When Your Emotions Are Out of Control - CRAIG GROESCHELL
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00:00I wonder how many of you have ever watched a movie
00:04or a TV series, and then after the whole thing,
00:09it ended with no resolution.
00:14It didn't make sense.
00:16You get to the end of it, you're like,
00:17wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:19I paid attention all the way through.
00:23I watched for the entire season.
00:26And we get to the end and it ends like that?
00:28Who knows what I'm talking about?
00:29Raise your hand.
00:30Comment section, I know what you're talking about.
00:32Type it there.
00:32You get to the end, like, I have so many questions.
00:36Did they get back together?
00:39Did the good guy live?
00:42Did the bad guy die?
00:45Because if you haven't noticed, sometimes they look dead,
00:49but they're not really dead.
00:51You know what I'm talking about.
00:52How many of you hate when something ends like that
00:55and there is no resolution?
00:57Raise your hand.
00:57Type it in the comment section.
01:00I hate when that happens.
01:02If you hate it, I got really bad news for you.
01:05You are not gonna like Jonah chapter four
01:08because this has the weirdest cliffhanger ending
01:12you've ever seen.
01:13Jonah chapter four, today we conclude
01:16the message series on Jonah.
01:17It is the most difficult chapter of Jonah for me to preach.
01:23And it will be the most frustrating chapter
01:26for you to hear.
01:28Now that I've got you excited about Jonah chapter four,
01:33let's review where we've been the first three weeks.
01:37Chapter one, do you remember the word of the Lord
01:40came to Jonah and said, go and preach to the Ninevites
01:44because their wickedness has come up before me.
01:47What did Jonah do?
01:48He hated the Ninevites because they were evil.
01:50And so he got on a ship going in the other direction.
01:54God sent a storm.
01:56The sailors got freaked out.
01:57They threw Jonah overboard and God provided a big fish
02:03that swallowed Jonah up.
02:05Chapter one, chapter two, Jonah prayed and God had mercy.
02:11And the fish vomited Jonah up on the shore.
02:15We call that beach barf.
02:19God had mercy.
02:20Everybody say God had mercy.
02:22God had mercy.
02:22Say it again, God had mercy.
02:24God had mercy.
02:25God had mercy because the fish vomited him out of the mouth.
02:28When you think about it,
02:30that fish had two distinctly different exits.
02:37See what I'm saying there, God had mercy.
02:40That old boy could have come out the other side, right?
02:44Then we would have called that waves of waste, tide turd.
02:50I don't know, this won't work with me.
02:51God had mercy, right?
02:54And the fish vomited him up on dry land.
02:56Chapter three, and the word of the Lord
03:00came to Jonah a second time.
03:03How many of you are thankful for the God of second chances?
03:06Our God doesn't just call,
03:12but our God calls back.
03:15And so what did Jonah do?
03:17He finally obeyed the Lord.
03:19He wasn't happy about it,
03:21but he preached a very short, very direct message
03:23that basically turn or burn,
03:24like you got 40 days to repent of your sins
03:26or God's gonna destroy you.
03:28And he preaches the message
03:29and all of the Ninevites actually turn.
03:32And how does the Lord respond to their repentance?
03:38How does God respond
03:40when the evil people turn from their sins?
03:42Chapter three tells us how they respond.
03:44When God saw that the Ninevites, the very last verse,
03:48when he saw the Ninevites did what they did
03:50and how they turned,
03:51how they repented from their evil ways,
03:53God relented and did not bring on them
03:58the destruction that he had threatened.
04:01What do we see?
04:02When they repented, God relented.
04:07When they turned from their sins,
04:09God had mercy on some of the most evil people
04:14who have ever walked the face of the earth,
04:18even when they didn't deserve it,
04:20but they repented, God relented.
04:23And the whole nation from the king, the richest,
04:26to the very poorest turned to God.
04:30And how do you think Jonah responded?
04:33He was a preacher and this national revival breaks out.
04:38I gotta tell you right now,
04:39if I preached and like all of you turned to Jesus,
04:45I'd be so happy, I'd be worshiping,
04:47I would break out M&Ms and I would eat a whole box full.
04:51I would be so, I mean, I'd be so,
04:53if all of you came to faith in Christ,
04:56that'd be like the greatest day ever.
04:58Jonah preached, they repented, and what did he do?
05:02He wasn't happy, he wasn't worshiping, he was ticked off.
05:07Jonah 4, 1 tells us this.
05:09But Jonah, to him, this seemed very wrong
05:14and he became, say it loud, he became angry.
05:18Now the word angry,
05:19there is kind of a weaker translation in my opinion.
05:22The Hebrew word is a very, very strong word.
05:25It kind of means like ticked off, like raging.
05:28He was furious.
05:29I would call it flaming hot Cheeto angry.
05:32That's not, he was living, like this isn't fair.
05:35They were evil and you repent,
05:37they're relenting on them, God, this isn't fair.
05:39Then he prayed to the Lord.
05:40Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home?
05:44Like I told you this was gonna happen.
05:46That's why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarsus.
05:51And he says this.
05:51Now he's gonna complain
05:53about the most beautiful attributes of God.
05:57I knew you were like this, God,
05:58and this is what bothers me about you applying it to them.
06:01I like when you apply your grace to me,
06:03but I don't like when you apply it to them.
06:06And this is what he says of God.
06:07I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,
06:13slow to anger and abounding in love.
06:17Let me pause there for a moment.
06:20God, I know you are a compassionate God,
06:25slow to anger and abounding in love.
06:30What kind of God do we serve?
06:32We serve a compassionate God.
06:36Slow to anger and abounding in love.
06:39He says a God who relents from sending calamity.
06:43And then he says, hey, I don't like what you're doing, God,
06:45so take away my life,
06:48for it's better for me to die than to live.
06:52If you're gonna let these evil people off,
06:54I don't even want to live.
06:57Jonah, the prophet of God says.
07:01Can we just slow it down for a minute and acknowledge?
07:04There's a lot of drama here.
07:07You guys are being really quiet, are you with me?
07:08There's a lot of drama here, right?
07:10I mean, I'm kind of like, really, Jonah, really?
07:13I mean, this is God, and you're gonna throw this fit?
07:17Now, it's really easy to throw Jonah under the bus
07:22until you put yourself in his shoes.
07:24Remember in week one, I told you about the Ninevites,
07:26how they would rape the women,
07:30they would murder kids when they would take over an area,
07:33they would torture the men.
07:35And experts tell us, scholars, that it's possible,
07:39in fact, it's very likely, that some of Jonah's family,
07:42like maybe his mom and dad,
07:44maybe his papa and nana, his grandparents,
07:46maybe some distant relatives,
07:48it's very, very likely that some of his family members
07:51were tortured and killed by the Ninevites or the Assyrians.
07:55And so when you're looking at Jonah,
07:57you're going, there's history, there's history.
08:00So we'll give him a little bit of credit,
08:03because we have to acknowledge,
08:04Jonah eventually did the will of God, right?
08:08God told him to go and preach to the Ninevites,
08:10he did the will of God, but he wasn't happy about it.
08:13And what did he preach?
08:1440 days from now, you better turn or God will destroy you.
08:18Jonah, he shows us a problem that many of us have.
08:22You might have it, I can have it, and that's this.
08:24He shows us, it's possible to do the will of God
08:28without the heart of God.
08:31It's possible to do what God wants,
08:34but to do it with the wrong attitude
08:36or with the wrong motives.
08:38And sometimes we'll do that, like, okay, God,
08:40I'll do this because you told me to,
08:42but I'm not gonna like it.
08:44Or I'll do the right things,
08:46but I might do it with the wrong motives.
08:48And it could be any number of different ways in your life.
08:50Like you'll give what God told you to give,
08:53but you don't really want to.
08:55Or God, I'll do my YouVersion Bible app reading, why?
08:59Because I don't want to lose my streak.
09:02Can we be that real?
09:03Has anybody ever done that?
09:05Have you ever lost your streak?
09:07Somebody told me if you go back and reset the day
09:10on your computer, you can actually get your streak back,
09:12but that didn't come from me.
09:16God, I'll forgive what they did
09:18because you told me I have to,
09:19but I won't forget what they did.
09:22Okay, God, I'll go to church,
09:25but I don't have time to serve.
09:27Got quiet there, didn't it now, pastor?
09:30I'll go to church, but hey,
09:31someone else can take care of the kids.
09:32I'll go to church, but I don't have time for serve.
09:35If you think that's being harsh,
09:36I was gonna say I'll go to church,
09:39but not in football season.
09:42I was gonna say that, but the problem is everybody
09:45that needs to hear it, they're not here anyway.
09:46So God bless you for being in church today.
09:51How many of you know it's possible to do the will of God
09:59without the heart of God?
10:03And the story continues, Jonah chapter four, verse five,
10:07that tells us this.
10:08Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place.
10:12Where did he sit down?
10:13Say it out loud.
10:14He sat down east of the city.
10:17Those of you online,
10:18you might just type that in the comment section.
10:20He sat down east of the city.
10:22There he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade
10:27and waited to see what would happen in the city.
10:30So he preached and then he got out of town
10:33and he went to east of the city.
10:36It's interesting that this very specific direction
10:40is in the Bible.
10:40One more time, which direction did he go?
10:42He went east of the city.
10:44This is important because in the Bible,
10:47anyone who travels east,
10:49this is often a picture or represents moving toward exile
10:55or moving toward bondage.
10:57Many times in the scripture, when someone travels east,
11:00they're moving away from God's will into exile or bondage.
11:04I'll show you just a few examples just so you can see.
11:07Genesis chapter three, because of Adam's sin,
11:10God sent Adam out of the garden, which way?
11:12To the east.
11:14Genesis four, Cain left the Lord's presence
11:18and lived in the land of Nod.
11:19And where was Nod?
11:20It was east of Eden.
11:22Genesis chapter 13, when Abram and Lot parted,
11:25Lot, he chose to go which direction?
11:28East.
11:29To where?
11:29To Sodom.
11:30Was Sodom good or bad?
11:31Sodom was bad.
11:32He went to the wrong place.
11:33Ezekiel eight says,
11:35"'With their backs turned toward the temple of the Lord,
11:38"'men faced away from the temple.'"
11:40Toward what?
11:40Toward the east and worshiped the sun.
11:44What did Jonah do?
11:45He was a prophet who didn't obey God
11:47and then obeyed God with impure motives.
11:51He went to the east, symbolizing perhaps
11:56that he's probably not trusting God again.
12:02This gets personal.
12:04When you look at it, Jonah was the prophet
12:07and he claimed God.
12:09All through the scripture, you're gonna see him call him,
12:11my Lord, the Lord, Lord.
12:13He claimed God, but in this case,
12:16he turned his back to God.
12:20God, I claim you and your ways,
12:22but once again, he turned his back toward God,
12:25which shows us it's possible to claim God,
12:30yet live with your back to him.
12:33And I say this with a heavy heart,
12:38but it's not uncommon to see that in the church today.
12:42People will say, hey, Jesus saved me
12:46and they know him as Savior,
12:47but they don't know him as Lord.
12:50I want him to do what I want him to do,
12:52but I'm gonna turn my back and do whatever I want to do.
12:55And Jesus said this.
12:56He said, hey, one day people are gonna be like,
12:58hey, I did these works in your name, Lord.
13:04I went to church in your name, Lord.
13:06I did all these good things, Lord.
13:08And Jesus will say, you had your back to me.
13:10He'll say, you may have said that and done it,
13:13but we didn't know each other.
13:17It's really, really easy to want him to be Savior,
13:20but not know him as Lord.
13:22I wonder if anybody here,
13:24and I can just say it pastorally,
13:25like because I love you and care about you.
13:28Do you claim God with your lips,
13:30but you live with your back toward him?
13:34The good news is all you gotta do is turn.
13:37All you gotta do is turn
13:41because we serve a gracious and a compassionate God.
13:48Slow to anger and abounding in love.
13:51Our God is so good.
13:53So here we got Jonah.
13:55And I'm actually starting to understand him.
13:59The reason I understand him,
14:00because I see a little bit of myself in him.
14:03He's being a baby.
14:05How many of you are ever a baby?
14:07Hey, don't just raise your hand,
14:09just elbow the baby next to you.
14:10Just elbow him right now.
14:12Yeah, you're a big old baby.
14:15Amy would like elbow me like boom, right?
14:18He's hurt.
14:20He's got his feelings hurt.
14:22He's mad.
14:24He's uncomfortable baking in this hot sun.
14:28And Jonah 4, 6 says this.
14:30We're gonna see the Lord provide a couple things.
14:33Remember the Lord provided a fish.
14:35We're gonna see God provide three more things.
14:37The Lord God provided a leafy plant
14:41and made it grow over Jonah to give him shade
14:45for his head to ease his comfort.
14:48We serve a gracious God.
14:49And Jonah was what?
14:51He was very happy about the plant.
14:53So first God provided a fish to save Jonah.
14:56Then God provided a plant to cover him.
14:59And he was very happy.
15:00Now, when it says he was very happy,
15:02again, the word very happy
15:04doesn't capture the depth of the Hebrew word.
15:07The Hebrew word is wayisma,
15:09and it means rejoice greatly,
15:11or it means exceedingly overjoyed.
15:13This isn't just like,
15:14I found the $20 bill in my pants happy.
15:17This is like, I won the lottery happy.
15:20I mean, this is exceedingly overjoyed.
15:22And why was he very happy?
15:25Because God eased his discomfort.
15:29Because God did something for him.
15:31He was very happy,
15:33not because of the people that turned to God,
15:35but because God did something for him.
15:39Because it was still all about him.
15:44And that's the part that makes me uncomfortable,
15:47because sometimes I see myself in that.
15:50Jonah loved receiving the provisions and blessings from God.
15:56But you know what God was about to do?
15:57Let me tell you, I'll foreshadow it.
15:59God was about to teach him a lesson.
16:03Jesus is the good teacher.
16:06God wants to promote us
16:08by sometimes allowing us to pass some tests.
16:10And he's about to give Jonah a little object lesson.
16:15And Jonah didn't like lessons.
16:18He's like some of us.
16:19Jonah wanted to skip God's lessons
16:22and go straight to God's blessings.
16:24Come on, I made that up this week.
16:26I hope you like it.
16:27I mean, we don't want the hard stuff
16:30and we don't want the discipline
16:32and we don't want to be patient
16:34and that whole being conformed to the image of Christ
16:37and blessed are those who are persecuted.
16:39And hey, perseverance will help finish a person
16:42and change the way, conform them to Jesus.
16:44Now he didn't want that,
16:45but God was about to teach him a lesson.
16:49And he didn't want that.
16:50So what did God do?
16:51God provided a plant and Jonah started to get comfortable
16:56in the shade.
16:58Here's what I've noticed.
16:59About the time you start to get comfortable
17:03is when God has a way of stretching your faith.
17:06The moment we start to get comfortable,
17:08God tends to teach us that we still need him.
17:12And we're gonna see God provide two more things.
17:14Verse seven tells us this,
17:16but at dawn the next day, God provided a worm.
17:19He provided a fish, a plant and a worm
17:22which chewed up the plant so that it withered.
17:25I told you it's weird, it's gonna get even weirder.
17:27Like this is weird, this is God's living word.
17:30It's powerful, it's true, it's weird.
17:33Can we just say that?
17:35You guys, you look like you're afraid.
17:37Don't worry, God works through all things.
17:42God works through weird things.
17:43He is God and God provided a worm
17:49which chewed the plant so that it withered.
17:51When the sun rose, watch this, God provided a what?
17:54A scorching, oh, there it is again, east wind.
17:58And the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint.
18:02Jonah again wanted to die and said,
18:06it would have been better for me to die than to live.
18:11Jonah's having another pity party.
18:14Jonah's being a drama king.
18:17Jonah's being a drama llama, right?
18:22I mean, is he being a baby or what?
18:24This is pathetic.
18:26Before we criticize him, I just wanna tell you right now,
18:28I actually love that the Bible includes
18:31all these details about his emotions.
18:33This is so real.
18:35I mean, this bro, he is all over the place.
18:39I mean, he's up, he's down, he's disobeying God,
18:42he's worshiping God, he's praising God, he's mad at God.
18:45He's all over the place.
18:48And I don't know about you,
18:50but I can be like that at times.
18:52In fact, I looked at expert research on his personality
18:57to kind of measure historic Jonah
19:00against today's personality types and different mindsets.
19:05And one source said that he had three possible root issues
19:09to his very complicated behavior.
19:11And I'm gonna show you what these are.
19:13See if you see yourself in any of these,
19:15because I don't at all.
19:18The first one is this.
19:21He had erratic mood swings,
19:24ranging from courageous obedience
19:26to extreme dissatisfaction and anger,
19:29suggesting underlying frustration and the need to control.
19:35Check for me, but only one.
19:38The next one says this.
19:39He had entitlement tendencies,
19:41focusing on his own views of justice
19:44and expecting God and others
19:47to operate within his parameters.
19:51Check.
19:52The third one.
19:53He had depressive symptoms
19:56manifesting through feelings of burnout,
19:58sadness, anger, and hopelessness.
20:02I don't know about you, the good news is for me,
20:03that was not true today, but it has been true before.
20:06Check.
20:09It's so easy to criticize this guy's emotional tantrums,
20:14all the drama, but I get it.
20:17And I wanna talk to those of you
20:18who are real enough to admit it,
20:20you might sometimes as well,
20:22because I can like obey God with great faith one moment,
20:29and then ignore God and do my own thing the next.
20:34I can be in the presence of God,
20:35like worshiping him with this passionate,
20:38authentic, heartfelt adoration.
20:43And then the next day I can be apathetic
20:45and even act like he doesn't even exist.
20:48I can be completely obedient
20:50to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
20:51God prompts me to say something,
20:53and the next day God prompts me like,
20:54eh, that's not God, that must be the devil,
20:56and just walk on.
20:59I hate the lessons, but oh, I love God's blessings.
21:04I can relate.
21:05And so what does God do?
21:06God provides the shade.
21:09And the next day God provides a worm,
21:12and the worm eats the plant.
21:15So now Jonah's going, okay, God, what's up?
21:19The sun is about to kill me, pounding on my head.
21:24God, this is unbelievable.
21:27After all I've done for you, I risked my life.
21:32I preached to those evil people because you told me to.
21:36And here we are.
21:41How does Jonah end?
21:46How does the series end?
21:48There is no season five coming next year.
21:52It just ends.
21:54You ready for it?
21:55Because it stinks.
21:59It just ends.
22:00It's like, here's the finale, it's a cliffhanger,
22:03but God does get the last word.
22:06Here it goes.
22:07Here's the ending, get ready, don't miss it.
22:08But God said to Jonah, is it right
22:11for you to be angry about the plant?
22:14Jonah's like, it is.
22:15I'm so angry, I wish I were dead.
22:19But the Lord said, you've been concerned about this plant,
22:22though you didn't tend it or make it grow.
22:24It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
22:27I'm the Lord of the plant, God says,
22:29why are you so freaked out about it?
22:31And shouldn't I not have concern
22:34for the great city of Nineveh,
22:37in which there are more than 120,000 people,
22:42people who need the grace of God.
22:43All these people who cannot tell their right hand
22:46from their left, and also many animals.
22:53There it is.
22:55It's over.
22:58Did you miss it?
22:59I'll give you that last line again,
23:00because the plane just lands.
23:02Watch this, don't miss the last line.
23:03Ready, and also many animals.
23:10Like, come on, God, you're the author
23:12and finisher of our faith,
23:13and that's how you end the story.
23:15Like, I mean, I need something better than that.
23:18I want more, right?
23:20Come on, God.
23:22Did you change Jonah's heart?
23:24I wanna know.
23:26Did he submit to the things of God and say, I was wrong,
23:30I just wanna live for you?
23:32Did he die?
23:33And if he did, how?
23:36Did he get mercury poisoning from the fish?
23:39Did the worm eat him?
23:40You know, I wanna know.
23:43And also many animals.
23:47So God says to him, Jonah,
23:50you're gonna throw a fit over a plant
23:55and cry over a plant,
23:57but you won't cry over those people
24:01who don't know me, God says.
24:05Come on, Jonah.
24:06And sadly, this is another way
24:09that many of us can be like Jonah,
24:13because the last thing that Jesus said
24:14before he ascended into heaven was,
24:16hey, disciples of Jesus,
24:18those of you that have seen the resurrection,
24:19those who've been transformed,
24:21go into all the world and preach the gospel.
24:25Make disciples, baptizing them in the name
24:27of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
24:28and I will be with you always.
24:30And I will be with you.
24:32And I will be with you.
24:34And I will be with you always until the end of the day.
24:37Go into all the world.
24:41And I know a lot of church folk
24:42that won't cross the street to share the gospel.
24:46Go into all the world.
24:48Well, no, I'm okay, God, if you save me,
24:50but I'm not only not going,
24:51but I'm not gonna pray, and I'm not gonna give,
24:55and I'm not gonna help, and I'm not gonna serve,
24:57because I'm happy to receive mercy from God,
25:00but I'm gonna reject the mission of God.
25:03I told you chapter four is tough.
25:05No, no, God, I want my will,
25:08but I really don't want your will,
25:10if your will involves me sacrificing.
25:13I told you chapter four, it ends weird,
25:16and it's complicated.
25:18So let's do this.
25:20Let's go back to where we started in week number one.
25:25I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked you
25:27in week number one, playfully, and most of you missed it.
25:31This time, you're gonna get it.
25:33There is a main character in the book of Jonah.
25:37Yes, it's not Jonah.
25:39Who is the main character of the book of Jonah?
25:42The main character is God, the Lord God.
25:46Jonah had issues, just like you,
25:52just like every single one of you.
25:56You guys are so quiet.
25:57Are you even with me?
25:58He had issues, and so do I.
26:03But I want you to notice this.
26:04Jonah's attitude never changed God's character.
26:10The way he acted, no matter what he did,
26:14no matter what he did, no matter how he acted,
26:17no matter how he complained, no matter how he rebelled,
26:20God was still God.
26:22God didn't change, why?
26:24Because our God is always a gracious,
26:29compassionate God who is slow to anger
26:33and abounding in love.
26:34Who is our God?
26:36Our God is always gracious and a compassionate God.
26:42He's slow to get angry when we disobey Him.
26:45Why?
26:46Because He is abounding, overflowing in love.
26:49In other words, love isn't just something He does,
26:51it's who He is, it's His nature.
26:54It's who He is.
26:56Our God is a gracious, compassionate God.
27:03Slow to anger and abounding in love.
27:08And so why four weeks on Jonah?
27:10Well, it's amazing.
27:12Jonah actually points us to Jesus in the New Testament.
27:16And Jesus points back to Jonah in the Old Testament.
27:20We looked a couple of weeks ago, Matthew 12, remember?
27:22Jesus said, hey, just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale
27:24for three days and three nights, guess what?
27:26So the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth
27:28for three days and three nights as well.
27:30And then Jesus said this, and He said,
27:32and now something greater than Jonah is here.
27:38And what is greater than Jonah?
27:40It also starts with a J and His name is Jesus.
27:43He is the Son of God.
27:45He is the perfect one.
27:47He is the Lamb of God.
27:48The door through which we enter,
27:51the water which quenches our thirst.
27:56He is the Alpha, the Omega,
27:58the soon returning, conquering King of all kings
28:02and Lord of all lords.
28:03And He is greater than Jonah
28:05because Jonah ran from God,
28:09but Jesus surrendered to Him.
28:14Jonah fought for his own will.
28:18Jesus said, God, I want your will.
28:22Jonah couldn't stomach the sinners.
28:25Jesus said, I came for them.
28:28He ate with them.
28:29He loved them and He died for them.
28:35Why?
28:37Because Jesus has the heart of God
28:41and our God is gracious, compassionate God.
28:47Who is slow to anger and abounding in love.
28:53And so for some of you,
28:55you may be a little bit like Jonah.
28:58Sometimes you're close to God
29:00and sometimes you ignore Him.
29:05Sometimes you worship Him.
29:07Sometimes you don't like the way He does business.
29:11Sometimes you're happy.
29:13Sometimes you're sad.
29:15And someone right now, you may be afraid.
29:18You're worried.
29:20You're anxious.
29:22You're alone.
29:24You feel like you're battling depression
29:26and you're losing hope.
29:28And maybe even I'm speaking to someone
29:30who's a little bit like Jonah
29:31when you're not even sure
29:36if life is worth living.
29:40And I wanna declare it to you
29:43and I want you to hear it,
29:43not from me, but hear it from heaven.
29:45When I tell you, you are never alone.
29:50Our God will never leave you
29:52and He will never forsake you.
29:54And even when you feel helpless with our God,
29:57you are never hopeless.
29:59Our God is for you.
30:05Because the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.
30:10Our God doesn't just call,
30:12but our God calls back.
30:14Our God is the God of second chances.
30:17And so for some of you,
30:18God is gonna give you a chance today.
30:21He's gonna give you a chance today.
30:22You may be a little bit like this
30:24and it's just one turn toward Him and He's there.
30:28He's gonna give you another chance,
30:32another chance to obey,
30:34another chance to call on Him,
30:36another chance to repent,
30:37another chance to say, I need you, God.
30:38I wanna be close to you.
30:40He's gonna give you another chance.
30:42But remember, every chance from God
30:45demands a choice from you.
30:48So what are you gonna do about who God is?
30:51Who is our God?
30:53Our God is gracious.
30:56He is a compassionate God,
30:58slow to anger and abounding in love.
31:03That's who our God is.
31:06So Father, we worship you.
31:07We honor you.
31:08We give you praise.
31:10We thank you for who you are.
31:13Holy Spirit, would you do a work
31:14in the hearts of people today?
31:17As you're praying today at all of our different churches,
31:20I wanna talk to those of you who would say,
31:21I am a disciple of Jesus.
31:23I am a follower of Christ.
31:26I'm gonna guess that for almost all of you,
31:29you're a little bit like me.
31:31There's some area of your life
31:32where you kind of got your back turned to God.
31:35It could be like,
31:36you're not really seeking Him in His word
31:38or you're not praying faithfully
31:41or you're not using your gifts to serve
31:43or make a difference or God prompted you to do something.
31:46It's some area in your life right now
31:48that you know you could be closer to God.
31:51And our prayer is gonna be really, really simple.
31:53Jonah consistently would dishonor
31:57and disobey God's word and His will.
31:59And then other times he would obey.
32:01And this will be very, very simple.
32:03And that is this.
32:04How many of you wanna be right
32:06in the middle of the will of God?
32:08Today at all of our churches, if that's you,
32:10what we're gonna do is we're gonna pray
32:11and I gotta warn you.
32:12If you wanna be in the middle of the will of God,
32:14if you're not, you move.
32:17You hear me?
32:18You move.
32:18You turn toward Him.
32:20At all of our churches,
32:21how many would say, yeah, I really do.
32:23I know Jesus.
32:24I wanna be in the middle of God's will.
32:26Would you lift your hands right now?
32:27Lift them up online.
32:28You can type in the comment section.
32:29I wanna be in the middle of God's will.
32:32Now with your hands lifted up,
32:33even as an act of worship,
32:34Holy Spirit, just speak to us.
32:37God, any place, any area, any part of our life
32:42that is not surrendered to your Lordship,
32:45convict us, God.
32:47Show us, God.
32:48Direct us, God.
32:49Reveal it to us, God.
32:51And we'll repent.
32:54We'll turn.
32:55We turn to you.
32:57God, we thank you that when we turn to you,
32:59we're gonna find a gracious, compassionate God.
33:03Slow to anger and abounding in love.
33:05So God, show us any area of our lives
33:09not in line with your will.
33:12And we will be faithful to obey.
33:14Just if you're comfortable with this,
33:16just say out loud real quietly as your prayer,
33:19I will be faithful to obey.
33:21Just say that to God.
33:22I will be faithful to obey you, Lord.
33:26You can type it in the comment section.
33:28Say it again.
33:28I will be faithful to obey you, Lord.
33:33As you keep praying today,
33:35I am so thankful that on this day,
33:37there will be those of you whose lives are changed forever.
33:42Who is God?
33:44He's a compassionate God, a gracious God.
33:47Slow to anger and abounding in love.
33:49It's God's will that no one would perish.
33:52And so what did God do?
33:53God became one of us.
33:55He sent his son, Jesus, who is perfect in every way.
33:58Jesus came for the broken.
34:00Jesus came for the lost.
34:02Jesus came for the sinners.
34:03Jesus came for the people like Jonah.
34:05He came for the people like me.
34:06And what did he do?
34:07Jesus took on our sin nature.
34:10He took on all of our sin.
34:12And he died on a cross.
34:13And three days later, when people went looking for him,
34:16the stone was rolled away.
34:17Jesus wasn't there.
34:18He was risen.
34:18Why?
34:19Because God defeated death, hell, and the grave.
34:23And now scripture tells us the good news
34:25about our compassionate and gracious God,
34:28that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord
34:31would be saved.
34:33No matter what you've done, you may be like Jonah.
34:35You call on him, you're saved.
34:36You may be like the sailors who disobeyed, didn't know God.
34:39They called him, they were saved.
34:40Like the Ninevites, like the king.
34:42When you call on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.
34:44Today, there are those of you
34:45that you don't know where you stand with God.
34:47If I had a conversation with you and said like,
34:49why would you ever belong to God?
34:51You're like, well, I don't know.
34:53I try to do good stuff.
34:55The bottom line is this.
34:56Every single one of us have sinned,
34:57and our sin separates us from God,
34:59and we can never work our way to God.
35:02But God, in his mercy, sent Jesus to do for us
35:06what we couldn't do for ourselves.
35:07So what do you do today?
35:08You just turn the other way.
35:10You turn toward God, you repent of your sin,
35:12you turn toward him, and you surrender.
35:14And when you do, heaven rejoices.
35:17God makes you brand new.
35:19All of your sin's completely forgiven.
35:20Today, at all of our churches, those who say, that's me,
35:23I'm turning toward God, I'm turning toward Jesus,
35:25I'm turning away from my sin.
35:27Today, by faith, it's no longer about me.
35:28It's not my will, it's about his will.
35:30Today, by faith, I give my life to Jesus.
35:32Jesus, take my life.
35:33Don't just save me, be the Lord of my life.
35:35Today, I give my life to you.
35:37That's your prayer, lift your hands high right now.
35:39All over the place, lift them up and say yes.
35:40Praise God for you.
35:41Oh, thank you, God.
35:43People today at all of our churches, right there,
35:45God bless you guys.
35:46Oh, come on, someone worship God today.
35:48Online, type in the comment section,
35:50I'm surrendering my life to Jesus,
35:54and today, and around the world,
35:56wherever you're watching from,
35:57would you pray with those around you?
36:00Pray, Heavenly Father, I surrender my will to you.
36:05I confess my sins to you.
36:09Jesus, save me.
36:11Be the Lord of my life, first in every way.
36:15Fill me with your Spirit, so I could know you,
36:19and serve you, and follow you for the rest of my life.
36:24My life is not my own.
36:26I give it to you, my compassionate, gracious,
36:32slow to anger God, who's abounding in love.
36:36Thank you for loving me.
36:38You have all of my life.
36:40In Jesus' name, I pray.
36:42Somebody worship God right now, give God praise.
36:44Come on, church, let's give Him praise.
36:46I don't know about you,
36:46but I needed to hear that message today.
36:48I hope that it encouraged and challenged you.
36:51We can learn so much from listening to God's voice
36:53and loving people the way that He's loved us.
36:56So click here to watch more.
36:58I love you.
36:58I love you.
36:59I love you.
37:00I love you.
37:01I love you.
37:02I love you.
37:03I love you.
37:03I love you.
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37:05I love you.
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37:08I love you.
37:08I love you.
37:09I love you.
37:10I love you.
37:11I love you.
37:12I love you.
37:13I love you.
37:13I love you.
37:14I love you.
37:15I love you.
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37:17I love you.
37:18I love you.
37:19I love you.
37:19I love you.
37:20I love you.
37:21I love you.
37:22I love you.
37:23I love you.
37:24I love you.
37:24I love you.