls
Nineveh the city of blood, and it calls them a city known for
their cruelty. I got a question for you.
What do you do when God calls you to do something you don't
want to do? That's what Jonah's feeling.
He got a word from the Lord and he didn't want that word.
What do you do when God calls you to be obedient in the area
of baptism? What do you do when God calls
you to serve and you don't want to serve?
What do you do when God calls you to give and you don't want
to give? What do you do when God calls
you to lead and you don't want to lead?
Invite and you don't want to invite.
Forgive, and you don't want to forgive.
Love your enemy and you don't want to love them.
What you do when God calls you to do something you don't want
to do reveals an awful lot about you.
If I were for the sake of the sermon to kind of give you 2
anchor points real quick to define your spiritual maturity,
I would say there's two ways to kind of get a quick barometer or
a quick light on your dashboard on your spiritual maturity.
It would be how long does it take you to do the thing that
God has called you to do? Is it immediate obedience?
That would be a sign of maturity.
Is it delayed obedience? That would be a sign of
immaturity. So how fast do I respond to the
promptings of the Holy Spirit would be a sign of your
maturity. The faster you respond, the more
mature you are in your faith. The other barometer that I would
give you is what do you do when God tells you to do something
that you don't want to do? Do you do it anyway?
That would also be a sign of your maturity.
So some of us might be struggling right now with an
immature faith because we know what we're supposed to do.
We just are going to take our time getting around to it.
I'll get serious about Jesus after.
I'll get serious about Jesus after high school.
I'll get serious with Jesus after college.
I'll get serious about Jesus after I get married.
I'll get serious about Jesus after I land the job, after I
get the promotion, after I have kids, after the kids get done
with sports. I'll get serious about God
after. When we createspace between
God's word and our obedience, that is a sign of us being
immature. And if the only time we want to
do stuff in the Bible is when it's the stuff we already want
to do, that is not a mature faith.
Because if the only time you have to be obedient to God is
when you want to do the things that he's called you to do, what
you are innocent saying is God only in the areas where you
agree with me while I follow you.
But in that case, you're not actually following God.
You're following you. And if God is so much higher
than our ways that I'm guessing there's some things that he's
going to point out in your life, in my life that are probably a
long way from how we like to operate now.
You find out real quick how your priorities stack up when God
calls you to do something you don't want to do.
You find out if you're a fan of Jesus or you're an actual
follower of Jesus. What you do when God calls you
to do something you don't want to do reveals what you really
believe about God. Do you believe that God's way is
the best way, even if it hurts? At the beginning of the year we
talked about faith and obedience and how they're connected that
your faith will never go faster than your obedience and your
obedience will never outrun your faith.
They move at the same speed. Last week we talked about how
there's two groups of people, people who hear the Word of God
and do not obey it, and people who hear the word of God and
they obey it. For those of you who don't know
the answer to all the questions in the test today, what do you
think Jonah did this prophet of God, this mouthpiece of God,
when he heard the word, go to the Ninevites?
Jonah chapter one, verse 3. But Jonah what?
Ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarsus.
He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that
port. After paying the fare, he went
aboard and sailed for Tarsus to flee from the Lord.
God calls Jonah, who lives in Gath Heifer, to go to Nineveh,
500 miles to the northeast. Instead of making a 500 mile
journey to the northeast, he goes 60 miles southwest and set
sail for Tarshish, 2500 miles to the West.
How many of you are going? I got a little Jonah in me.
God's like, hey, I want you to go here.
And you're like, you know what? I appreciate that.
I'm so thankful. And I'm he calls him to go 500
miles this way and he goes 2500 miles that way.
Can I just tell you something? The path of disobedience is the
easiest path to find. Have you ever had to like
purposefully screw stuff up? No, you could do that without a
whole lot of effort. Jesus says wide is the road that
leads to destruction, but narrow is the road that leads to
eternal life. How hard is a wide road to find?
Not hard at all. How hard is a narrow Rd. to
find? You got to look for it if you
want to run from God. It is really stinking easy.
And last week we talked about that the decisions that we make
end up making us. And what you're going to see
lived out in the book of Jonah, in the life of Jonah, is that
Jonah's decisions end up making him.
He goes from being God's prophet, God's mouthpiece, to
being on the run from God. Rough question.
Take a deep breath. Where is the area of
disobedience in your life that knocked you off who you used to
be in Christ? I encounter a lot of used TOS.
Everybody say used to turn to your neighbors say used to.
That's like a redneck word. It's just one word.
I used to or used to could, right?
I used to could can you dunk? Used to could you still?
I hear a lot of used to testimonies.
I used to serve. I used to share my faith.
I used to attend, I used to give.
I used to lead. I used to be committed to the
mission. As a staff, we deal daily with
the pain caused by people in used to land.
Jonah knew what God wanted, but Jonah did what Jonah wanted.
And the sad truth is many of us have had that testimony or are
living that testimony. Some of you, you can think of
people who used to sit next to you, who used to be chasing God
with you, who used to serve the mission with you.
Now brace yourself because we're about to enter a really
challenging part of the story. Verse 4.
Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent
storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.
Sometimes God calms the storm. He did it twice with Jesus.
Sometimes God allows the storm that the devil causes.
He does so with Job. Sometimes it just storms.
Sometimes we cause the storm, and sometimes God causes the
storm. You cannot expect God's blessing
in an area of disobedience. We love to blame the devil.
You do something stupid. Devil made me do it.
We love to blame others. Well, I was doing but then they
I was going to be sweet, but she I was going to be kind.
But they that's how exes talk. It's never them.
It's always if they weren't divorced, who would they blame?
There's always somebody else. But where rarely do we own the
fact that we are in a storm because of the decisions that we
made. And an even tougher reality is
this is a storm that God sent to get my attention.
Now listen, please, crossing family, do not paint God with a
wide brush on this. But I want you to keep an eye on
the fact that sometimes God sends the storm to get your
attention, but sometimes you are in a storm because you chose it.
And no matter how many people warned you, you didn't listen.
You were smarter, you were wiser, you knew better.
If I can say this gently as your pastor, the easiest place where
I can point to that is like a perfect illustration of this is
I see couples dating somebody that they should never end up
marrying because they are not following Jesus.
And they think that somehow magically it will change.
And then they end up marrying that person whose heart is not
given to Jesus. And they find themselves in the
storm of a marriage, parenting kids, and they're unequally
yoked. And that is a painful price to
pay. Jonah one verse 5, I'm going to
get you guys out of here 6-7 hours, OK?
All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own God
and they threw cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
Notice now how Jonas Sin is impacting the people around him.
The storm is so severe that all the sailors are trying out their
own gods. They're like, hey, God that we
believe in. Get this to stop.
Help, help. They start throwing all the
provisions for the journey they got 2500 miles ahead of them.
Like get rid of it. We don't need it.
We just got to make it through this storm.
They're doing everything they can do to survive.
I hear people say this sometimes.
It's my life. I can do what I want.
I'm not hurting anyone. Wrong.
Your sin always impacts other people.
If we had time, I could pass the microphone through our this Gen.
ministry and let the kids in our church tell the story about how
Mom's affair blew up the family. How Dad never come into grips
with his addiction and the pain that it caused day in and day
out because he refused to acknowledge it.
Our sin has an impact. Can I give a little devo to the,
you know, teenagers and whatever in the room for just a second?
No one. You got to make me a promise.
I'm going to tell you one story about me, maybe 2, depending on
the time. You are not allowed to use this
story against your parents. Like, look, I can take all the
stupid pills in the cabinet and I might turn out like Clayton.
That is not that is not what I'm telling you.
Let me let me just say this. Do you want to know why your
parents are super involved in using your friend group?
Do you want to know why they're very cautious about the
sleepovers that you're getting ready to go to?
Do you want to know why they try to get you in certain classes
with certain kids from certain families?
It's because they don't want the wrong people in your boat.
I don't want to talk about how old I am, but I was around when
the Internet became a thing and I was a sophomore in high school
when the came out that whatever that noise was and like the
stuff would load on the screen line by line.
And back in those days, if you had a friend that had an
Internet connection, it was the wild, Wild West.
How wild. We ordered the plans and the
supplies to make pipe bombs and had it delivered to his house
because you know, 16 year old us was like that sounds fun.
We'll just Chuck some pipe bombs off the Cliff and let them blow
up in the Mississippi. So we ordered all the parts and
they were like, you know what would be really fun?
We should take these 8 inch pipe bombs and we should put them in
people's mailboxes. So kid you not, we made a bunch
of pipe bombs, put them in the glove compartment of the Grand
Prix, and started driving through the country.
We got to our first house, open up the glove compartment, pull
out one of the pipe bombs, stick it in the mailbox and drive off
and then stop just waiting for it to.
And about that time, a guy came flying out in his vehicle, got
us came up, knocked on the door, pretty on the window of the car
pretty hard. I asked my buddy for his, his
like ID and he since he was driving, he had it.
We all pretended like we didn't have I DS like, yeah, he's the
driver. OK, now, just I, I it didn't
even cross my mind. What if somebody had gone out to
there? And I mean, none, none of those
things went through this head. None of those.
But we sweet talk and we do our best and we kind of think, hey,
we got past this. The guy didn't call the cops on
us favor of the Lord. You know what I mean?
I think this thing is way behind me now.
That guy was hot ticked. I mean, you have to think he had
to go back, reach his hand into the thing that didn't go off
yet. And I mean, we made it wrong is
what happened. We can't we don't read
directions. I think I'm out Scott free.
I'm like, dude, parents will never know.
This is perfect. I drive home a couple weeks,
like less than a week later and I show up to my parents house
after a practice of some court. I've got my backpack on, just
walking into my house and this guy is on his hands and knees
installing the trim in my parents house.
And he looks at me and I look at him and I did.
Mom, Dad, I don't know if I told you that story, but yeah, the
guy who did the trim work in our house, we blew up as well.
We tried to. It didn't go off because Chris
didn't read the directions. Do you want to know why parents
care kids about who's in your life?
Because you get some of the wrong people in the boat with
you and your life is going to be in a storm.
And hear me, I'm not blaming all the people that were in the car
or the boat as if they were the bad dude.
I'm saying I was the Jonah causing storms.
You got to be so careful who you put in your boat.
Jonah 1 verses 5 and 6. But Jonah had gone below deck
where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
The captain went to him and said, how can you sleep?
Get up and call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us
so that we will not perish. Notice what's happening on the
boat. They've tried all of their gods
and nothing, nothing's changing. So they start like they're doing
their whole worship service. Nothing's working out.
So like, well, we should go talk to the guy who's asleep in the
bottom of the boat and have him do a worship service.
They find him, they wake him up and they go, hey, what's going
on here? For those of you who have never
really followed God, can you kind of just put on the sailor
hat for a second? How's that working for you?
If you're crying out to a false God, that false God will never
save you. If your false God is money,
you'll never make enough. If you're If you're God that
you're trying to chase and serve is sex, you'll never have enough
of it. If your God is your spouse, they
will never measure up. If your God is your kids, they
will only disappoint you. If your God is you, you will
never be satisfied. There's only one real, true,
trustworthy God. Unfortunately the only person in
the boat who knows him is the one running from him.
How many of your Co workers can't find their way to the one
true God because you're not following him?
You've heard me say this before. There are no undercover
Incognito Christians. The Bible says we are to be a
city on a hill, a lamp on a stand, light of the world, and
there are people crying out and following a false God because
they can't find the true God because you're choosing a path
of disobedience. Verse 7 and 8, This is where it
gets fun. Then the sailors said to each
other, come, let us cast lots. Imagine them just throwing a
dice and trying to figure out who is responsible for this
calamity. They cast lots, and the lot fell
to Jonah. So they asked him, tell us who's
responsible for making all this trouble for us?
What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from?
What is your country from? What people are you?
They're going, hey, there's a reason why we're going through
this storm. They are perceptive that
something is not right. They've tried all their gods
they're talking to. They're going, hey, who's in
charge of this? And they're like, OK, if it's
just, if it comes up a six, it's you.
Jonah 6 rolling in. If it's a 5, it's you.
Jonah 5, tell us what are you doing?
We're about to die. I love this.
Jonah doesn't come out and say, hey guys, it's me.
I'm the problem. Here he goes, no, you're going
to have to roll for it. You're going to keep rolling.
Then he's the 1 causing it. He doesn't own it.
Watch what happens next. I love this Jonah chapter one,
verse 9 through 11. He answered.
Listen to how bold he is now. I'm a Hebrew and I worship the
Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.
This terrified them and they asked, what have you done?
They knew he was already running away from the Lord because he'd
already told them so the sea was getting rougher and rougher.
So they asked him, what should we do to make the sea calm down
for us? I love this part of the text.
All of a sudden Jonah gets really bold about his
relationship with the Lord. But pay attention to what he
says. I serve the God of heaven that's
causing the wind to blow. I serve the God of the sea
that's causing it to rage. And I'm I'm my God is the God of
the dry land, which we are desperate for.
He's literally saying all the things that are causing his
problems. That's my God.
They knew he was running. They just didn't believe that
his God was real. But now that Jonah has given his
God credit for his power over the heaven, the sea and the land
God, I'm gonna make the sea a little rougher just so they know
he was telling the truth. They're like, hey, hey, hey,
He's got everybody's attention now.
Verse 12, pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied.
And it'll become calm. I know that it is my fault that
this great storm has come upon you.
How bad is Jonah? He doesn't say, hey guys, I'm
going to jump overboard, guys, it's my bad.
I'm jumping in. It'll calm down.
He says, here guys, here's what you're going to have to do.
You're going to have to pick me up and you're going to have to
throw me overboard because I have 0 intention of being
helpful. Like the words are coming out of
his mouth, but he's refusing to even participate in it.
He's like, like, it's I see it. This is probably not in the
Scripture. When we get to heaven, you can
all ask him, like, how far off was Clayton?
But I can see Jonah, like his mouth is moving and he's trying
to stop it. You're going to have to pick me
up and throw me over boards because what would a normal
person do? Hey, it's me.
Like, that's what you would think, that a normal, like,
guys, this is all my fault. But he just goes, yeah, you're
going to have to pick me up because I'm going to sit down.
OK, now once this is all over, you're going to, you're just
going to pick me up, throw me overboard.
Verses 13 through 16. You guys should read your Bible.
This is fun, isn't it? Instead, the men did their best
to row back to land, but they could not for the seeker even
Wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord.
Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life, and
do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man.
For you, Lord, have done as you pleased.
Then they took Jonah, threw him overboard, and the raging sea
grew calm. At this the men greatly feared
the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made
bows to him. Watch this.
Now the men who were just like Jonah, who wasn't doing the word
that they got from the Lord, Now these men are not doing the word
that they got from the Lord, and instead of throwing them
overboard, they start working harder.
We got to get this. We got to get this boat to sea
so that. And then when they can't do
that, they go, all right, I guess we're going to be obedient
to God. He because God turns up the
storm while they're trying to row against him.
So much so the storm gets so bad that the Pagan guys who used to
not believe in the one true God now believe in the one true God
and start praying to him. Hey God, we didn't believe in
you a couple of moments ago, but now we are full blown believers
and this is our first prayer. So we apologize for getting it
wrong, but we want you to know we believe and we want to be
obedient to you because we've already seen what happens when
we try to do what the opposite of what you told us to do.
Jonah hasn't learned this lesson yet, but Lord we have and we are
so thankful for sending this really disobedient prophet to
give us a word from you. But I just want to make sure you
hear us clearly. Your first command is for us to
throw your man overboard. And I just want to be super
clear because it's my first prayer to you.
God, we do not want to be held accountable for this guy dying.
And so they throw him into the water like mid prayer.
They're like, and Jesus won. We just want to like how, how
does it? Oh my goodness.
And so like they're like, please forgive us now.
As soon as this happens, the sea goes calm.
Can you imagine being a sailor like this boat is?
You're praying, all right? God, we're so sorry.
We're about to throw this guy in 123.
And what's to say they immediately made sacrifices and
vows to him? They're like, OK, so everything
we have is yours now. That's like they go from
worshipping false gods to believing in God, hearing about
God, to disobeying God, to believing in God, to throwing a
man overboard in response to God, to offering vows and
commitments. And can I just say this?
When people realize who God is, sacrifice and commitments are
the natural response. He's God.
I'm not, I belong to him now. Verse 17.
Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah and Joni
was in the belly of the fish 3 days and three nights.
That is the end of chapter 1. God, in his mercy, does not
allow Jonah to die. Instead, he saves him with a
great fish. Jonah, on the run from God,
cannot outrun God's grace and mercy to him.
While Jonah did not want to extend God's grace to the
Ninevites, God extended grace to Jonah.
And so God sends a storm. He sends a sailor to wake him
up, a fish to swallow him, all in an effort to bring Jonah back
to the heart of God. I got a question for you,
crossing family. What is the thing that God has
called you to do that you are not doing?
Or if you don't like that question, I'll give you a
tougher one. What is the storm that others
are suffering in because of your disobedience?
The good news is that even when we run, God comes running after
us. I just want to know when will we
finally stop running from Him and start running after Him?
We're moving to a time of decision.
If you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I got great
news for you. You can start 1 today.
Maybe like the sailors, you will stop following the ways of this
world and you'll start following the Maker of this world.
Today you could be like the sailor and go, You know what?
It is time for me to give my life to you.
It's time for me to start worshiping you, following you,
trusting you, obeying you. I've been running my own play
long enough. And if you've never started an
intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ, there is
testimony after testimony after testimony in this room of people
who would just tell you that it was the best decision that they
ever made. And their biggest regret is that
they didn't do it sooner. And in just a few moments, the
people around you are going to stand and sing, and some of them
are going to go to the steps and pray.
I would encourage you to walk right over there underneath that
screen next to the baptistry, and talk to somebody about how
to start your relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you do have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I want to
encourage you to use these steps, to use these steps to get
your heart and your life right with God.
Maybe you're going to come to the steps and you're just going
to do battle over the thing that you know that God has called you
to do that you are not doing. Maybe it's he's been calling you
to serve and you won't serve, lead and He won't lead.
Give and you won't give. Forgive and you won't forgive.
There's a thing. Oh my goodness, every person has
a thing. How do I know that?
Because we're not perfect. He is and until we've been
perfected in Christ in heaven, there is always a thing that his
Spirit will be calling us to surrender to him.
So there's the thing question is, what are you going to do
with the thing? You're going to keep pushing it
back, keep running from it, or are you going to trust that God
has something good for you in it?
Others of you? This is, I mean this, this is
the tougher 1. What is the storm that the
people you love are having to go through because of your
disobedience? Maybe you come to the steps and
you just own your part. Maybe because you won't forgive
somebody, there's no trust in your home.
Because you won't forgive and you're getting bitter.
Your home has no peace. Maybe because you won't get
help, your family has no joy. Maybe because you won't
surrender your life to him, your family has no clear purpose and
direction. I know this.
I know many of us want to be the very best husbands and mothers
and wives and daughters and sons that we can possibly be, but I
also know that we want to somehow define what that is and
choose our path to get there. And how's that working?
So maybe today you don't go to the steps for you, but you go to
the steps for the people that are in your storm, and you get
right with God. You own your part.
You ask for forgiveness, so that way you can give them what God
wants to give them through you. Would you stand with me?
Heavenly Father, I'm asking you to do a mighty work in US.
I'm asking you to show us the consequences, the weight of our
disobedience, and show us the purpose and the direction and
the joy and the peace of obedience and help us to make
the right choice. You hear my pray.
Amen.