← River Valley Church
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
A
Well, as we get started in our sermon, I wanna do one pastoral thing real quick before we jump into the sermon. And I would like to ask at all of our campuses for us to do a survey together. All right? So you'll notice the little disc on the seat in front of you. And I'm gonna ask everybody to go ahead, take your phone, activate your phone. If you have a flip phone. This is not gonna work. All right? So if you have a flip phone, please stop by the office and we'll help you out later or talk to an usher afterwards. But we would like to do a quick survey with just two things. Number one, we'd like you to update your data because we wanna pastor you better. We don't wanna just build a crowd and just, like, be disconnected. And throughout the years, we've just noticed that the database is needing some updating. And so part one of it is just, Would you update your information? Very simple. You're just gonna update it and. And you'll actually get an email that will say, are these the corrections? Are this correct to be able to verify that? But we wanna care for you. We wanna pastor you. We don't just wanna crowd. We're a congregation, and we're in this together. And so if this is your church home, we'd love for you to update your data so that we can better pastor you. And if you've noticed, there's just been some things that we've done around here, even like having the birthday recognition at the end of the month and the 25th and the 50th anniversary celebration. I just. I love. We wanna pastor better. And so would you help us to pastor better? That's the first part. And then the second part is you'll notice that you have an option in there to pick three different sermon topics, like areas. You're saying, I'd really like to hear about this. And if we see an emerging trend, like, if they all come out equal, well, I don't know how we're gonna do that, but I'm thinking there'd be an emerging trend that will come out and. And you could pick up to three different sermon topics that you'd like to hear. And we're just asking everybody to do this in our church and to be able to give us that data so that. Again, many of you have data, but we want it to be complete and we wanna care better and we wanna help pastor you. And then please give us any direction on sermon. It's not all set. People say how many weeks or months Are you in advance? We're set through the summer, all the way up to fall, but we're getting ready to set the fall. And then. And so we would just ask for your input on that. All right, So I just appreciate that from everybody doing that. And I just had this thought. There's somebody's like, I'm not doing it. Well, we'll pray for you. All right. I don't know what to say. Like, it's like, maybe after this message. Maybe after this message on Jonah, you will do it. All right, all right. So we're starting a series on Jonah, all right. Which is perfect timing because we just finished the series on forgiveness. We. Which was broken up by a couple other things interjected in there. And I love the theme of our year. Our theme of the year is Speak Lord. We're listening. All right, so with Jonah, I mean, the theme of Jonah is Speak Lord. I'm not listening. I'm not. Listen. I don't wanna do what you want me to do. Which is kind of amazing that Jonah would do this. And it's recorded for us to see. But before we jump in and read chapter one today we're gonna do chapter one. Next week we'll be chapters two and three, and then we'll do chapter four. It'll be a three part series. I wanna give you a background of the book. It's a really interesting book. It's about the prophet Jonah. And he's probably the worst prophet in the entire Bible. I mean, God gives him a word to share and he's like, I don't wanna do it. I wanna completely disobey you. He might be the worst prophet in the Bible. There's no really known author. There's speculation about it, but there's known author. It's written after the fact. I mean, it's written after Assyria, which is where he's supposed to go, has already had its glory days and come down. And it's written way after the fact. Like, as you're reading, you're like, oh, oh, Assyria, the once great nation, has fallen. So it's written quite a while afterwards. Some object to it. Historians, they. Look, I don't know if it's really real because they're saying there's no written history, that the people of Assyria all of a sudden served God forever. Okay? And the Bible doesn't tell us that they served God forever, but it says in that moment, they repented. So I don't see a conflict there. But I'm just giving you the Background of it. And there's two big things that we just wanna really focus on as we look through the book of Jonah is. The first one is, you can run from God, but you cannot hide. That's a little takeoff of Joe Louis's thing when he was talking about a guy who's gonna box and they said, he's gonna dance around the room. And he said, a ring. And he said, well, he can run, but he can't hide. I can still get to him. You can run from God, but you cannot hide. You gotta realize that. And the second thing we wanna realize from Jonah is God pursues with a grace that is so amazing. All right? Now, some people struggle with Jonah because it's sensational, like, scientific. Could that have happened? Some people struggle with the book and the story of Jonah because it's a bedtime story. You know, that's a good one to tell to your kids. You know, Jonah and the whale. And, you know. And for some of us, like, our first, you know, exposure to the story of Jonah was through VeggieTales. How many first. Yeah. All right. Yeah. So, I mean, so we're like, oh, it's a kid's story. No, this is a theologically rich story for us. There's so much there, and there's so much for us to apply. And as you go into this book, it's amazing. God speaks. Jonah isn't listening. The sailors who are not even serving God are more in tune with God than Jonah. The wicked repent. Jonah is mad. And then the book just ends. It's like, is there a sequel? Jonah 2. Like, why? It just, like, it ends abruptly. And so it's kind of one of those books that people struggle with. All right, but there's good news. There's tons of application in this. And it's. I want you to understand this is one of the greatest pictures in the Old Testament of God's grace. It's one of the greatest pictures of God's grace. Jonah is sinning. And the Bible gives many examples or words or illustrations or understanding for sin. People say it's missing the mark, an archery term. People will say transgression, rebellion against God. And Jonah gives us a new, like, understanding of sin. Sin is running from God. Sin is running from God. That's what we're doing. We're doing our own thing rather than God thing. And we're saying, I decide to what I'll live for, and it's not God. I'm living for myself. It also gives us a great understanding of Grace, Grace. It's like in Jonah, grace is God running after disobedient people. Grace is running after somebody who goes the other way. And it's unbelievable. Like, we're seeing grace and mercy. And it's interesting in this, there's a key word, the word great. All right, as we get this, I'm gonna read a chunk of Jonah Chapter one. But I wanna point this out. The word great is in there a lot. And Nineveh was a great city. And God sends a great wind, and then he sends a great storm, and there was great fear, and then a great fish. You understand? Great is used 13 times. And the biggest great that we need to understand is God's great mercy. God's great grace in this situation. And so we can run from God's will, but we cannot hide from his pursuit. You cannot get away from it. So I'm gonna read Jonah Chapter one again. Quite a lengthy passage. Stick with me. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amitti, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own God. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, how can you sleep? Get up and call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish. Then the sailors said to one, come, let us cast lots to find out who's responsible for this calamity. They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? And he answered, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. This terrified them. And they asked, what have you done? And it says, they knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so. Can I just stop for a second there? Could you imagine getting on a ship? And you're like, I'm running from God. My name's Jonah. You know, I'm running. The ship's going the opposite way of where God wants me to go. He told them that. Okay. Anyways, the sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, what should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us? Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm. I know that's my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Instead, the men did their very best to row back the land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man. For you, Lord, have done as you please. Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard. And the raging sea grew calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord. And they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish and Three days and three nights. So the first thing I wanna point out in this chapter one is you and I run from what we know. We run from what we know. Jonah was running from what he knew. We've been saying all year, speak, Lord. For we're listening. And that makes sense. But a lot of us have been like, the Lord's been speaking to us, things to do. And we know what we're supposed to do. And we run away from what we know we're supposed to do. It's a sad thing, like, speak, Lord. No, doesn't make sense. How do you say Lord and say no? But we do. And Jonah is running from the word of the Lord. He wasn't guessing. It says, the word of the Lord came to him. He knew, like, God interrupted this broadcast. Here's what I want you to do. And he didn't do it. And interesting thing, you can know the will of God and not have the heart of God. He knew the will of God, but he did not wanna do what was in God's heart. And God might be asking you, I want you to do, I don't wanna do it. And you heard what he wants you to do. You have to say, may my heart align with your will. And if my heart is out of alignment, Lord, may my heart change to be in alignment with your will. He knew the will of God and didn't have the heart of God. And he doesn't merely refuse like, you know, like, I'm not doing it. He doesn't, like, fold his hands like, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. He's like, I am getting away from here. I'm gonna get away. I'm gonna go the opposite way. It'd be like if you're living in Minneapolis and God says, I want you to go to Chicago, that great city of Chicago, and tell them to repent. They need it all right? And you say, no, I'm go to Des Moines. You know, that'd be kind of off course. But this is not like that. This is like, God calls you to Chicago and you're like, san Diego, here I come. It's that far off. Matter of fact, put the map on the screen. Go ahead and show this. Like, the map. You'll see he was in Joppa. He's supposed to go to Nineveh, and he's going Tarshish. Like, now you understand? He's not just like, you can't make me go there. He's like, ah, I'm out of the picture. I'm going the opposite way of what you want. Now, here's something that we gotta understand about Jonah and the story that we see here. The crisis is not the whale. The crisis is not the whale. The crisis is right away in verse three. It's like a movie that gives you the jolting plot right away in the beginning. And then the rest of the story comes. Like, the crisis is that he does not wanna do God's will. He doesn't wanna obey God. That's the crisis. And he starts running away. And in my imagination, I just can envision Gabriel in heaven going, we got a runner. He's running. We got a runner. We got a runner. Like, that's my imagination, all right? Somebody would like to read the Bible with me someday. Have fun with that. But the Bible says he's going the opposite way. And it says he paid the fare. And when it says in the Bible that he paid the fare, it says he spared no expense. It's almost like it cost him a lot. He's like, no matter what it takes, I'm buying the last ticket. I don't care how much it costs. I'm getting on that ship to get away from where God wants me to go. And I wanna stop for just a moment. We do the same thing when God speaks to us. I want you to do this. We try to silence his voice with our money. We do. Oh, it doesn't. Maybe you think it's not exactly like that, but we throw ourself into our career. God, I'm building this business. I'm building this career. I know you spoke to me about that, but I'm throwing myself in here. I'm overdoing it. We overindulge in entertainment. We accumulate things. It tries to make us happy. We get obsessed with hobbies. We purchase things and we. Do you understand? And we're trying to medicate with money, to. To silence the voice of God. And he's like, I'll spare no expense. And I will say this. Running from God is expensive. Running from God is expensive. Now he's trying to create distance from God. And so you're like, why is he. I mean, it's the craziest thing. We know that Nineveh is a wicked city. And if you look up the Assyrians, you'll see that they punish people. It was better to die quick from them because they would punish you and torture you. So the world at that time knew that Nineveh, Assyria was a terrible place. And Jonah is not running from them like, I'm gonna die. He's running from them because God's full of grace and he knows those people are gonna repent if he preaches to them and God's gonna forgive him. He's literally running from the goodness of God. How sad is that? That's again, the heart issue. And again, just for us. Most of us are not running from ignorance. We're running from, like, things that we know that we should do. God's convicting you. He's asking you to surrender. He's saying, I want you to obey this. I know it's difficult, but I want you to do it. I want you to sacrifice this. I want you to repent. I want you to minister to these difficult people that I've called you to. It's a place where he's doing a work in us. And we're like, I don't wanna do it. I wanna run from what I. We can identify with Jonah. Cause we are runners. Ever since the beginning of the Bible, Adam and Eve running away from God. God's like, where are you? Cain goes away. Israel wanders and walks away. Peter denies. The disciples fled. They ran away. I mean, we're runners. Another theme that is in Jonah is descending. It says, he went down. So he descended to Joppa. He got down into the ship. He got down into the sea. It's like a descent. And when you're running from God, it's just a descent. Stop running. Can I just say, I don't know who Here needs to hear this. But if you've been called to do something in obedience, just answer the call. Stop running. It's just descending, descending, descending. Just turn around and say, what do you want me to do? Who do you want me to reach? How do you want me to do this? The second thing here that I wanna point out is God's storms expose what running conceals. The storms expose what the running conceals. The Bible tells us in verse four that the Lord brought the storm. Some translations say he sent the storm. And it gives an implication of throwing a spear. Like, this is a directed storm at Jonah. A spear. Some of you are like, yes, right. Jonah's in trouble. Can I tell you what it really was? A spear of mercy. I know you're thinking, like, what? It was a spear of mercy. It was directed like, jonah, I am not gonna let you run. I'm not gonna let you run away. I'm gonna throw a spear of mercy in this storm. And it is targeted mercy. Exactly where you're going. Here's the thing about God's storms. They expose what running conceals. And the storms in our life, like our running. We're medicating with money, we're doing all this. All of a sudden, we get this storm and it reveals what we've been running from and what we're hiding from. And all of a sudden, this storm causes us to pause on life and be like, what am I doing in this storm? Why is this happening? What am I running from? And there's mercy in that storm. Now, a side note about this. I don't have time to go into this all the way, but it's just a side note. You know, when you're preparing a sermon, there's so much good that you just sometimes can't preach. But I just have to say this. In the storm, in verse five, the sailors are praying to their God. Okay, you fast forward. In verse 14, they're praying to Jonah's God, our God. Okay? And in verse 16, they're like, and here's an offering and a sacrifice. Isn't that amazing? I mean, these guys don't even know who God is. They're praying to their own gods. And then they're like, you're a God, by the way. Here's a sacrifice and here's an offering. And we're actually doing a form of worship to you right now on this boat. Amazing. And it's another interesting thing. They're terrified of the God that caused a and calm the storm. Like, in the storm, they're like, we got this. We are sailors. We know what to do. And even then they're like, all right, there's something bad. We got a bad guy here, and they're still trying to row and they throw him overboard. And the Bible tells us that when God all of a sudden does like a peace, be still moment, they're terrified. Now they realize, like, we weren't fighting a storm. You know, we were fighting. We were fighting a God. The God. And that's terrifying. And just being around this guy who's running from. Whoever you are, you terrify us. And we are gonna pray to you, we are gonna sacrifice to you. And as proven sailors, we know you are the real deal. Isn't that amazing? Just from the storm. It wasn't the storm that did it. It was the calm that the text tells us they were terrified. Now, the storm is rarely the point in our lives. And I wanna give a disclaimer. We have storms in our life. Some of the storms in our life are just storms of life. They just happen, okay? But some of the storms in our life are actually God's storms with our names on em and they're storms. And you're wondering why? Why, why this door closed, this thing happened, this happened, this or it could be you were going down a path of destruction and it just reaps that harvest and the storm starts building. And I wanna say, not every storm in your life is because of sin, but when you sin, you will get a storm in your life. Okay, so somebody like, it's definitely your sin. No, don't point that out. But if you're the person in the storm and you think the storm has your name on it, go back to, like, that disobedience God, what did I do? Is there something that you're revealing to me? Is there something that I need to rep. Is there some disobedience that is causing this storm in my life? Now a few more storm thoughts. Your disobedience in your life affects a lot more people than you realize. I have people all the time. I don't. It's my issue. I'll just do it. It's just me. No, no. Your disobedience affects a lot of people. We should be wanting to live an obedient life. Obedient to whatever God says so that it doesn't spill over on anyone around us, that we love, anyone we're leading, anyone that's looking at us as an example, the people we're supposed to reach or affect. Like, there's a lot of People, your disobedience is not just affecting you. The storm may be on you, but it affects a lot of other people. Another thing, sometimes we have a storm with our name on it to reveal something in our life. It might reveal an idol in our life. It might reveal a misplaced trust. It might uncover pride in our life. It could reveal a heart that is shifted from being close to God, that is drifting. And the storm has our name on it. The storm is this, though. It's evidence that God is still pursuing us. Okay. The storm in your life, you're like, oh, it's actually proof that God still is pursuing you. I know this doesn't connect exactly, but I told our staff years ago, I won't go into it, but there was a staff situation, and staff just dropped the ball on something and I gave them feedback. And I was pretty stern. I was pretty stern with them. At the end of it, I said, be thankful that I'm saying this to you like this. And I'm this intense towards you. And they're like, really? And I said, cause if I didn't say anything, I would think you couldn't change and. And you couldn't get better. I said, but because I have the storm in this moment on you, it's. Cause I know you can get it better. And I don't like what you did, and I want you to do it differently and be thankful for this feedback. And they're like, right, right. Yeah. But the storm actually shows that God cares and that he's still pursuing you and that you matter and he wants you to get it right. And the real question in the storm, you should be saying to yourself is, lord, are you revealing something to me in my life? What is it? What are you revealing? I mean, most of us just wanna complain about the storm instead of saying, what are you revealing? What do you need to change? What are you trying to fix in my life? What do I need to know in this storm? So don't miss what God is trying to work out in the storm. And the last thing from chapter one is, every storm comes with a fish. Every storm in our life comes with a fish. A great fish. Like, not exactly Jonah's fish. Okay, I get it. But it comes with something. Now, when it says that God brought a great fish, the key word there is he provided. It's like he appointed the fish. And the fish wasn't punishment. The fish was mercy. Isn't that interesting? It was really mercy. We were like, oh, bad punishment. And God's like, no, no. This Is my mercy. My mercy is I'm providing this great fish to swallow you and partially digest you. You know? Like, it's actually mercy. Okay, think about this. God doesn't wait for Jonah to pray, even in the thing. Like, it's like, whose fault is it? He's like, me. All right, we're gonna keep trying to save your life. What should we do? The storm's so bad. Throw me over. He's not even. He's not praying. He's not repenting. He's not obeying. He's like, turn the ship around. None of that. He's like, it's me. I'm the trouble. Throw me over. And it's amazing. God doesn't wait for him to pray, repent, obey. And the fish arrives before Jonah even changes. That's mercy. That's mercy. Romans talks about that. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Like, we did nothing right. We were his enemies, and yet God sent his son, Jesus to die for us. Like, we're a lot like Jonah. And so it's amazing. He does nothing right. He's rejected God. He's abandoned. He's endangered all these people. He showed no signs of repentance, none up to this point. And God's mercy arrives before he deserves it. That's incredible. That's an incredible takeaway from this. And looking at this, I truly believe this. Every storm comes with a fish. In our life, there is something that God wants to do that's mercy. And you're like, it didn't feel like mercy when I lost my job there. And God's like, no, no, you didn't understand. That was a fish, and I was saving you and bringing you over here where I wanted you. You're like, that sickness sure didn't seem like. No, no, you don't understand. I got you here to do this. Oh, that loss sure didn't seem. God's like, no, no. I brought you over here. I got you right where I wanted you. Every storm comes with a fish. Now, it doesn't mean it gets fixed how we want to, like, we want it to, but I believe God is providing a fish. He's providing a way of mercy for you, man. There might be a conversation that was the fish that was supposed to save your life. I think about a friend that fell in ministry. He woke another pastor up in the middle of the night and said, go to this bar, and you're gonna find this pastor there and tell him to repent. And he did. He got out of his bed, drove There, told him, God told me you were here, it's time for you to repent. And he sent the fish guy still didn't listen. Lost it all. Like there might be a conversation that somebody's bringing to you and it's the fish that you needed that's gonna help you. It could be a conviction, it could be a closed door. You're in the storm, it and the door closes and God's like you thought that was judgment on you. It was really mercy. And I closed the door to save your life. It could be a circumstance, it could be a prompting by the Holy Spirit and it becomes the fish that saves your life. It's something that like saves our life and resurrects our heart and turns it around. And I wanna say this, the storms in our life are not to shame us. If you're in a storm right now, be asking God, what do you wanna do in me? And is there anything that I need to change? Is there anything going on in here? Search me. I wanna be right with you. I don't wanna be running from whatever you told me to do. If you're in the storm, find that fish. And then the chapter just ends again. It ends with Jonah and the fish. That's where we end chapter one. So we're gonna go to chapter two and three next week. But I wanna close and ask three questions. Do you have a Nineveh of obedience that you're running from right now? God said give, go, serve, lead, forgive, and you know it. But you're going the other way. You're going the other way. It's time to stop the ship, turn around, go back in obedience to whatever God spoke to you. I think there are people here that are living in that. You know, I talk to people as a pastor, they'll say, yeah, I've been wrestling with God about this, he wants me to do this. I've been wrestling with God. I'm like, you're going to lose, just give up, let em pin ya. If you're in a Nineveh of obedience and you're supposed to go and you're going the other way, turn around, stop. See this as a sign right now, today's your day to yield to whatever God is telling you to do. You'll be so happy if you do. I'm just telling you when you finally yield and you stop running, the joy that comes over you. Okay, second thing, are you in a storm right now? Look for the fish. Look for the meaning of it. Look for the what is God doing behind the scenes, where is his mercy showing up in your storm right now? And the third thing is those of you that have been through the storm and you're looking back at the storm, have you thanked God enough for the storms in your life that redirected your course, got you back, made you more dependent? I remember when I was wrestling with the call to be a pastor. I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a doctor. I was like, God, I wanna be a doctor. And he's like, you're gonna be a pastor. I wanna be a doctor. And there's nothing wrong with being a doctor. But for me, it wasn't the call. And it was storm after storm after storm. I had turmoil, I couldn't sleep. And then finally when I said, okay, God, I see the storm, I'll obey you, I'll do this. The peace that flooded me, I was like, thank you for redirecting my life. Thank you for getting me back on track. Those of you that have been through storms and God redirected your life and he saved you from something, he put you back on course. He brought you the fulfillment that you're living in right now, have you thanked him enough for the storm that really got you back on track? Thank him for the storm. Stop running. If you're in it, look for the fish and the meaning in it. And if you've been through it, let's look back and say, thank you, God. Thank you, God, for getting us through the storm to where we need to be in Jesus name. So, Lord, I pray right now for our church that we would live in the great mercy and goodness of God right now. What a great thing that we could see from Jonah. It's not just a story about a guy and a whale. It's about a God with great mercy that put a storm directed at a man that was disobeying so you could get him back on track. Thank you, Lord. I pray specifically for anybody that is. That is running from their Nineveh. May they stop running. And Lord, I really believe this. I believe for some it's a go. And for some it's a stay. There's just like, I should get out of here this state. Some it's a stay and they're trying to run from the very place you want them to flourish. Others, they need to answer the call other. But Lord, I just put it in your hands, Lord, for some that are in the storm and I pray for them right now, they would see this as a, an opportunity to see your grace, your mercy that this storm is going to draw them closer. And, Lord, they search their heart and draw closer to you. And God, thank you. Thank you for every storm. I feel like I've had plenty. But, God, thank you for the storms that have brought me closer to you. May we learn something from this man's disobedience and then ultimately ability to follow through. May we learn something from this that we can apply to our life and be better followers of Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen and amen.