0:00

If you were here last week as we talked about the

0:02

will of God, what do you remember about the will of God or

0:04

what do you remember about a will? What does that mean? What does that

0:06

look like? Anything we remember just to get

0:08

us jump started. Get

0:11

the brains working right outta the gate. God's

0:15

best for you. What is a will? Okay.

0:19

What is a will? What

0:24

Based on what we defined last week, a

0:26

will is a desire. Right,

0:28

so when we're talking about the will of God, we're talking about the desires

0:31

of God. We talked about two different

0:33

types of will last week. I'm gonna

0:35

have these on the screen as well. But we

0:37

have two different types of will for God. There is God's

0:40

sovereign will and there's

0:42

God's commanded will. Now, the sovereign

0:44

will of God is the will that cannot

0:47

be stopped. It doesn't matter what you do.

0:49

His will to save the world

0:51

through Jesus Christ, his will to.

0:54

Restore this creation once and for

0:56

all. Can't be stopped. Doesn't matter how hard you

0:58

fight against it. And then God's commanded

1:00

will is the will where he commands

1:02

us to live according to. Remember, God doesn't just

1:04

want us to be happy. He doesn't want us to be wealthy.

1:06

He doesn't want us to just be successful by the world

1:08

standards. God wants us to be what God

1:11

wants us to be. Holy. God wants us to

1:13

be set apart. He wants us to look like him,

1:15

be like him, reflect into the world

1:18

cuz we're made in His image. Okay?

1:20

But God's commanded will. Can

1:22

be resisted. It can be

1:24

resisted. We can fight against it. We

1:27

can try to reject God's will for our lives

1:29

and his desire for us to live a certain

1:31

way, to be a kind of person, but we

1:33

miss out on God's best. And so

1:36

I know what it's like to resist God's

1:38

desire for me, but I also know what it's been

1:40

like to feel like God had him more. God

1:42

had something more for my life. Anyone else felt

1:45

that before? You feel like, man I know God has

1:47

more than what I'm facing right now.

1:49

So today we're talking about the will of God,

1:52

but we're gonna talk about running

1:54

from the will of God. And so I wanted to do

1:56

this, I wanted to ask some questions

1:59

of you when it comes to the will of God,

2:02

and this may take some thinking, but.

2:04

How many of you by a show of hands have ever felt like

2:06

you struggled to follow the will of God or you struggled

2:09

to, to walk in the will of God or know the will

2:11

of God? Okay, help me out. You

2:14

can shout it out. What makes it hard

2:16

for people your age to follow

2:18

the will of God? What are some things,

2:21

some thoughts? You're

2:25

gonna have to shout it out because I might be facing away friends.

2:29

Okay. What else we

2:31

got? Friends can make it hard. Temptation.

2:36

Temptation. The

2:40

scroll. Friends. Temptation.

2:45

What else? We

2:49

got social media up here. Scrolling.

2:56

Okay. Popularity, bullying.

3:03

What your Once. Ooh,

3:06

so personal. Personal

3:09

desires. Okay.

3:15

School pride.

3:20

What else? What

3:26

makes it hard? Greed.

3:29

People. In what way? Say

3:35

that again. Sorry. People were talking bad

3:37

influences. Okay. And that could be friends.

3:39

Bad influences. This is good.

3:44

So, yeah, we the will of

3:46

God. Okay, here's something that I've been thinking

3:48

about. Before we jump in, we're gonna jump into

3:50

a Bible story and it's the story of

3:52

Jonah. So if you wanna flip to Jonah, you can,

3:54

it's in the Old Testament, we're gonna be reading

3:57

out of it. And while you are looking for

3:59

the Book of Jonah, it's near

4:01

the end of the Old Testament. I'll

4:04

give you a chance to get there. But the Book

4:06

of Jonah is actually a story

4:08

about someone who. Fights

4:11

the will of God a little bit. And I know I've

4:13

been a Jonah in my life before

4:16

Maybe you're thinking, I know

4:18

that I have fought the will of God or I

4:20

know that I've resisted God's desire for my

4:22

life. It could be on anything. I mean, think about

4:24

it. Where have you fought God? You knew what

4:26

God was saying to do, but

4:29

you. Wanted to run the other direction.

4:31

You knew what God said was the right

4:33

response, but you fought back against

4:36

it could be anything. I mean, goodness.

4:38

We could list anything in any one of these categories.

4:41

Maybe God told you to do something with

4:43

a group of friends, or maybe he told you not to. Have

4:45

a certain group of friends. Maybe there was a temptation

4:47

you battled and you knew that you shouldn't

4:50

lean into it, but you found yourself walking

4:52

towards it rather than away. Maybe you

4:54

knew you're not supposed to live for yourself in your own

4:56

fame and your own popularity, but you find

4:58

yourself facing those pressures at school and things become

5:01

more about you than about others. Maybe you,

5:03

you've had some. Thoughts about social media?

5:05

You know, you shouldn't be on it as much as you, you should.

5:07

You are right. You know, it's a distraction

5:09

from God's best for your life, but you still

5:11

find yourself caught in the scroll. Maybe

5:14

you are someone who participates in bullying.

5:16

I know when I look back on middle school, I was

5:18

a really bad offender in this. I had

5:20

friends, but I was still very rude to a lot of people.

5:22

And I would say I was a pretty big bully,

5:24

especially back in middle school. Maybe

5:27

you have personal desires that you sense the Lord is

5:29

telling you to put down, but you're just not

5:31

willing to. Maybe there's different influences

5:33

in your life. Maybe God's telling you to forgive

5:35

someone, and you know, you've heard it a thousand times

5:38

through the scriptures. You've th you've heard it in the sermons,

5:40

but in your heart, you just say I'm not gonna do

5:42

that. They don't deserve it. I'm not gonna let

5:44

them go. I'm not gonna forgive them for what

5:46

they did. All right. Maybe there's a

5:48

lifestyle that you just wanna live and

5:51

you're saying, Hey, I want this. I desire this. I see other

5:53

people have it, and. I'm

5:56

gonna do whatever it takes to get there, even if

5:58

it means going against what God says. Now

6:01

this seems really weird and unpopular.

6:03

We wouldn't probably raise our hands and be like,

6:05

that's me. I'm someone who thinks that. But

6:07

the reality is, I know all of us in our

6:09

hearts have areas where we fight against

6:12

the will and the desires. Of God.

6:14

And if you're wondering how to discern or how to determine

6:17

the will of God, we talk a lot about

6:19

that last week. You can even look at, I think

6:21

it's my most recent Instagram post. I summarized

6:23

that real quick. Okay. But we learned the

6:25

will of God as revealed through his word

6:28

and through the person of Jesus. We

6:30

can find God's word when we seek biblical

6:32

counsel from wise, godly leaders.

6:34

When we let people into speak into our lives, when

6:36

we pray and seek God's face,

6:39

we can discern the will of God. Well, but always

6:41

go to this. You wanna know what God's will

6:43

is. He reveals it in this book right here,

6:45

the Bible. But

6:47

I was thinking, and I was thinking, okay, what are some things

6:49

that are on my heart right now? I bet you there's people

6:51

in this room who feel like, you know, I ran

6:53

from God's will so long

6:56

that maybe it's too late for me. I

6:58

ran so much, I probably missed God's will. Like

7:00

I wanted to live for God. I wanted all that he

7:02

had for me, but I was running from

7:04

it. And now I'm so far off. I probably missed

7:06

it, but I want you to know that you

7:09

have not missed the will of God in your life.

7:11

And it is never too late to come to God

7:14

and to seek his will. It's

7:16

never too late. But let's look at this story.

7:19

How many of you are by show hands? You're at the book

7:21

of Jonah? Raise your hands. You got to the book of Jonah.

7:23

Cool. We're ready. Some of you're still working on

7:25

getting there. I wanna read this

7:27

to you and I'm gonna just kind of break it down. I'm

7:29

gonna, I'm gonna tell a part of the story. We're gonna read

7:31

through the beginning of chapter two,

7:33

I believe, up to chapter nine. I

7:35

just want you to listen to the story and

7:38

we're gonna let the Lord guide us as we un

7:40

unpack it a little bit. So would you close your eyes

7:42

and just pray with me as we open the scriptures

7:44

and ask God to speak to us. Jesus,

7:48

we are here and we are

7:50

paused, and we are still, and

7:52

we're seeking your word to us about

7:54

your will, for our lives, your

7:57

will and your desire. And

7:59

God, some of us have run from your will.

8:01

Some of us are running right now and we know it.

8:04

Some of us maybe feel like, man, the spotlight

8:06

is right on us today. May

8:09

that just be evidence that you see us and you desire

8:11

to speak to us. So God, I pray.

8:14

Most of us in this room want to be faithful

8:16

to you. We want to know you better. We

8:18

want to follow you, and I pray

8:20

you would just speak to us through your word today,

8:23

that this scripture would grab our hearts and draw

8:25

us to what is good, what is pleasing,

8:28

and what is perfect in you. In Jesus'

8:30

name we pray. Amen. This

8:32

is what it says. I'm gonna read out the new Living Translation.

8:36

This is the story of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet

8:38

in the Old Testament. He was called

8:40

by God to be a mouthpiece of God, to be

8:42

a voice to people, and he's gonna

8:44

be told to go to a city called Nineveh. And

8:47

this is a rival city. They,

8:49

it was the capital of Ayia and

8:52

Assyria, if you know, like Babylon, Egypt,

8:54

Assia Persia. These are some of the

8:56

biggest, baddest empires in

8:58

the Bible, right? Bad people.

9:00

They did not honor God. They were enemies

9:03

of the Israelites. And here's what happens.

9:05

Jonah is going about his day and

9:07

it says the Lord gave this message

9:09

to Jonah, son of Amai,

9:12

get up and go to the great city

9:15

of Nineveh is a massive city.

9:17

Okay? Really large. And

9:19

it says, this is what you're gonna do. Announce

9:21

my judgment against it, because

9:23

I have seen how wicked its people

9:26

are. But

9:28

someone say but the Lord, oh,

9:30

excuse me, I skipped ahead. But Jonah

9:33

got up and went in the opposite

9:36

direction to get away from

9:38

the Lord. So

9:41

I'm imagining this scene, I'm imagining God shows

9:43

up to Jonah and he's like, Hey, Jonah. Jonah's

9:45

like, yeah, God, what's up? He's like,

9:47

Hey, go to the great CI city

9:49

of Nineveh and tell them that

9:52

I'm gonna judge them and they need to turn back to me.

9:54

And Jonah's like, cool, I'm not doing that. Absolutely

9:59

not. Jonah ran

10:01

the opposite direction

10:04

to get away from the

10:06

Lord. What? Okay.

10:09

He went down to the Port of Choppa

10:11

where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish.

10:14

Now, I just want you to know Nineveh

10:17

is over here. What?

10:19

What Jonah does is he goes this way, he

10:21

goes down this way, he goes to a port so

10:23

that he can escape across the sea,

10:25

literally the opposite direction. Jonah

10:28

does not wanna do this so much. He's like, I'm gonna buy

10:30

a ticket. I'm gonna get on a ship, and I am going

10:32

across the sea. God,

10:35

try to get me there. Okay, try

10:37

and get me there. I am not doing

10:39

this. So he goes down on the ship, he

10:41

leaves Satish. He bought a ticket

10:44

and went on board hoping to escape from

10:46

the Lord by sailing away. But

10:49

verse four, the Lord hurled

10:51

a powerful wind over the sea.

10:56

You really think you're gonna run from God like

10:59

you know God, you can't get me on the water.

11:01

That okay? He is the

11:03

Lord of the winds and the waves. Okay? He

11:05

made it. Even the winds and

11:07

the waves obey him. Bad

11:10

idea. So

11:12

the Lord hurled a powerful wind over

11:15

the sea causing a violent storm

11:17

that threatened to break the ship apart. That

11:19

is a powerful storm fearing

11:21

for their lives. The desperate sailors

11:23

who were on the ship shouted to their gods,

11:26

so they were not Israelite people.

11:28

They shouted to their different pagan gods. Trying

11:30

to get their attention and it says

11:33

as they did this, they were looking for help

11:35

and they threw cargo overboard

11:37

to lighten the ships. So they're throwing their

11:39

supplies off the ship. They're trying to do whatever

11:41

they can to survive. That tells you this

11:43

is a pretty bad storm,

11:46

and as this is happening, all

11:48

this time, Jonah was sound

11:51

asleep down in the hold. You

11:56

know, he's like, I'm gonna just pretend it's not happening.

11:58

Like he's trying to sleep. He's

12:00

like hitting his head on the side of the ship, just like,

12:02

I don't want to acknowledge my problems. Jonah

12:05

was sound asleep down in the hold. Verse

12:07

six. So the captain went down after

12:10

him. How can you sleep

12:12

at a time like this? He

12:15

shouted, get up and pray

12:17

to your God. Maybe

12:19

he will pay attention to us and spare

12:21

our lives. Now, you

12:24

know what's crazy in this story? These

12:26

are not Israelite people. These are

12:28

not people who even worship the

12:30

Lord God, and yet they are more

12:32

responsive to God than Jonah is a

12:34

prophet. They're saying, Hey, like

12:37

he is running from God. They're

12:40

saying, why don't you go to God and talk to

12:42

him? Maybe they have more faith in God

12:44

than Jonah does. Crazy. Then

12:47

the crew cast lots verse seven, to

12:49

see which of them had offended the gods

12:52

and caused this terrible storm. And it's

12:54

basically like casting dice, but they're believing

12:56

that that God would guide that process.

12:59

And when they did this, the lots identified

13:01

Jonah as of the culprit. Imagine everyone.

13:06

Hi, Jonah. Jonah

13:09

was the culprit. Verse eight. Why has this

13:11

awful storm come down on us?

13:13

They demanded they're seeking answers. Who

13:15

are you? What is your line of work?

13:17

What country are you from? What is

13:19

your nationality? Jonah answered,

13:21

I am a Hebrew and I worship the

13:23

Lord, the God of heaven, who made

13:26

the sea and the land. The

13:28

sailors were terrified when

13:30

they heard this. For They ha for, he

13:33

had already told them that he was running

13:35

away from the Lord. Jonah's

13:39

not even ashamed of what he's doing. Think about

13:41

it. They're like, Hey, why do you wanna go to Tarshish? And he is

13:43

like, oh, I'm just running away from, my God. I'm

13:45

just running away from God. God's telling me to do something.

13:47

I don't want to do it. I'm out. And they're like,

13:50

Okay, come with us. But you know what? They

13:52

didn't know. They didn't know that Jonah's

13:54

God was the Lord,

13:57

the God of heaven who

13:59

made the sea and the land.

14:01

You're like, you met, you made him mad,

14:03

and you're gonna get on our ship. So

14:07

they are terrified because this

14:09

happens. They, because

14:11

he, they even knew he was running away. Oh,

14:14

why did you do it? They cro. Since

14:18

the storm was getting worse all the time,

14:20

they asked him, Jonah, what should we do

14:23

to you to stop this storm? And

14:25

Jonah says, throw me into

14:28

the sea. Throw

14:30

me into the sea, and it will become calm again.

14:32

I know that this terrible storm is

14:34

all my fault. Instead,

14:38

the sailors not even godly

14:40

men, but still. Showing

14:42

some integrity and some character. Instead,

14:45

they rode even harder to try to

14:47

get the ship to the land, but the stormy

14:49

sea was so violent for them that they couldn't

14:51

make it. Then they cried out to the Lord,

14:53

Jonah's God, oh Lord, they pleaded, don't

14:56

make us die for this man's sin and

14:58

don't hold us responsible for his death.

15:01

Oh Lord, you have sent the storm upon

15:03

him for your own good

15:05

reasons. Then

15:09

the sailors picked Jonah up. And

15:11

they threw him into the raging sea and

15:14

the storm stopped at once.

15:17

The sailors were awestruck by

15:19

the Lord's great power. I mean, imagine,

15:22

doesn't that prove that he's in command of everything?

15:24

The moment Jonah is over the boat, woo, calm,

15:29

and you know what their

15:31

response is? They're so in

15:33

awe of the Lord's great power that

15:35

they offer him sacrifices and they vowed

15:37

for the rest of their lives to serve him.

15:40

Even in Jonah's disobedience, God is

15:43

on the move, changing lives. God

15:45

is on the move showing who he is,

15:47

and people came to worship him and

15:49

to believe in him. Those who had not

15:51

before. Now the Lord had arranged

15:54

for a great fish to swallow Jonah again.

15:56

God still provides, it's amazing, even though Jonah

15:59

rejected it and Jonah was inside the fish

16:01

for three days and three nights.

16:04

Okay, we could stop here.

16:07

But I'm just gonna keep reading cuz I want you to see something.

16:10

We'll talk about this story. I want you to see Jonah's

16:12

response. It says, then Jonah

16:14

in the middle of this fish prayed

16:17

to the Lord his God and

16:19

he said, Think

16:21

about this. It might use some past tense, but

16:24

he's praying in the present. It's just

16:26

poetic. If you notice the way it's laid out

16:28

in your scriptures, it's kind of indented and centered.

16:30

This is a song. It's a song or a psalm

16:33

of praise. He says this from inside the fish.

16:35

I cried out to the Lord in my great

16:37

trouble and he answered me. I

16:40

called to you from the land of the dead

16:42

because he's under the depths of

16:44

the ocean right now. The

16:47

Lord. Lord, you heard me? You

16:49

threw me into the ocean depths and

16:51

I sank down to the heart of the sea. The

16:53

mighty waters engulfed me. I was buried

16:55

beneath your wild and stormy waves. Then

16:58

I said, oh Lord, you have driven me from

17:00

your presence, yet I will look once

17:02

more towards your holy temple. He

17:05

decided to turn his gaze towards God again.

17:07

I sank beneath the waves and the waters

17:10

closed over me. Seaweed wrapped

17:12

itself around my head. I sank to

17:14

the very roots of the mountains. I

17:16

was imprisoned in the earth, whose

17:18

gates locked shut forever. But

17:20

you, oh Lord, my God snatched

17:23

me from the jaws of death. As

17:25

my life was slipping away, I remembered

17:27

the Lord and my earnest prayer went out to you.

17:29

In your holy temple. Those

17:32

who worship false gods. Turn

17:34

their backs on all God's mercies.

17:37

That's one to circle. But

17:39

I will offer sacrifices to you

17:42

with songs of praise, and I

17:44

will fulfill all my vows

17:47

for my salvation comes from the Lord. Does

17:50

anyone have an n I V and have verse

17:53

eight? Whoever gets there first, you

17:57

wanna read verse eight for me? Nice and loud. Chapter

18:00

two, cling

18:03

to worthless Idols. Turn away from God's

18:05

love for them. Those who

18:07

cling to worthless idols turn

18:10

from God's love for them. How

18:15

many of us have something we're clinging to

18:19

something, we're putting our hope in

18:22

something we long for? Something we desire,

18:24

whether it's a lifestyle, whether

18:26

it's a relationship. Whether

18:28

it might even be bitterness and brokenness.

18:31

Why do we hold onto these things? I don't know.

18:34

But we hold onto things in

18:36

our lives that actually prevent

18:38

us from experiencing God's best for our lives

18:41

and anything that we allow to be the most

18:43

important thing in our lives. The Bible calls

18:45

an idol. It's a false God. It's

18:48

something that gets our worship, gets our attention,

18:51

gets our lives, and it leads

18:53

us away from what God

18:55

has for us. Now,

18:57

Jonah had a lot of reasons not to go

18:59

to Nineveh. He had a lot of reasons

19:02

per Assyria was not a good kingdom.

19:05

Nineveh was the capital of that kingdom. These

19:07

are your enemies. These are bad people.

19:09

These are oppressive people. If they

19:11

are your enemy, do you want them to know

19:13

God? Do you want them to have the opportunity

19:16

to be forgiven of their sin and to

19:18

be reconciled back to God? No,

19:20

that's not what Jonah wanted. Jonah

19:23

had a lot of reasons not to go to Nineveh.

19:25

He might've even been afraid for his own

19:28

wellbeing. If I go into the middle

19:30

of the mighty city of Nineveh and

19:32

tell them that they are sinning against

19:34

God and that they need to change their ways,

19:36

what's gonna happen to me when I stand up that

19:38

bold for God to

19:41

my enemies? What's gonna happen? Jonah

19:44

had a lot of reasons to protect his own

19:46

life. Jonah had a lot

19:48

of reasons not to want them to have the opportunity

19:50

to be forgiven. Jonah had a

19:52

lot of reasons to run and flee

19:55

and go across the sea to a city called

19:57

Tarshish. But you know what else? He

20:00

had one reason to do it.

20:03

God said so, and for

20:06

Jonah, that should have been enough. The

20:08

word of God directing him,

20:11

telling him what God's will and God's desire

20:13

was if he loved God. If

20:15

he truly worshiped God, it should have been

20:17

enough. And

20:19

at the same time it wasn't. And he ran

20:22

and he fled and he resisted the will of God.

20:24

But a couple things I see here, number one, doesn't

20:26

matter how hard you resist the will of God,

20:29

God still knows what is best for us and God

20:31

still will do whatever he can to chase

20:34

us down to get us back into his will.

20:36

And that's why I say it's never too late for you. Even

20:39

if you've run from God, even if you've

20:41

hopped on a boat and you're going across

20:43

the sea, even if you're doing everything

20:45

in your power in this moment to

20:47

resist God and his desire for you,

20:50

God's power and his love is still chasing

20:52

after you, and it's never too

20:54

late to respond. Jonah

20:57

was thrown into the sea. God

20:59

was already there, ready to scoop him up. He should

21:01

have died in the middle of the waters, but God

21:03

provided a way and God guided that

21:05

fish all the way back to land and put him

21:08

back on that land. That's exactly what

21:10

verse 10 says after this prayer

21:13

where he confessed his sin, where

21:15

he acknowledged the goodness of God, where he acknowledged

21:17

that he had been living for idols and that he

21:19

needed to come back to God. He says, I will offer

21:22

sacrifice to you with songs and praise.

21:24

I will fulfill my vows. God,

21:27

you have called me to be obedient to you. I'm gonna fulfill

21:29

it. I'm gonna live this way. I'm gonna do what is

21:31

right. I'm gonna listen to your word. Why?

21:33

Because my salvation comes from you

21:36

and you alone. When he committed

21:38

this prayer, which is just a prayer of repentance,

21:40

it's just a prayer of changing our mind, turning

21:42

back and following God. In that moment,

21:45

the Lord brought the fish to the land

21:47

and it spit Jonah out onto the beach, and

21:50

Jonah was saved. Jonah

21:53

was saved. We'll go on in just a sec. Question. Would

22:01

Joan? Yeah. So man, I don't know. Good question.

22:03

What do you think might be Jonah's idol

22:05

in this situation? In this story?

22:08

Could be a number of things. Just

22:18

having his own plan, his

22:21

own desire. I think it could easily be that

22:23

I think. Could be,

22:26

these are my enemies. They don't

22:28

deserve it. Unforgiveness,

22:31

fear pride. I'm

22:34

better than that. Like that's not something I should

22:37

do. It could be a number of things. You

22:39

might read the story of Jonah and you might

22:41

just put yourself in the story, and you

22:43

might just ask, where

22:45

do I tend to run from God? Where

22:47

do I tend to resist? Where do I tend to fight

22:49

back from what I know God is saying?

22:53

So here's the rest of the story, summarized really

22:55

quickly, Jonah goes

22:57

to Nineveh. It's the very next thing. Jonah

23:01

gets up a second time. God says,

23:03

get up and go to the great city of Nineveh and deliver

23:05

the message I have given to you. This time,

23:08

Jonah obeyed the Lord's command

23:10

and went to Nineveh. You should circle that

23:12

and remember, even if you reject the Lord the first time,

23:14

the second time, the third time. If

23:17

the Lord is speaking, it's not too late, it's

23:19

not too late to obey. Jonah

23:21

goes to Nineveh, he goes into the place

23:23

of Nineveh. He doesn't even do a really good job

23:25

in what he's supposed to do because a prophet should go

23:27

in and say, Hey, you are walking against the

23:29

will of God, but you need to come back. There's

23:31

hope. If you will turn to God, you can be saved.

23:34

Jonah doesn't tell them that hope Part Joah

23:36

just goes in and says You're all gonna die. And then

23:38

he leaves. And you know what happens? Nineveh

23:41

though they were evil though. They were bad people.

23:43

The king is like, oh my gosh, what do we do? And

23:45

the king basically says, maybe just

23:47

maybe if we repent. Of

23:50

all of the things we've done, maybe

23:52

God will save us. And so the city

23:54

goes into a fast. The city

23:56

starts fasting. The king starts fasting.

23:59

They put sack cloth in ashes, which is a sign of grief.

24:01

They make the cows fast, like cows can't even

24:03

eat. It's like, stop it. You need a fast. Okay

24:05

we have done wrong. Our nation has done

24:08

wrong, and we need to be desperate

24:10

for God's forgiveness. And in

24:12

their desperation for God's forgiveness.

24:15

God shows mercy on them and God

24:17

forgives them. Amazing. They're the

24:19

enemy of God, and God forgives them. But

24:21

you know what happens after that? Jonah says

24:23

this. He says, from a distance,

24:26

see God as he's looking down on the city.

24:28

See, this is why I didn't

24:30

wanna do it. I didn't

24:32

want to bring this message to them because

24:35

I know you are steadfast and gracious

24:37

and full of love, and you forgive people

24:40

when they do wrong things, if they ask for

24:42

it. That's why I didn't wanna do it.

24:45

Jonah didn't wanna go because

24:47

God was too good and

24:51

if he went, God

24:53

would forgive his enemies. God

24:56

wouldn't let his enemies get what they deserved.

24:59

Jonah, maybe the idol was that

25:01

bitterness they deserved to be

25:03

dead. See God, I knew you were

25:06

too good. I knew you were too nice.

25:08

I knew you were too kind. Always amazes

25:10

me that this is the reason Jonah would

25:12

be mad at God. But

25:14

then again, in my own life with people that I've

25:16

been bitter at and mad at and angry

25:18

at, this has been something that's bothered me. It's

25:22

bothered me that people who have hurt me

25:24

and wronged me, that God would love them so

25:26

much, that his desire would be to forgive them,

25:29

that his desire would be to set them free.

25:31

And I didn't want

25:33

to extend that forgiveness to them

25:35

cuz they didn't deserve it. And I knew that

25:38

God did wanna forgive them and

25:40

that actually turned into a reason that I was

25:42

mad with God. Because

25:44

God's nicer. He is kinder, he is more gracious.

25:46

He's better than we are. His

25:50

goodness can actually offend us. It's

25:52

crazy. Yeah. Well,

26:02

I don't know if God necessarily tells the

26:04

nation but God, it says

26:06

that God forgave them. It's more

26:09

so Jonah knows. Jonah knows

26:11

that they're forgiven, but the fact, the

26:13

point of the story here is

26:16

they repented. They

26:18

repented just on the off chance that

26:20

God would forgive and

26:23

he does. But I wanna

26:25

keep the spotlight on Jonah here cause

26:27

I wanna find us in the story. And I kind of wanna wrap

26:29

up here. My, my

26:31

guess is that some of you can relate to the idea

26:34

of running from God. I

26:36

know I can. You may have felt

26:39

lost in the world and trying

26:41

to discern the will of God, and by trying to do

26:43

that, you may have made some bad choices and

26:45

some wrong decisions. You

26:47

may have ended up in a place right now that

26:49

you never imagined you would be, or

26:52

maybe like Jonah. It wasn't that

26:54

you didn't understand what God was telling

26:56

you to do. It wasn't that you didn't know the will of

26:58

God. It was just that you ran from it all

27:00

this time. You just didn't like

27:03

what God was saying. You just didn't

27:05

like his direction, and so you went the opposite

27:07

direction. If

27:09

that's you tonight, I just want you to remember what we've

27:11

talked about in this story, that it's never

27:13

too late to turn back to the will of God that

27:16

we even see. For Jonah,

27:18

who was God's person when he disobeyed,

27:21

there was grace to come back. Even

27:23

for Nineveh, the worst of the worst,

27:25

there was grace to come back and

27:28

there's grace for you today. And

27:30

I just wanna encourage you right now, in a day where

27:33

so many different people, so many different

27:35

voices, tell us what is right, what

27:37

is true, what we should live for. There's

27:39

a ton of cultural narratives about what is best.

27:42

And they all lead to destruction because

27:44

they all are apart from God.

27:47

And guys, God's will is

27:49

the best. God is

27:51

the best. His character is trustworthy.

27:54

He is true. He never leaves

27:56

us. He never forsakes us. He never abandons

27:58

us. He never does evil. He never

28:00

does wrong. He always does

28:03

justice. Every time we follow

28:05

his word and we obey it, and we trust

28:07

in him, it leads to good things.

28:09

It leads to God's best. And

28:11

the challenge we have in this world is

28:14

to discern between

28:16

the voices and to decide

28:18

for ourselves. It's a decision

28:21

every human being has to decide, will

28:23

we trust the word and the will of

28:25

God or will we run

28:27

from it and will we try to pursue something

28:29

else? You

28:31

will always be able to know the will

28:33

of God by reading his word, but

28:38

I just, my heart breaks

28:40

for anyone who would reject God's word

28:42

and his will and would run from it because

28:45

you'll run to your own destruction. And

28:48

we see a world right now that has tried

28:51

to take God out of the picture

28:53

and it is not going well.

28:57

So keep God at the center of your life. Learn

29:00

to trust him. If you're not a follower of Jesus,

29:02

just keep coming. Keep coming and being

29:04

around. Keep learning what God's word says. Grab

29:07

a Bible. We got free Bibles for you if you need

29:09

one. Or you need to give one to a friend. I got

29:11

a free Bible for you. And take some time

29:13

to learn this book and you will learn

29:15

what the will of God is, what is good and pleasing

29:17

and perfect. So what I wanna do for application,

29:20

and then we're gonna respond is I want to give you 10

29:23

ideas on how to submit to

29:25

God. 10 ideas, 10

29:27

things that you can do practically in your

29:29

everyday life to learn to submit to

29:32

God. Number one is

29:34

to pray and meditate, pray,

29:37

set aside time each day, and

29:40

build a routine of prayer and meditation

29:42

on God's word to develop your relationship

29:44

with him. The more you pray, the

29:46

more your relationship with God

29:49

grows, the more you're gonna be able to discern his will.

29:51

I loved Alan's prayer cuz

29:53

Alan's prayer as he prayed today after

29:56

worship, I could tell he has a relationship with

29:58

God. I can tell he talks to God.

30:00

You can just hear it in the comfort

30:03

of his prayer. And I want you to know that

30:05

if you will pray that if you will

30:07

pray, you too can have an intimate relationship

30:09

with God and he'll speak to you and he'll

30:11

guide you. Practice gratitude.

30:14

This is not something that your friends are doing. Guarantee

30:17

it. Okay. We practice complaining. We

30:19

practice whining, we practice victimization.

30:22

I think we have made being a victim and idol

30:24

in our culture, everyone is trying to be the most

30:27

victimized, to have the highest status

30:29

of victim. I've been oppressed the most. I

30:31

suffer the most. I have this, I have that.

30:33

I have that. I have that. And because I have.

30:35

More oppression in my life. My voice

30:37

is more powerful or stronger than yours.

30:40

It's become an idol in our society

30:42

to be victimized. But God came

30:44

so that we could have life and life abundantly. God

30:47

came so that we could be free. Okay,

30:49

so practice gratitude, focus

30:51

on the blessings and the positive aspects

30:53

of your life. Thank God for all

30:55

of the things that he gives to you, and this

30:57

will cultivate a heart of gratitude, which

31:00

will help you learn to surrender to God's

31:02

will. Because the more that you

31:05

are grateful for God's provision

31:07

in your life, the more you're gonna trust

31:09

him when he asks you to do something hard. Because

31:11

if you've experienced how good he's been in the past,

31:14

study the Bible. This is where you learn

31:16

the will of God. And until you study

31:18

the Bible and read the Bible, you will always

31:20

be in the dark about what God's desire is

31:22

for your life. But he reveals it in full

31:24

right there. This one's hard.

31:27

Number four, let go of control.

31:30

Say that with me. Let go

31:32

of control. Learn

31:35

that you cannot control

31:37

everything, and I want you to know this.

31:40

This is gonna hit someone really hard, trust

31:42

me. Your attempt to

31:44

do so. Your attempt to control

31:46

everything, for

31:48

many of you, is what's causing your anxiety.

31:51

Learn to trust that God has greater plans

31:53

for your life than you do. Learn

31:55

to surrender and live with an open

31:58

hand cuz this is gonna offend every single

32:00

one of you in this room. And I'm so excited.

32:02

The plan that you have for your life is

32:05

wrong. You are wrong.

32:07

You're wrong. I'm wrong. I have a

32:09

lot of things I think I want to do. I'm wrong.

32:12

I don't know the best plan for my life. I

32:15

struggle to figure out what to wear in the morning. There's

32:17

no way that I know what is best

32:19

for my life. Your plan is wrong. And

32:21

the moment that you can fully say, Hey,

32:23

I know that I know nothing. The moment

32:26

you can say, I don't have the best plan

32:28

for my life, I need help, is the moment

32:31

that you can let God have control

32:33

and you can let God lead your

32:35

life, let go of control.

32:37

Ah, it's so freeing when you're like, God

32:40

is the one leading. I'm just following.

32:43

What are the first words Jesus says to the disciples

32:45

that he says, come and

32:48

follow me. And what if they went

32:50

ahead of him and they're like, okay, Jesus. Here's where we're gonna go. We're gonna

32:52

go this way. We're gonna do this. We're gonna go to this city.

32:54

Jesus, this is what we're gonna do. They have no idea what

32:57

the best plan is. Jesus

32:59

is like, can I lead you? Come

33:01

and follow me, and I will

33:03

lead you to the right place. Number

33:06

five, surround yourself with other submitted

33:08

Christians, other people who also

33:11

want to walk in the will of God. Now,

33:14

there are Christians and people who call themselves

33:16

Christians, but are not submitted to the will of God

33:18

and are still doing what they wanna do. You

33:21

can have those friends, you can be

33:23

a light in encouragement to those friends. I

33:25

want your inner circle to be people who

33:27

are fully submitted and surrendered to the will of

33:29

God in their lives. Those are gonna be people

33:31

who are going in the right direction with you. Those

33:33

are gonna be people who can encourage you to do the same.

33:36

And when it costs something and it's hard,

33:38

they're not gonna pull you away from it. They're gonna

33:40

lean into God's will with you. We

33:42

need these friends. Number

33:45

six, practice humility.

33:48

Recognize that you are not the center of the

33:50

universe. Get

33:53

rid of that main character energy right now. Jesus

33:56

is the main character. Jesus is the center

33:58

of the universe. Practice humility.

34:03

As you practice humility and you make things

34:05

less about you and more about others,

34:08

you'll begin to see God's will for your life

34:11

because his will for our life is not

34:13

about us. It's about the world

34:15

around us. And

34:18

as long as we're focused on ourselves and focused

34:20

on what we want and our desires, we'll Miss

34:22

God's will. And we'll miss God's best.

34:25

Seven. Serve others.

34:28

Can we for a minute, just

34:30

for funsies and for celebration, can we put

34:32

our hands together to celebrate our setup team,

34:34

our worship team Alan for praying

34:36

today for people who served today

34:39

to make this space. You

34:43

know what I love? Our worship

34:45

team is here to serve you. Our

34:48

setup team is here, setting up chairs and getting

34:50

first impressions and the kiosk and the parking lot

34:52

ready. They're here making things about

34:54

you. And the more that we make our

34:56

lives about other people and we try to serve

34:59

our community and our church and our neighborhoods,

35:01

the more we will discover the will of God for

35:03

our lives. So make your

35:06

life about other people. Make

35:08

your life about God. Make your life about your friends.

35:10

Make your life about your neighbors. Make them your priority.

35:13

Serve other people and you will find the will of

35:15

God. Number eight, trust

35:17

God's timing. Ooh, this is a

35:19

hard one. Trust

35:21

God's timing. I

35:25

want to encourage you to take a deep breath

35:27

for a minute and just know

35:30

you are not in a rush. You

35:34

are not in a rush. You

35:37

are not behind on life. You're

35:39

not missing it. You're not behind. God's

35:42

plan can't be thwarted. We go

35:44

through so much of our life feeling like we're just behind

35:46

and we don't have enough time, and we gotta hurry

35:48

up and we gotta get going, or we're gonna

35:50

miss it. You're not behind.

35:52

Okay? Trust

35:55

God's timing. It may

35:57

not always align with your personal desires

35:59

and your expectations, but God's timing

36:02

is always good. Nine, reflect

36:04

on your actions. Take time to

36:06

reflect. The way that you're living

36:08

and the stuff that you're doing. Is it trusting

36:11

in God's word? Is it reflecting God's

36:13

will? If you find yourself resisting

36:15

or fighting back from God? Take some time

36:17

to reflect on your own actions so

36:20

that you can change course. If

36:22

you're running towards a Tarshish ish.

36:28

If you're running towards a Tarshish, take

36:31

some time to pause and reflect and realize

36:33

that God might be calling you the other way. And

36:36

then number 10 please,

36:39

because Jesus loves you and I do too. Please

36:41

be patient with yourselves. Please

36:45

be patient with yourselves. We

36:48

are oftentimes our worst enemy

36:50

cuz we think we should be there

36:52

already. We should have arrived. We should have gotten

36:54

done. We should. We should have this fixed

36:56

already. Just know that.

36:59

Fully surrendering to God's will takes time.

37:02

It takes practice, it takes patience,

37:05

and you're gonna do this well. And then

37:07

you're gonna miss the mark sometimes.

37:09

Just get up and just keep going. Just be patient.

37:12

Just be patient. Be patient

37:14

with yourselves. Okay? Colton,

37:16

can we turn the center lights down? We're

37:18

gonna make a little atmosphere and we're just gonna take

37:20

a couple moments to respond.

37:22

Here's what I wanna do. Can I sh on the talking

37:25

please. As we respond,

37:27

I have some pens and

37:29

I have some paper up here that I'm gonna kind of

37:31

spread out. There's some line paper, there's

37:33

some blank paper cuz people have

37:35

different some of you like line paper

37:37

and some of you want our little free spirits and you

37:39

want the freedom to write however you want and I love

37:41

that. And then I have a box of pens here.

37:44

I'm going to invite us to respond for

37:46

just a couple minutes and

37:49

here's what I wanna do. As

37:51

we respond, I want to encourage us to take

37:54

a next step, take a next

37:57

step towards Jesus, okay? Let's

37:59

not just stay where we are. We heard a message.

38:01

We heard a word that I believe is from the Lord.

38:04

Let's take a next step towards him. So I'm gonna challenge

38:06

you to do one of two things. Number one, you

38:09

can come up when you're ready, and you can grab a

38:11

pen and a paper, and you can go back to your seat, or you can

38:13

spread out in the room and

38:16

write a prayer or

38:18

a letter. To God

38:21

express your desire to stop

38:23

running from his will for your life

38:26

and ask God to guide you and

38:28

strengthen you, to trust in him more.

38:31

Just write God a letter or

38:33

write a prayer to him. Sometimes this

38:35

is a just a different way for us

38:37

to process, and if we've struggled to pray or we've

38:39

struggled to get our words out, writing a prayer

38:41

or a letter is a great response.

38:44

And then two. You

38:47

can also take a moment, you can take that

38:49

paper and you can just take it back to your seat

38:51

and you can ask yourself what

38:53

areas of your lives you may be resisting

38:56

God's will in what area

38:58

of your life you may be running

39:01

from the Lord. And just write that down so that

39:03

it's on paper so you can look at it, and

39:05

you can surrender it to the Lord. Okay, so I'm

39:07

gonna pray and I'm gonna just create a few

39:09

moments, a few minutes for us to respond

39:11

to the Lord. So would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Lord,

39:15

we just, we

39:17

don't wanna run from your will. We

39:20

don't wanna run from your desire or your plan like

39:22

Jonah did. But

39:24

if we have been running God, we know that you are

39:26

faithful and just to forgive. We

39:29

know that you are relentless in chasing

39:31

us down. And man, some of

39:33

us run from your goodness, and I don't know why

39:36

we do it. But I love

39:38

the story of Jonah because it reminds me that no matter

39:40

how hard we run, no matter how strong

39:42

we fight, you are always stronger

39:44

to bring us back into your goodwill

39:47

for our lives. You do it graciously

39:49

and you provide all along the way, and you always

39:52

have a better plan for us. And

39:54

even as we see for Nineveh,

39:58

sometimes we don't wanna extend forgiveness or grace,

40:01

but may that story even just remind us that you are

40:03

gracious and faithful to us. There

40:06

was a time when we were your enemy. There

40:08

was a time when we fought against you. There was a time

40:10

when we rejected you and you

40:12

didn't wanna destroy us. You

40:14

wanted to know us, you wanted relationship

40:17

with us, and so you sent your one and

40:19

only son into this world to live

40:22

a perfect and sinless life where we could not

40:24

to die the death that we deserve,

40:27

so that we could be raised to new life with

40:29

you. So that our

40:31

mistakes and our failures and the brokenness of

40:33

this world would not have the final say, but

40:35

you, God would, so that

40:37

we could have life and life abundantly so

40:39

that we could have joy, so that we could have breakthrough,

40:41

so that we could walk in your perfect

40:43

will, which cannot be stopped. So

40:46

Father, if we've been resisting you, I pray that

40:48

we would stop today and we would just surrender our lives

40:51

to you. And if you're in this

40:53

room while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed,

40:56

If you would say, I've been resisting God, but I

40:58

don't wanna resist him anymore. Would you just slip your hand

41:00

up nice and high and say, I'm done resisting.

41:02

I don't wanna resist anymore. I see you. I see

41:04

you. I see you. I see your hands.

41:07

Awesome. So many of us, so many

41:09

of us. You can put them down.

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I just

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wanna encourage you to pray and agree with me.

41:17

If that's you to just say, father God,

41:21

I've run from you. I've

41:25

run from you. And maybe it's cuz I'm scared.

41:28

Maybe it's cuz there's something I don't wanna let go of.

41:31

Maybe it's cuz there's something I'm afraid will happen.

41:33

Maybe it's cuz I, I know what you're

41:35

gonna do with my life. I know if I surrender,

41:37

you're gonna call me to even bigger things.

41:39

And it's just daunting right now. But

41:42

God, we know that your plan is best.

41:44

We know that you have a plan.

41:47

Not to hurt us, but to prosper us.

41:50

You have a plan that is greater and brighter

41:52

and more amazing than we could ever imagine.

41:55

God, we don't wanna run from you. So

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today we repent, we change our mind,

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we turn back to you, and we

42:02

ask that you would receive us just as we are.

42:05

We ask that you would fill us with your Holy

42:07

Spirit to embolden us, to

42:09

give us the courage to trust in you, and

42:12

we ask that you'd guide us from this point forward.

42:16

As we take a moment to just

42:18

pause and to write a letter to

42:20

you maybe we're

42:22

not even a Christian yet, but we acknowledge you're real

42:25

or maybe we've been following you for a long time and we

42:27

just need to talk to you in

42:30

this moment. God, I pray that you would hear

42:32

us, that we

42:34

would know that you're with us, that you receive us,

42:37

that you don't judge us for our thoughts, but

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that we can come to you and express our desire

42:41

to stop running. We can ask for you

42:43

to guide us and help us along the way. So

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in this moment, we come to you as your children

42:49

and we spend a few moments talking with you. In Jesus

42:51

name we pray, amen. Feel

42:53

free to come up and grab a pen. You can go back to your seat,

42:56

you can spread out. We're just gonna play a little music and

42:58

leave a prayer atmosphere for a few moments and I'll

43:00

come up and I'll close us in prayer.