Rick Warren - What to Do When You Cause a Storm — Part Two

Today, I have a question for you. Have you ever felt like you

were the wrong person for the job, Like, what did you get yourself

into You didn't have the right experience or the right skill set. Well,

I know I have and you probably have too. This is Pastor Rick's Daily

Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Okay, today we're

going to continue with the series the Manifestation of Your Life Mission. Rick is

showing us that no matter how big the thing is that God is calling us

to do, we don't have to run away from it. We can actually

run toward it. This is such a good message, and I hope you'll

invite a friend to listen along with you as we discover how to embrace God's

calling on our lives and how we can live according to the purpose and plan

that He has for us. Okay, here's Rick with part two of a

message called what to Do when You Cause a Storm. So the concepts of

Jonah running from God are great. In fact, there are four. These

four consequences are the same four consequences that happen in your life when you run

from God, when you ignore your life mission, when you try to pretend

you're God. When you try to play God and God, I'm gonna I'm

not gonna do what God wants to do. What I want to do,

I think, I know it will make me happy more than God does.

And when you do that, it always causes these same four consequences that we

see in Jonah's life. Negative consequences. Number one, write these down.

If I run from God. Number one, my life will go downhill.

My life will go down here. Running from God is always on a slide.

It's always degrading, it's always downhill. You are headed down over over

and over. There's an important word that's used in the story of Jonah over

and over and over, and it is the word down. You can find

it through the whole book of Jonah. He says it over and over.

In fact, I want you to circle the word down every time I read

these verses from the Book of Jonah. Jonah one, verse three, he's

running from God. Jonah went down to Joppa. That's a city on the

coast of the Mediterranean there in the Palestine area is actually under the control of

the Phoenicians at this time. Jonah went down to Joppa, where he found

a ship headed for the port of Tarshish. He paid the price to sail

to Tarsh's and he went down, notice again below deck, hoping to get

as far away from God as he could. Then in Jonah one, verse

five, Jonah went down below, was down below, laying down, sound

asleep. This is in a storm. Then in Jonah chapter two, verse

three, they threw him overboard. He says, I sank down down into

the deep sea. And in verse six, I was as far down as

a body could go. Running from God is all downhill. Jonah is down

down, down, down down, Doobi dooo down down Now. Notice here

it says he goes down to Joppa where he found a ship. Isn't that

convenient? If you want to run from God, Satan will always make sure

there's a ship. When you want to run from God, you'll easily find

a ship. Satan will make sure of that. Do you realize that Satan

can set up circumstances as much as God can? You know? Some of

guy goes. You know, and I've lived with my wife, I've been

married to her for thirty years. But I went to this party and I

met this woman who was so fascinating and so engaging, and we just hit

it off, and I knew the circumstances that this is the person I should

be married to. Don't you think Satan can engineer circumstances too. If you

want to run from God, he'll provide a shop. There'll always be one

there. Now, second negative consequence, if I run from God, it

will cost me. If I run from God, not only will my life

go downhill, but if I run from God, it's going to cost me.

Did you notice the phrase he paid the price to sail to Tarshish.

He paid the price to sail to Tarsish. Now, there's always a price

tag in running from God, and it always costs more to run from God

than it costs to run to God or to run with God in God's direction.

There's always going to be a price tag when you run from God.

There'll be an emotional price tag, there'll be a relational price tag. There

will be maybe a financial price tag, a physical price tag, a spiritual

price tag. It always costs more to run from God than to actually run

with God. Now he says he's told to go to Nineveh, which is

east, but instead he decides to go to Tarsish, which is as far

west as you could possibly go in that day. Let me show you a

map. Okay, here's Joppa, which is here in Israel, right on

the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. He's five hundred and fifty miles from Nineveh.

That's go east. That's where God says going. Instead, Jonah says,

I'm going to go two thousand, five hundred miles the opposite direction.

This guy seriously messed up. Okay, he goes. Which do you think

costs more to go five hundred miles to Nineveh or two thousand, five hundred

miles Tarsius Tarsish was a seaport on the coast of Spain. It was the

end of the known world two thousand, seven hundred years ago. They didn't

know about England, they didn't know about Ireland. They certainly didn't know about

North and South America. Spain was the end of the known world. What

is this guy doing. He's going, I'm going to go as far the

opposite direction from God as I can. You know anybody about it like that,

I'm going to go as far in the opposite direction as God tells me

to go as I can. And when I do that, I'm going downhill.

And when I do that it's going to cost me. I'm gonna have

to pay the price. Number three, if I run from God, God

will oppose me. He's not just gonna let that happen because he loves you.

He knows what will make you happy more than you do. And so

if I run from God, God will oppose me. So Jonah goes down,

he buys a ticket, He finds a ship, he goes on board.

He goes down into the bottom below deck. He thinks he's going to

have a Mediterranean cruise, a nice little Mediterranean cruise to Tarshish. But in

Jonah one four, it says, as the ship was sailing, the Lord

sent and opposing wind. Circle that and opposing wind? Why because God loved

Jonah. You ever had this happen in your life? Have you ever had

an opposing wind? You're trying to make something happen in your life, and

you're trying to make it happen, and make it happen, and make it

happen, but it's just not happening. No matter what you do, it's

just not happening. And it seems like there's an invisible force opposing you and

keeping you from moving ahead. You want it to happen. But does God

want it to happen? There's an opposing win that's coming against you. What

is the opposing when you're feeling right now, I mean right now this week?

You go, man, I'm trying to do this, I'm trying to

get it done, but you're feeling the opposing wind. Why does God allow

opposing win? Because God says, I don't want you go in that direction

when you have an opposing win. God sometimes says, I don't want you

dating that person. I don't want you getting that job. I don't want

you getting that promotion. I actually know what's better for you than you do.

I know what will make you happy more than you do. I know

the unintended consequences of what you're trying to do, and I'm going to prevent

you from some pain. So he puts an opposing wind in your life,

and you're going, I'm trying, I'm trying. I'm trying, but you're

fighting against God. If I run from God, I'm going to go downhill.

If I run from God, it's going to cost me. If I

run from God, God is going to send an opposing wind. And number

four, if I run from God, other people will get hurt, not

just you. You're not the only one. But innocent people will get hurt

too. It may be your spouse. There are wives that are being hurt

by husbands who are running from God. There are men husbands that are hurt

because wives are running from God. You may hurt your kids. You may

hurt your grandkids. You may hurt your family. You may hurt your friends.

You may be hurting your business because you're running from God. You may

be hurting your neighborhood. Who knows. There's a guy in the Bible named

Akon who ran from God, did the wrong thing, and as a result,

the entire army was defeated in the Battle of Jericho because of one guy's

disobedience. One guy caused the entire the rest of the army to be defeated.

They were all innocent. You see, sin maybe private, nobody knows

about it, but it's never personal. If I sin, you might not

know what my sin is, but it's going to affect you somehow, because

I'm not the right person that I ought to be. When you sin,

it never just affects you. They may not even ever know about it.

Your secret sin that you think well it's just me. I'm the only one

who knows about No God knows about it. But on top of that,

it is affecting other people in ways you don't know. Pornography might be some

secret sin, but it's affecting your relationship. There are a lot of other

things. I could just go and I could name things, but the fact

is other people will get hurt. Now here's what happens in Jonah chapter one,

verse four. The opposing wind created such a massive storm that the ship

was now in danger of breaking apart. So everybody else's life is threatened.

Now, everybody's being threatened because of one man's disobedience. Jonah is causing a

lot of problems for other people simply by his running from God. Who are

you causing problems for? I often have to ask myself who is being hurt

by my sin? I have to ask myself who is being hurt by my

sin? Not just me, because it hurts my relationship with God, but

it also hurts my relationship with you and all that. Now, let's follow

this story Jonah chapter one, verse five. Okay, they're in the middle

of a big storm. Now that's not their fault. All the sailors were

terrified, and they cried out in desperation to whatever gods each one trusted.

Other words, these guys are pagans. They all have their own different gods.

And they also threw overboard during the storm everything they could to lighten the

ship's load. That's a typical human behavior. When you're in a storm.

You start throwing valuable stuff away. You start throwing away valuable relationships, you

start throwing away valuable values, you start throwing away valuable habits, you stop

going to church. You start throwing away stuff. You're trying to lighten your

load, and you're actually throwing away the stuff that you were on the ship

for. Anyway, in the first place, the cargo was the reason you

were traveling. But when we get in storms, we typically start throwing things

away. We start giving up on stuff we really need that's really important,

it's really vital to our lives. So they threw overboard everything that could lighten

the shift's load. Now, while this storm was threatening everyone, Jonah was

down below deck, laying down sound asleep. Oh great, what a great

man of God, there you go. Okay, he's paying no attention.

These guys are fighting for their lives and the storm of their lives, and

the Mediterranean. The shift's about to break apart. They're all worried, and

he's down below asleep. He's ignorant of how his actions are affecting everybody else,

and he's apathetic. He doesn't care. It's like the guy who's asked,

do you think the two biggest problems in America? Ignorance and apathy?

The guy said, I don't know, and I don't care. But Jonah

is ignorant and apathetic. And so now look what happens verse six. So

the captain went down below deck to find Jonah, and he says, man,

how can you sleep? How can you sleep? I mean, we're

in the storm of our lives. Get up and pray to your god too.

Maybe your God will pay attention and rescue us from nothing. Obviously our

gods aren't doing anything, so maybe your God will rescue us from night man.

Notice the pagan guy. Then, the non believer is suggesting prayer to

the supposed man of God. They got it backwards here. He's more religious

than Jonah is. Next verse Jonah one to seven. So then the sailors

said to each other, this storm has to be somebody's fault. Okay,

We've been in a lot of storms, but this one's a doozy and we're

gonna lose our lives. So let's cast lots throw dice to find out who's

responsible for all of this trouble. So they cast lots, and lots fell

on guess who? Yeah, Jonah. Does God ever play dice? Yep?

He does, okay, and he made sure that Jah Jonah came up

okay. Next verse Jonah one eight. So they asked, Jonah, how

have you brought down all this trouble on us? What if the people around

you asked that question? What if your kids or grandkids, or your wife

or your husband, or your business? And what are you doing? Man?

Why are you screwing up so much? Why are you causing all this

problem for the rest of them? They asked, Jonah, how have you

brought all this trouble us? They're innocent, they're just sailors. What do

you do? Where do you come from? What's your nationality? What kind

of people do you belong to? They're just trying to figure they're giving this

guy the you know, the fifth degree. They're trying to figure out how

in the world did you get us into so much trouble. Next verse Jonah

one eight, So Jonah eight, nine and ten. So Jonah answered.

Now Jonah's finally being honest. He says, I'm a Hebrew. Okay,

I'm Jewish, I'm a Jew. I'm a Hebrew, and I worshiped the

Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea in the land.

Now he confesses. Then Jonah told them that he was running from God.

Now this frightened the sailors even more. Okay, they're scared to death.

Why have you done this? What an idiot? Who would try to run

from God? They're not and they could be atheists. We don't even believe

in God. But if there is a God, certainly he would be everywhere.

And why would anybody be dumb enough to try to run from God.

God is omnition, He's omnipresent, He's everywhere. He knows everything. You

can't run from God. You can run from God the rest of your life,

but then you can't run anymore because the moment you die, you're going

to go face to face to God. So why would you be this dumb?

Why would you try to run from God? Now here's the sixth principle.

Write this down. The longer I run from God, the worse it

gets. The longer I run from God, the worse it will get.

The longer I put off accepting my mission, the longer I live a self

centered, selfish life, the worse it's going to get. Some of you

think this last year has been a rough year, and it's been tough on

you. It's been a rough rough year. As somebody who loves you as

your pastor as your spiritual coach, I'm begging you. I'm begging you make

a full surrender of your life to God. Make a full surrender of your

life God. Just let go and let God have it all. Because you

don't know what kind of storms coming up next year. It may be nothing

compared to what you went through this year. You don't know. You just

don't know. God is patient with us, as Tom said, but his

patience actually runs to an end, and God goes, I'm not going to

let you just totally ignore why I made you. So if things are getting

rougher, then you don't know what the storm could be had. Now.

Verse eleven says this, Now the storm was getting worse and the waves got

rougher, Okay, why because it's going on, He's still running. The

storm's getting worse, The waves got run. How much rougher does your marriage

have to get before you wake up and realize I need to change something here.

This isn't working. We're headed in the wrong direction. How much rougher

does your marriage have to get before you actually say God, I need your

help and I need to change and I need you to help me to change.

How much worse does that situation in your job have to get before you

God gets your attention? How much worse does your health have to get before

God gets your attention? He loves you too much. God loves you just

the way you are, but he loves you way too much to let you

stay that way, because you're not where you could be, what He designed

you to be, what he made you to be, what you have the

potential to be. How much worse does it have to get? So it

says, the storm's getting worse, The waves got rougher, And so they

asked, Jonah, what should we do to you to stop the storm and

calm everything down? It was a pastor. I get asked that question every

day of my life. I've been asking almost every day for probably forty plus

years, one way or another those words, but one way to other people

come and say, Rick, how do I stop the storm in my life?

How do I stop the storm in my life? And the answer is

always the same, a complete surrender of your life to God. Stop rebelling,

stop resisting, stop running, stop running away, surrender and the peace

comes. Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. You know,

I know that you would love to live a life of significance. But have

you ever wondered if you could make a contribution so unique that no one else

in all the world could do what you've accomplished. Well, you need to

stop wondering, because God created you to make a difference in the world.

He created you to fulfill a mission that only you can accomplish. I know

you may be thinking that God couldn't use you like that, but you know

what he can, And not only can he, but he will. It

really doesn't matter what you've done or what you've failed to do. It doesn't

matter how young or how old you are. It is never too early or

too late to start on the mission that God has planned for you. And

that's why I'm so excited to let you know about a brand new Bible study

from Pastor Rick called Rising to God's Call a Journey through Jonah. In this

study, Rick is going to show you how God had an incredible mission for

Jonah and it went well beyond being swallowed by a big fish. Jonah's story

is really about second chances and redemption and the rescue of an entire nation.

And more importantly, it's the story of God, the one who shows grace

to everyone he created. You know, the story of Jonah is really like

a blueprint from God. It shows all of us how He can use you

to do significant things no matter where you are in life right now. And

just like Jonah, you're going to find that pursuing God's mission for your life

is the greatest adventure that you will ever go on. And we're going to

send you Pastor Rick's brand new Bible study, Rising to God's Call a Journey

through Jonah, to say thank you for your gift to Daily Hope because it

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