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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in. Jonah 1:15. So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging. When Jonah surrendered, the storm surrendered. And it's in dying to ourselves that we find ourselves. You see, when you finally surrender to God, you no longer need to surrender to anyone or anything else. So they tossed him into the sea. In verse 16. Then the men feared one man's disobedience put everyone on the ship in danger. Your particular contribution means more or matters more than you'd ever think. Whenever God tells you to say something or to do something, and you don't say it, or you don't do it, everyone else is put at risk. You see, we only have one generation to reach our generation. And here's the question. If not you, who? If not now, when you know, second, third, fourth, fifth. Chances are not promised to anyone. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. Now, if you were with me last week, you know that at first they feared the storm. But when they realized and saw God's power over the storm, they feared the Lord. And when we truly fear God, every other fear begins to take second, third, fourth and fifth place. And they offered a sacrifice to the Lord. Now, there wasn't a whole lot left on the ship. I'm sure they began to throw a lot of things overboard. But whatever livestock was left, they sacrificed it to God. And God has designed creation so that whenever we truly encounter our Creator, our most basic instinct is to worship him. Said differently, if Jesus be God and died for me, that no sacrifice is too great for me to make for him. A writer said, we can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving. And after they offered the sacrifice, they took vows. They began to dedicate themselves to the one who save them. And any successful walk with the Lord begins with being faithful. And what's wonderful about God is he doesn't ask us to make a vow or perfection. How many think you could do that? But we can make a vow to worship. And I have found in my journey, in my life, God only requires me to worship him on two occasions. When I feel like it and when I don't. But whatever my situation, he's do it anyway. Now, verse 17, we start getting into the important stuff. Here it said, now the Lord had prepared a great fish. Now, many of us, you know, we went to Sunday school or what have you, we Heard about Jonah and the whale. But the scripture here doesn't identify the particular species. The only thing it focuses on is the fact that God prepared it. So if God had to use something ordinary to do what had never been done. By the way, whole giant squids, some giant squids, like 30ft long, have routinely been found in the stomachs of sperm whales. So this is possible. So God might have used something ordinary to do what had never been done. Or maybe by a special act, God created something extraordinary to do what nothing else could. But here's the big point. God still knows how to reach us wherever we are and do whatever it takes. Now, the Lord prepared. He providentially guided the fish to the right location. He guided the fish with a right physiology, right temperament, just the perfect amount of hunger to encounter Jonah at just the right time. And I said all that to say there are no accidents with God. But I want to make a bigger point here. Normally we catch, but God also knows how to catch the fish that will catch us. I just said something. God knows how to design the fish that will catch you. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish. How many of us who hear my voice right now have ever been swallowed up by something you've ever found yourself in the belly of something you couldn't quite get out of? Perhaps it was an illness, maybe a relationship, maybe it was loneliness, a financial situation, maybe it was a bout of confusion or a myriad of other things, but you were just stuck in a situation that you couldn't quite get out of. But what I've learned, I've learned that what the devil intends for evil, God still knows how to work out for our good. So here we have Jonah in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. So the big question is, why did it take Jonah three days and three nights before he does what he's about to do? Because in the next verse here, we're gonna discover that he prayed unto the Lord. So why did it take so long for Jonah to seek the Lord? But maybe I could put it to you this way. Why has it taken you, though you're dying to talk to this person, but somehow you refuse to text them? First? Somebody said stubbornness and stupidity are twins. Sometimes we're not really waiting on God. God is waiting on us. So watch this. Then, after three days and three nights, Jonah finally, finally prayed to the Lord. You know, it's important to have Mommy and Daddy praying for us. Auntie and uncle, you know, sister, brother, you know, maybe pastor or elder or granny, grandmother Grand Granddaddy. But some things will not change unless you learn to pray for yourself. Until you get sick and tired of being sick and tired, some things will not shift in our lives. Some answers to prayer are on a certain frequency. I can't quite explain it, but it's not until we reach that frequency of intensity that God responds. And there are moments I'm kind of like, okay, God, I cry, please help me. And God's like, well, when you really want help. And the next time around, well, God, come on, come on, would you help me? He's like, well, when you're really serious. But then after a while, I God, would you help me? And that cry comes from my heart. It unlocks things. And there are moments in our journey a casual prayer won't do. But finally, Jonah prayed to the Lord. Now watch where he prayed from. From the fish's belly. This message today is for folks that are still in the middle of it. You've been asking God for a way out of it, but you feel stuck. Well, Jonah's about to tell us what to do. Watch what he did and what Jonah really. He starts telling a narrative. He starts telling his story. And he said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction. Why is it that it often takes affliction before we cry out the way we need to cry out? Psalms 119:71 says. It says, it was good that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Now, that's grown folk stuff right there. Because when you're young, you don't understand. Why does affliction happen? When you live long enough, you understand there's certain lessons you only learn when you've been afflicted. When you've been through something, when you felt something, when you got to the end of your cell. David said it this way. Psalm 18:6. In my distress, had I not been distressed, I might not have cried out. I might have watched another television show. I might have called another friend on the phone. But it got bad enough I had to find myself on my kn. In my distress. I called upon the Lord, cried out to my God, and he heard my voice from his temple. Unfortunately, sometimes affliction is the only way we'll learn. It used to be said, and I don't know that it can be said anymore. And I don't want to get anyone in trouble with social services. Love your children. Please do not abuse and harm your children. But in my generation, it was sad that God put special padding in that special location on the Backside of a child. Special paddock. So if they wouldn't learn from your word, they learn from the hand. Now, I'm not recommending that. I don't want to get anybody in trouble. Certainly don't leave any bruises. I'm teasing and serious at the same time. So sometimes affliction is the only way our hard headed selves learn. So God has to reluctantly send us to school. So Jonah prayed to the Lord from the fish's belly. And Jonah said, and he answered me, you can pray from wherever you are while you're still in the midst of that perversion, in the midst of that addiction, in the midst of bitterness, exasperation, God still hears a sinner's prayer. All throughout the book up to this point, all we've seen in Jonah was him misbehaving. All we saw Jonah do was disape and run. But as bad as Jonah misbehaved, God still heard his prayer. And if you fight your battle on your knees, you will win every time. And he continues to tell his story. He said, out of the belly of Sheol. Sheol was Hebrew, is Hebrew for the grave. In other words, Jonah was in and out of consciousness. Jonah was literally at death's door. And this is why, you know, I don't always dishow. You don't know what happens to a person in their final hours right before they pass. He had been stubborn up to this point, but finally he got to death's door and he said, and I cried and you heard my voice. Jonah messed up, but God still heard him. I like what C.S. lewis said. He said, the Christian does not believe that God loves us because we are good, but that God makes us good because he loves us. So Jonah is continuing to tell us what he said from the stomach of the fish so that any of us ever find us in the belly of a situation. We ever find ourselves stuck in a situation that seemed to have been custom designed for our particular rebellion. We'd have a model to look to. It said, for you cast me into the deep. And this is important. It was literally, it was the sailors that threw him into the water. But Jonah recognized that it was God's plan that was being worked through men. It's important do not get bitter when people throw you overboard. Maybe God let that happen because you were going with them in the wrong direction. So that relationship that did not work, you better thank God that they threw you out and didn't call you back because you were going with them in the wrong direction. For you cast me into the Deep again. We saw the sailors do it. But God was behind some of the events happening into the heart of the seas. And the flood surrounded me. All your billows and your waves passed over me. Ever love a person whose attitude took all the fun out of it? Yeah. This is how it was with Jonah and the Lord. And it's not that we love that troubled child less. We just enjoy loving them less. You see, God doesn't bring his children through troubled waters to drown us, but to cleanse us from the garbage that gets in love's way. Then I said to myself, I started coming to myself, listen, in a moment we're gonna talk about how far down he had gone. But I said to myself, and when you're in the middle of it, it's what you say to yourself. Mama may say, Daddy may say. A psychologist might say, but what you say to yourself, it's one of the most important things. Remember the prodigal. He said he came to himself. Mom and dad, you can spend all that money sending your child to college. But if your child don't want to go until that child says to themselves, I need to do this thing, you're only going to get so far. That was free for somebody in the room. Then I said, I have been cast out of your sight. He realized that his greatest pain was not from his circumstances, but from his separation from God. James 4, 8 tells us, Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Yet he's coming to himself. He's in the middle. He's in this fishy. This stinky, messed up situation. Yet I will look again towards your holy temple. The only reason he got out of the situation, because he looked again. Beloved, you gotta look again. Because when God is all you have left, you are left with all you need. So he's still telling his story. He's saying it in the first person. Because this is literally what happened to him. He said, the water surrounded me. He was totally overcome and overwhelmed. But then it says, even to my soul. So his problem was not just on the outside, it was happening. The problem was in his soul, on the inside of him. The deep closed around me. It closed around him physically, but also to his very soul. The weeds were. Seaweed were wrapped around my head. And the more Jonah struggled to get out, the tighter his circumstances wrapped around him. As he tried to get out in his own strength, he couldn't. And then watch. Verse 6. I went down. Remember, in 1 and 3, Jonah went down to Joppa. Then in 1, in 5, he went down to the lowest part of the ship. Then in 1:15, he stole down from the ship into the water. Now in 2 and verse 5, he finally goes down to the bottom of the sea. But what Jonah is about to teach us, just because you hit the bottom doesn't mean you need to stay there. This is his testimony. This is his story. He said, I went down to the moorings of the mountains. The fish took him deep. The earth with its bars closed behind me forever. There was no way for me to get out. I was swallowed up. My destiny seemed to be in the hands of the circumstance or this fish that I was in. But again, when you're down to nothing, God is always up to something. But watch what he says. Yet you have brought me up from the pit. When my soul fainted within me, when no one else could help, when I was getting what I deserved, I remembered God's mercy. He says, in that terrible situation. I remembered the Lord. I remember the verses my pastors used to teach. I remember the songs of Zion my mother used to sing. I remembered the presence of God I experienced when I was in the midst of God's people. And I remembered the Lord, which implies up to that time he had forgotten. And sometimes affliction comes into our lives to remind. And the more. Now, listen, everyone who lives godly in Christ is going to suffer, persecute. You're going to deal with stuff no matter what. But some stuff doesn't have to be. If we would just keep in the forefront of our mind, God is faithful. He is God, I am man. He said X, so I say X. He says Y. I say Y. I am creature. He is creator and I submit. And my prayer went up to you in your holy temple. And what's about to happen here is God is going to give Jonah a revelation. Actually, God is going to kind of just, you know, slip to the quick and really speak to why Jonah was in the situation that he was in. And if you cry out to him, God will give you answers. You might not like the answer, but God will give you the answers. So he prays to the Lord. So he's doing his part. But prayer is not a monologue. It's a what dialogue. You gotta wait for God to speak back. And then God heard the prayer. But listening to what God said, he said, listen, Jonah, those who regard worthless idols, this is important because he was a prophet. He was probably of the school of the prophets. We talked about that last week. They didn't have any idols in his home. There were no physical idols. In his life. But in this case, the idol was not a physical, material thing. It was the prophet's own stubbornness, his own willfulness, his prejudices and biases. Any opinion that matters more than God is an idol, even if it's your own. So let's. A little context. So Jonah didn't want to go to the Assyrians. They're different people. They are brutal people. They are mean people. They're full of idolatry. I don't want any part of them. You know, I am a Hebrew and I'm Jewish, and I don't want anything to do with those people. So the man who didn't want to go deal with the people with idols, God had to reveal idols of his own. That will preach that? Yes, it will. Those who regard, listen, there'll be idols all around us, but it's our heart regard to the thing that makes the difference. Those who regard worthless, idle. An idol is anything we create and put in the place of obedience or use as an excuse rather than obeying the voice of the Lord. Those who regard worthless idols now watch this, forsake their own mercy. Meaning God never forsook Jonah. Jonah forsook God. And how did he do it? By clinging to his own machinations. He's like, lord, I know you're telling me to go to those people, but my opinion is those people don't need to hear your voice. My opinion is matter of fact. You know, I have a whole culture of opinion here. My culture backs me up in this. We are the Hebrews and we don't mess with those people. They're not kosher. But those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. The opinion of man would put up against the opinion of God. If the opinion of man or women and people is higher, that's ultimately your God. And anything that's been created by man's hands or mind is, Is, is, is. An idol is just something created out of the imagination of a person and put in the place of God. And many of us have things in our imagination. Pay attention to what I'm saying. Many things in our imagination, our excuses, rationalizations, our ideas about what should be. We raise it up above what God's word says. And to God, it's an idol. And because he was committed to a level of idolatry, in this case, he put his ethnicity on this high seat. I watch people, they put their political party on the high seat. I still watch people put their ethnicity on a high seat. I watch other people put their gender on a High seat. I put people put their sexuality on this high seat. And God is somewhere down there. It's like, well, look, I really worship those things. And God, don't you dare call him Lord. If your opinions and the opinion of people and culture are up there, but his word is down there. Ultimately, culture and people are your God. And you got to learn to choose you this day, whom you going to serve, whether it's going to be God or man, God or me, myself and I. Those who regard worthless, and that's it's worthlessness, all these things we so highly regard, they're not gonna be here but so long, you know you're gonna live in eternity far longer than anything you ever experienced here. And when you weigh it in the balance, it's just like really eternity in this moment, I think eternity matters more. Those who regard worthless idols for saquas as their own mercy, the mercy's there, they just forsake it. And what he's saying is, and I guess it could be posed to us this way, did God leave you or did you leave him? But I will sacrifice to you without complaining and talking about my opinion the way I think it should be, those people over there ought to die. I don't have no time for it. I want to do some other things. I had other aspirations for, for my life. But I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. Father, thank you that you even told me to do anything. Thank you that you cared enough to care about anybody. Thank you that you knew my name to even call me. And he had to get back to gratitude. But what I want you to notice is he didn't wait until his situation was resolved to thank God. And you can't wait till the battle is over to praise God. He thanked God while he was still in the middle of it, in the belly of it to come out of the storm. You gotta learn how to thank God and praise God in the midst of the storm. There's always something to be thankful for. I may not have that, but God, I do have this. God, I might not have a million dollars, but listen, I did have a meal at lunch and I'm not so sure about dinner, but Lord, thank you for lunch, Lord, I may not have had new shoes, but I do have 10 toes. God, you hear what I'm saying? I may not have the jacket I want, but dear God, I have shoulders that are strong. You got to learn to be thankful for what you have in the situation that you're in. And then Jonah continued, said, I will Pay what I have vowed. You see, he vowed to obey God in his prophetic ministry. And he renounced his vow by going the other way. Now, you see, our vows matter. If God can't trust your promises to him, how can anyone else? He said, I will pay what I have vowed. I'll get back to my calling. Now here we're talking about the high office of profit and everything. But for us in this room, it may not be to being a prophet, but maybe it's just being a good dad. Maybe it's just back to being a good mother, a good woman, a good, good man. You hear What, Lord? Lord, I'm going to pay what? What I have vowed. You see, wherever your calling is, wherever God assigns you. You know, Martin Luther and them, they got it right because they started talking in terms of vocation. See, there was this idea that there was the clergy and then there were the other folk. And the only people that had to call a God in their lives were the clergy. No, God calls us into vocations as well. You know, God puts you in business and he puts his hand on business. He might put his hand on you while you're behind the retail counter. You understand? I don't know what your assignment is. He might just assign you to raise one baby, but that's your life assignment. He might just assign you to love one man or one woman. That's your assignment in life. He may listen. You might live a life single, but God's assigned you to pray like no one else has ever prayed. That's your assignment and your calling. And what Jonah decided. I'm gonna get back to what the Lord told me. I'm gonna pay what I told him. I sung that song. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. I sung those songs. And now God's calling. Dude, you know the confession? So the Lord spoke to the Fist. But I want you to notice, before he spoke to the Fist, Jonah had to do four things. Number one, Jonah prayed. Number two, Jonah let go of his idols opinions and things that he put above God's word to him. Number three, Jonah gave the sacrifice of praise. Number four, Jonah returned to his vow or his calling. By the way, your calling will keep calling you until you answer. You can try to hide in a fish as much as you want. You can go as low as you want to the bars of the mountains. But your calling will keep calling to you until you answer. I have found in life. And in fact, if I could just share personal testimony. The reason I understand this book so well is in many cases I Have been. And many times in my life, I have been Jonah. And, you know, I remember when, you know, started church at 14th street, it failed. We no longer had the means to pay for the facility we were in. And I was like, lord, I'm a terrible pastor. Maybe you didn't call me. Maybe I take your word too seriously. God. You know what? I'm just going to go back into business. I'm done with this thing. And in the midst of that, by the way, I dealt with a sickness. And I'm not saying God put that on me, but it's just a way. Sometimes some things happen to remind you how much you need God and how much, you know, you kind of take life and limb, you know, just for granted. But in that time, this is how Grace church started. I couldn't sleep. I wake up at night seeing souls, seeing people, sometimes multitudes, sometimes a few, looking all different types of ways. And it actually literally began to haunt me. I was like, you know, this is the devil. How God gonna haunt somebody? That's what ghosts do, right? Then I'm like, holy Ghost. Okay, Holy Ghost. Okay, okay, I get it for the first time. But you would think that I started grace because I was this great man of faith. I got tired of not being able to sleep. I got tired of the lack of rest. I said, lord, I'll do it one more time. So I put school on my credit card and all the rest. I won't even tell you, don't do what I did. But God got me through it. But that whole first year was funded on credit, but it was just me trying to get rest. Your calling will keep calling you until you answer. Well, praise the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. So the Lord spoke to the fish after. Jonah did four things. He prayed. He let go of his idols. He gave God sacrifice. Prayed number four. He returned to his calling and his vow. And by the way, the best apologies have three parts. Three parts. Three parts. I'm sorry. It's my fault. And what can I do to make it right? I'm sorry. It's not. No. I'm sorry if I did anything. No, I'm sorry. I did some stuff. Okay. How many of y'all hear the apology? I'm sorry if I did anything, you know, you did something. What you mean, if you did something? That's not an apology. I'm sorry. It was my fault. Then don't. Just leave it there. What can I do to make it right? And that's when he returned to his vow. He said, listen, I will pay my vow. He tried to make it right. I'm going to get back to my calling and watch what happened. And it vomited Jonah. If you want to give the devil the greatest stomach ache that he's ever had, open your mouth and say, God, this is not your fault. I'm sorry. What can I do to make it right? Some of y'all are getting what I'm saying today. Lord, I ran when I should. Now I quit when I should have hung in there. I left you, but you didn't leave me. And when you do that, from the belly of your situation, the devil's gonna be forced to let you go. And we're just about there. And it vomited Jonah onto dry land. God recalculates better than any GPS system ever can. He still knows how to get you back to where he wants you to be, because his plans are always bigger than our mistakes. So as you listen to me talk about Jonah today, if all we learned about was a man and a fish, we missed the point. My prayer is that you could see yourself in the shoes of Jonah. My prayer is that you ask God, show me where I put things above your directions and your word and your instruction to me, Lord. Show me where I'm regarding worthless idols in my life, Lord. Reveal to me, Lord, so I can lay them down even at your feet. Lord, I'm ready to pray, Lord, Lord, Lord, I want to get rid of these idols, God, I'm ready. Ready to stop looking on the negative and begin to focus on the good things you give me. I'm willing to get back to praise and hope and God. I'm willing to get back to my calling and my vow and commitment to you. And it vomited Jonah onto dry land. God can get you back to wherever it is you need to be if you cry out to him in whatever situation you might be in and be willing to surrender and give it back to God. Did you get anything out of that today? Amen. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember you have what it takes in Christ to live big. 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