The God of Second Chances | Jonah: God's Mercy In My Mess (Part Four)

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We've been walking through a series called God's Mercy in My

Mess. It's through the book of Jonah

and the the the main truth or what we call the big idea of

this series is kind of embedded in the title of the series,

right? But if you're new to the series

or even if you're not new to the series, I want to get you to jot

this down. If you're taking notes with us,

it's on the back of your bulletin.

Or if you're using the app, the the River been app, the notes

are there too, but it's just the overall reminder.

Hey, listen, God's mercy is greater than my mess.

God's mercy is greater than my mess.

And one of the things we keep coming back to is that promise

that truth comes with no fine print, no exception clause.

It doesn't matter who you've been, where you've been, what

you struggled with, what you may still be struggling with.

It doesn't matter the, the severity or the longevity or the

complexity of your mess, God's mercy is still greater than that

mess. And I think that we would all

agree online or in the room that we're no stranger to messes,

right? Like we've all had our fair

shares of, of finding ourselves in a mess or, or, or being in a

mess from somebody, somebody else's making or making our own

mess, right? I want to tell you a quick story

about a huge, huge mistake. I'm not saying that I'm a smart

man now, but I hopefully make less stupid mistakes as I get

older. Julie and I, we started dating

in in college our first year, freshman year of college.

Now, all through high school, I dated this this, this this one

particular girl. And we thought that we could

just still be friends. This one girl that I dated,

Spoiler alert, that's not how it works.

All right, keep that in mind. So one day I'm, I'm talking to

this girl that I used to date through high school and I I'm

telling her about Julie and I'm telling her about how incredible

Julie is and how much I like Julie and, and this girl she,

she has this idea. She goes, hey, why don't I would

love to meet her. So why don't like you and her

and, and and me and my friend like we all go on a double date

together at Six Flags and I thought, man, that's a great

idea and we'll have a lot of fun together.

Spoiler alert, It was not a great idea.

And we did not have really a lot of fun because what I didn't

realize is the four of us are driving from Gwinnett County

down to Six Flags. And what a joy that conversation

was. But then all throughout the day

at Six Flags, this girl that her and I used to date, she decided

to play this game called Ben. Remember when dot, dot, dot.

Yeah, you know where this is going?

Spoiler alert again. I've already said I was stupid.

All right. So anyway, after the day, like

we go home, I'm driving Julie home and it hits me like the

weight of all of my stupidity hits me in an instant to where I

unintentionally and, and accidentally, man, I was stupid.

And, and that that was that was even like cruel and insensitive.

And I thought for sure, man, she is going to dump me.

Julie's going to dump me. Well, I don't know if if God the

Holy Spirit really spoke to her and said, listen, you were

justified in dumping this idiot, but please don't.

But she didn't dump me. I'm so thankful for that.

Now here's the thing. You may laugh, but you if you

think through some of the stupid things that you've done that

like you look back on and cringe, you probably don't want

to share it from a stage either. But you do have my permission.

If you're married or you're dating in here, you can look at

your husband or your wife or your boyfriend or your

girlfriend and you can look at them and say, wow, I have done

some stupid stuff in my life that I have felt really bad

about, but I haven't done anything that dumb.

I thought, I thought that it was over.

I thought that it was completely over and isn't it true that a

lot of times on the backside of our really bad decisions on the

backside of our really bad choices, that we we can believe

a lie about God. It's actually a very commonly

believed lie. If you're taking notes with us,

I want to show you, Oh, by the way, flash that picture back up.

This is this is AI. That is not me.

That guy looks a lot happier than I was.

All right, we can go to the next one.

Here's the lie that we believe if you're taking notes with us.

My past choices, fears, and resistance to God.

They've condemned me to live a lesser than life.

You ever thought that? That your past choices, your

past decisions, your past resistance to God, the results

of those have condemned you to live a lesser than life.

And one of the things that I want to show you this morning

going back into the book of Jonah together, is that is a lie

that is so easy for us to believe, but there's a truth

that God wants us to see this morning.

If you have a Bible with you, I want to ask that you join me in

Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3.

Jonah 3 · chapter mention Jonah 3 · chapter mention

Actually, we're going to be picking it up, the last verse in

Jonah chapter 2. While you're making your way

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

there, let me kind of give you an overview of where we've been.

There's a man by the name of Jonah who was a prophet or a

chosen spokesman for God. So God would give His word to

Jonah. Jonah would then spread that

word to the people what God's instructions would be.

God called this prophet to leave his hometown in Israel to travel

to modern day Mosul, Iraq, which was the capital city of the

Assyrian Empire. Nineveh.

And these were some bad, bad, evil people in Nineveh.

Jonah essentially said Nope, not going to go.

So instead of going 500 miles east to Nineveh, he hopped a

ship. He booked a cruise down in down

in the seaport of Joppa and he tried to sell 2500 miles West to

Tarshish, which is modern day Spain.

God of course, got his attention and brought a huge, huge storm

on the sea to where the sailors of that boat ended up tossing

Jonah overboard. Jonah was then swallowed by a

great fish, lived in that fish, the belly of that fish for three

days, three nights. That's where we went last week

and we talked about the overall grace of rock bottom.

So after Jonah chapter 2, Jonah chapter 2 ends with such a

Jonah 2 · chapter mention Jonah 2 · chapter mention

great, such a great verse down in verse 10.

This is what it says and the Lord spoke to the fish and it

vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Not sure if you have that underlined or highlight in your

Bible, but so appetizing to start our morning with right

vomited Jonah out on dry land. Then the word of the Lord came

to Jonah the second time saying arise, go to Nineveh, that great

city and call out against it the message that I tell you.

So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the word of

the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly

great city, 3 days journey in breath.

And that's where we're going to leave off this morning.

Next week we're going to pick it up of where Jonah goes further

into the city and his message to the people of Nineveh.

But here's the thing, if you're new to the series or you're new

to the whole narrative or the events or life of Jonah, that's

what you need to know. This was the second time that

God called Jonah. This is the second time that God

called Jonah. For example, if you look in your

Bible and Jonah chapter one, verse 2, it says arise, go to

Nineveh. This was God speaking to Jonah.

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it for

their evil has come up before me.

That's Jonah chapter one, verse 2.

Jonah chapter 3, verse 2. The second call was this.

Jonah 3:2

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it.

The message that I, I tell you almost identical almost.

And we'll get to the we'll get to the nuanced difference there

in just a moment. But here's what I need you to

understand is Jonah, just like he faced a choice, whether it be

obedient to God or to be disobedient to God.

The first time that God called him, he faced the same choice.

He faced the same choice the second time.

You see, the first time that God called Jonah, Jonah said, Nope,

not going to do it. I'm going to book a cruise down

to Tarshish, over to Tarshish. And then God got his attention

in the belly of a whale being swallowed and living in the

belly of a whale for three days, three nights.

And then after Jonah's on the beach after being vomited up by

this fish, he still gets a second choice or a second

chance. God invites him into a second

chance. God invites him into a calling

that looks almost identical, essentially identical to the

first calling. But I need you to understand

that here we are in 2026 going, well, of course Jonah would go

into Nineveh like that's a no brainer.

But I need you to understand is Jonah experienced 3 enemies to

God's invitation to a second chance.

The same three enemies that you and I face when it comes to us

embracing the second chances that God extends to us.

If you take your notes with us, here's the first of the three,

three enemies of second chances. It's pride.

It's pride. Now if you'll do me a favour,

think of pride almost like a coin.

On one side of that coin is is arrogance.

On the other side of that coin is insecurity.

Pride being the coin, pride is really being thinking way too

much of ourselves. Pride is that part of us that,

that that is all about us, right?

So pride is, is that voice that basically tries to excuse away

the, the, the past choices and fears and resistance that, that,

that we have mounted against God over our journey, over our time.

So, so pride would, would, would try to convince us that, hey,

those past choices that you made, those past sinful choices

that you made, they, they weren't really that big of a

deal. You just you, you just did what

everybody else does. It is downplaying it.

Pride will try to convince you, hey, that that past resistance

or, or those past fears, it wasn't that wasn't really a fear

of God. That wasn't really a fear of

stepping out into what God has for you.

It was just something that like it was just kind of cloudy.

It was just kind of murky. It's not that big of a deal for

that past resistance to God. Hey, that wasn't full on

resistance against God, That that was just more of a

misunderstanding. You see, pride will always keep

us from trying to it will keep us from even the notion of

needing a second chance. That's the that's the side of

pride that is arrogance. The side of pride that is, that

is insecurity. Is this like is this notion I'm

no good, I'm not worthy of this? Like God can never use me.

I'm not, I'm not good enough at all.

Listen, pride, pride will always lie to you.

Pride has a way. Have you ever noticed that our

personal pride always has a way of downplaying our struggles and

our failures while exaggerating our victories and our strengths?

Listen, pride will lie to you every single time, but here's my

here's my challenge to you. If you're struggling with pride

this morning, if you're hearing that whisper of pride this

morning going, hey, listen, you don't really need a second

chance from God. You're you're good.

Like especially compared to the person sitting next to you.

They're a really bad person. Not you don't Amen that I get

really awkward. You don't need a second chance.

But let me ask you a question. If just for a moment.

Could you consider the possibility that over the course

of life you've made some mistakes and some missteps and

that you do need a second chance that God is extending?

Could you tune out that voice of pride for just a moment, maybe

to consider that God is extending to you and inviting

you into a second chance? And there in that second chance,

you will find God's mercy and His grace.

You will find God's purpose and significance for you.

You're not going to find judgement.

You're not going to find condemnation, but you've got to

tune out that voice of pride. The first enemy to US stepping

into the second chances that God offers us is pride.

Second enemy, and this is a really powerful one, is shame is

shame. Shame is that overwhelming

feeling of guilt and heaviness and weightiness in almost tags

and titles that we wear based off of past actions or in

actions. And I would say that shame

probably comes in two, two prominent forms, and both of

these forms are equally debilitating and destructive for

us. The first form that shame takes

on are the tags and titles that other people give us.

You may be coming in here this morning or join us online this

morning. And A tag and title that

somebody has given you based off of your past choices or fears or

resistance to God is, hey, you're just an addict.

You've had your chance. You just all what?

You always mess everything up. You're disqualified.

There's no hope for you. That is the first form of shame.

The second form of shame is the tags and titles and the labels

that we place on ourselves is how we talk to ourselves, is how

we address ourselves. It is how we look at ourselves.

It's saying things and thinking things about us like I'm just a

screw up. I'm hopeless, I'm unlovable.

God's done with me. That that's that.

That's shame. Can I tell you this if mentally,

if you were kind of living in the in the neighborhood of other

people's opinions about you, what somebody may have said

about you, the tags are the labels of shame that God, that

that those people have placed on you.

God hasn't placed those labels on you.

You see, as a matter of fact, God has.

God has called you a son or daughter of the most high.

God has called you fearfully and wonderfully made.

God has called you his masterpiece.

Or if you live in the gated community of of maybe the tags

and the titles and the labels that that you place on yourself.

And this kind of goes back to that, to that second side of the

coin of pride of insecurity. Can I tell you this?

Like what you may be referring to yourself as God's never

referred to you that way. Can I tell you this?

Let me kind of set you free. Your worst mistakes, my worst

mistakes. They don't get to name you.

They don't get to name us. We are named by our Creator, by

our author. But as long as we keep living up

underneath the tags and the titles and the labels that other

people have placed on us, or maybe the tags and the titles

and labels that we've placed on ourselves, we will always settle

for far less than what God invites us into.

That's why shame is such a such a crucial and such a

debilitating enemy to the second chances that God extends to us.

But then there's a third enemy that he extends to or that that

comes against that extension. And that's the enemy of fear.

It's the enemy of fear. It's the enemy of God.

I'm fearful. I'm fearful of what other people

may think. I'm fearful of what other people

may say. I'm fearful that I don't have

what it takes. I'm fearful of failure.

I'm fearful of just falling on my face.

I'm fearful if I walk in obedience to you, God, I'm

fearful of everything that is going to cost me.

What you're going to call me to walk away from and what you're

going to call me to pick up and carry on.

It is fear. And here's what I would tell

you. Fear is always like pride and

shame. Fear is always a liar.

Not to RIP off the Zach Williams song, but it's true.

Fear is always a liar. Have you ever noticed that fear

will always, always point your attention to and cast the vision

of worst case scenarios? Have you always noticed that

fear always can cast a vision for all the many things that

could go wrong? Fear will never cast a vision to

all the things of how your life could be different.

It's really interesting. Fear promises.

It fears this notion that promises to protect us from us.

But what fear actually does is fear prevents us from stepping

into all that God is inviting us to step into.

Fear will keep us away from second chances.

And you see this playing out in the life of Jonah all the time,

all throughout the four chapters of the book of Jonah.

You see, Jonah could have easily thought, you know what?

I'm going to stick to my guns. I'm going to stick to my guns.

I said, I'm not going to Nineveh.

I'm not going to go to Nineveh. I'm going to be true to myself.

And in essence, he could have allowed, he could have allowed

pride to win the day. Jonah could have allowed shame

to win the day by saying, man, I blew it.

Not I not only blew it, but I like blew it big time.

Like what kind of prophet of God am I that I ran away from the

call of God and I actually put in danger the life of an entire

ship's crew and I I can't be used by God.

What kind of prophet am I? And in so doing, he would allow

shame to win the day or he could have allowed fear to win the day

going God. I don't know what to say to

these people in Nineveh. God, you're, you're aware that

these people kill other people just by the way they look.

What do you think they're going to do to somebody that actually

calls them out and tells them that God's going to destroy

them? And he could have allowed fear

to win the day. He could have allowed fear to

win the day, but thank God he didn't.

Thank God he, he didn't. You see, the lie that we often

believe is our past choices, our past fears, our past resistance

to God condemns us to live a lesser than life.

But I want to show you the truth that God wants to show us this

morning. Here it is.

Here's the truth. God is not finished with me.

He not only wants me to live life to the fullest, but He also

desires to use my story for His glory.

God is not finished with me. Listen, we could spend all day

unpacking that statement. We won't, but we could.

We could spend all day unpacking that statement.

Listen, God's not finished with you.

He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it until

the day of Christ Jesus. God does not abandon His

children. God's not finished with you.

God desires. He not only wants you to live,

He wants you to live life to the fullest.

That promise still stands on the other side of our mistakes and

missteps and sins. Check this out.

He desires to use my story for His glory.

Even the broken and the messy parts can be repurposed by God.

So here's the question for us. What do we need to do to drop

the lie and embrace that truth? I think it's going to involve at

least three heart to mind shifts within us, taking notes with us.

Here it is. I must decide that God's grace

is greater than my pride, my shame, and my fear.

I must decide that God's grace is greater than my pride, my

shame, and my fear. Can I get you to do an exercise

with me? Let's kind of take it out of the

realm and we'll we'll jump back into Jonah, but let's put it

kind of in the personal realm this morning.

Can I ask you to think, just take a moment and think about a

question. Here's the question I want you

to think about. What is the reason?

What is the reason or how have I convinced myself?

In what ways have I taught myself, convinced myself into

believing is the main reason God won't use me?

What is the main, what is the main reason that you give that

you think that God won't use you?

Just take a moment. There's a big blank.

I don't know how big of a blank that you need on your on your

note sheet. I know for me, I need a pretty

big blank. For some of you, it's just

jotting down a word, jotting down a phrase.

Maybe it's jotting down a date. Maybe there's some brokenness in

your past. Maybe there's some really bad,

like mess ups, maybe made some really bad decisions or choices

and you've convinced yourself that because of those past

choices, decisions, fears, and resistance to God, that God will

not use you anymore. What is that?

What have you convinced yourself?

Now check this out. Whatever you write in that blank

or whatever, by the way, we're not going to ask that you turn

them in. We're not going to ask that you

show the person next to you or get up on the microphone and go,

hey, this is where I've convinced myself that God won't

use me. However, here's where I'll tell

you. Let's go back to that last

slide, Chris. My guess is, is whatever you

wrote down is going to fall into one of three of these buckets,

pride, shame, and fear. You see, whatever you wrote

down, whatever you've convinced yourself is the main reason that

God won't use you. It is probably out of pride, It

is probably out of shame, or it's probably out of fear.

It is going to fall into one of those 3 broad categories, one of

those 3 buckets and we're to crossroads here in order to

reject the line, embrace the truth, in order for us to take

advantage of and step into the second chances that God wants to

offer us this morning and moving forward, I must decide that

God's grace is greater than my pride, my shame, and my fear.

Let me kind of break it down to brass tacks.

Either here's the here's the fork in the road.

Either my pride, my shame, and my fear is more truthful, is

more honest, and desires more good for me than God, or God is

more truthful, more honest, and desires more good for me than my

pride, my shame, and my fear. We, we're the ones that make

that decision. We're the ones that make that

decision. Here's where I'll tell you.

If you and I decide to continue living in pride, shame, and

fear, nothing changes outside of the fact that we just find

ourselves as being more prideful, more shame filled, and

more fearful. However, God's grace tells us,

hey, listen, I'm not finished with you.

Despite your previous choices, despite your previous fears of,

despite your resistance towards me, I'm not finished with you.

I still desire good for you. I still desire that you live

life to the fullest. And I still desire, I still

desire to use your story for my glory.

But we have to make that decision.

I have to let go of my pride because here's what I would tell

you. My guess is our pride.

Whatever you look down and whatever you may have filled in

that blank or you thought about filling in that blank, your

pride is pretty, pretty much putting together a pretty good

case. Your, your shame is putting

together a pretty compelling argument, your fears putting

together a pretty rational reasoning of why God's finished

with you. And you and I, we have to make

the decision. Listen, is God's grace greater

than my pride, my shame, and my fear?

Or is my pride, my shame and my fears that greater than God?

And here's why I tell you every day of the week and twice on

Sunday, our pride and our shame and our guilt cannot hold a

candle to God's grace, but He will never force that grace on

us. Second thing that we need to

understand if we're going to reject the law and embrace the

truth. Second chances are not do overs.

Second chances are not do overs. This right here is probably the

most misunderstood factor or element when it talks.

When we talk about God extending to us second chances.

Second chances are not do overs. Remember how we looked at the 2

calls of God on Jonah? The first one is Jonah 1/2, the

2nd and Jonah 32. I want to show you kind of that

nuanced difference here. The first one, arise, go to

Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it for their

evils. Come up before me.

That was the first call. The second is arise, go to

Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.

The message that I tell you Here's the most significant and

essential difference between the call of God on Jonah.

Check this out. You can underline it on your

note sheet. The message that I tell you,

here's my question to you. How in the world would Jonah

know what to say to the people of Nineveh?

He had to wait on God to give him the words, which would

require what? Complete dependence on God.

God, here I am. It's not about my ability, it's

about my availability. Speak to me so that you can

speak through me. It's a full dependence on God.

Let me ask you a question. Where do you think Jonah learned

that complete dependence on God? That's right.

And the belly of a fish. You see, when Jonah hit rock

bottom and he started to realize that all the things that he had

no control over, God never lost control over.

That's when he fully surrendered over to God.

And here's where I'll tell you, church in the room online.

It's when you and I, when we hit rock bottom, when we start to

realize all the things that we don't have control over.

He never lost control over man. That begins to change us.

God begins to change us in very profound ways.

You see, it was impossible. It was impossible for Jonah to

get a do over. We typically think of the second

chances of God as some type of do over to where he magically

rewinds the clock and just reinserts us back into those

same situations. But here's the thing that we

miss. That's an impossibility because

Jonah was not the same person that he was back in Jonah One,

He'd been changed by God in a profound way.

And when we begin to surrender our lives to God and we've

become fully dependent upon God, he begins to change us in

profound ways. Here's how that fleshes out you

may, you may never or you will never be able to go back in time

and to to relive that stage of your marriage.

But but by the grace of God and all the cause of the grace of

God, you can move forward as a changed, as a transformed man or

a woman. You and I, we will never get a

second chance to go back and to relive that stage of our

children's lives. However, by the grace of God and

all the cause of the grace of God, we can live with love and

and kindness as they changed mom or dad, we will never get the

opportunity to go back into time and to take back those harmful

words or or those hurtful actions.

But by the grace of God, all because of the grace of God, we

can walk forward in sympathy and empathy and kindness and love as

a transformed and as a changed friend.

You see, second chances are not do overs.

Second chances aren't do overs. And this is what we'll land

things this morning. The third thing that you and I,

we need to understand if we're going to drop the line and brace

the truth, my story isn't about perfection.

It's really about redemption. Let's unpack those two words.

I think perfection, we all kind of understand that, making no

mistakes. And I think that we would all

agree, we've all blown that one right.

And if you're on the fence on whether or not you've blown

perfection, trust me, you have. We all get that right.

Redemption, however. Redemption, however, is God

using my brokenness to display His healing.

That's redemption. God taking my pain and my

mistakes and repurposing it and pointing other people to Him

about what He's doing in and through me.

My story isn't about perfection. It's really all about

redemption. I don't think at all.

When we read this, it's very easy for us to assume, to

falsely assume this is a crutch. Hey, my story isn't about

perfection, It's about redemption.

This is never a crutch for us to lean on, to no longer be

intentional about pursuing personal holiness.

This is, however, it's a key that unlocks the prison cell

from what? From shame, from pride, and from

fear. My story isn't about perfection,

it's about redemption. Let me ask you a question.

This may seem like a no brainer question, but it's some of the a

lot of times we don't think about.

We know reading the book of Jonah, Jonah was a deeply,

deeply flawed man, right? And if if that hasn't, if that

hasn't resonated yet, hang with us over the next couple weeks.

This is going to become more evident because he's still a

deeply flawed man. Here's a question for you.

How do we know about all of Jonah's flaws, about all the

ways that Jonah ran from God and you know, some of the some of

the conversations he had with God, How do we know about all of

this? It's from Jonah.

It's from Jonah himself. You see, Jonah didn't omit his

flaws. He didn't sugarcoat his

failings. Jonah basically said, hey,

here's what an idiot I was, yet God's grace was greater and if

God can use me, then he can use you.

And in so doing, he did not rob God of his glory.

Here's what I would tell you. This is not about oversharing.

It's not about making it weird or awkward for the people around

us, but a lot of times, because we heed the voices of shame or

pride or fear, we do not tell others our stories of what God

has done for us and done in and through us.

And in so doing, we rob God of His glory.

Our story is not about perfection.

Our story is not about us at all.

Our story is really about Him and He wants to use my life in

your life, in our lives to point people to him, the people that

are around us, to him with the same notion that with Jonah, if

he can do this in and through me, man, he can do this in and

through you. He is the God of second chances.

Do not allow your pride or your shame or your fear to keep you

from or to talk you out of embracing the second chance that

he's offering you. So here's where we want to end

this morning. 2 main questions. Number one, have you fully

surrendered your life to Jesus? Have you fully surrendered your

life to Jesus? This past week I had the honor

and privilege of preaching the funeral service of a of a dear,

dear lady in our in our church. She passed away at the age of 76

and one of the things is just very obvious about her life was

you could not tell her story without telling the story of

Jesus in her. You see, here's a distinct

difference about this lady. This lady did not just add Jesus

to her life. Sprinkle in a little like Bible

dust on her life. This lady made Jesus her life.

So here's my question to you. Have you fully surrendered your

life to Jesus Like these three that that followed Jesus in

believers baptism? All three of them, different

backgrounds. All three of them essentially

have the same story. There was a point in time in my

life to where I realized I could not do life on my own.

I made all the mistakes, I tried to fix myself and none of it

ever worked. And then I turned to Jesus and I

embraced His. I embraced his grace and His

mercy and I found out that God's grace was always greater than

any of my messes. So here's the question for you.

Has there been a point in time, a specific point in time, to

where you have said yes? I have asked Jesus to forgive me

of my sins and I've asked Him to take control of my life and

committed to following Him for the rest of my life.

That is a yes or no question. If it is yes, praise God.

If it is a no, then I have great news for you.

You're going to have an opportunity to leave here

changed. If it is a man, I hope so.

Or maybe here's where I would tell you, man, that chance is

not worth taking at all. This morning could be the

morning that you nail that down. But second question is this.

How are you allowing pride, shame, or fear to rob God of His

glory? What parts of your story has He

redeemed? What parts of your journey would

you have never have rather not walked through?

But He walked through with you, and He's brought you out on the

other side that He can use your story for His glory.

Is there something in your life right now that you're holding on

to? Are you allowing your pride,

your shame, your fear to have a stronghold and have a grip on

your life? And maybe this morning, the most

freeing thing that you can do, and we're about to open up the

altar for you to come down and pray and just have a moment of

release is to say, hey, God, I want to let go of my pride, my

shame, and my guilt. Use my story for however you can

get glory. It's never about your ability.

It's always about your availability.

And that's exactly how it looks like.

So here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to pray over us. We're going to have some pastors

down here at the front if you would like to come pray with us

or talk to us. Maybe you're someone that that

first question, you're really struggling with that first

question. We would love to talk with you

and pray with you. Maybe you're one of the many

this morning that you need to let go of some pride, some shame

and some fear in your life and say, Hey God, whatever it looks

like, use my story for your glory and to walk back fully

released and fully ready for God to use you however He sees fit

to use your story for his glory. Pray with me, God, we love you

and God, we thank you for your word.

God. It is such not just a challenge

to us God, it is a mirror to us God.

The more that we look into the life of Jonah, God, the more

that we see deep down within ourselves, God, the the choices

and the decisions that Jonah faced.

God, every single one of us here this morning, we face the same

decisions and choices. We can either give in to the

voices of pride or shame and fear, or we can consider your

grace, your voice to be greater than all of those other voices.

God, would you help us to understand that?

God, your grace and your invitation to second chances to

us this morning. God, your voice is greater than

anything that we may ever hear. God is greater than any force

that we may ever encounter. God, I pray that if there's a

man or a woman or a student in here with us this morning or

with us online that knows that he or she has not ever fully

surrendered their life to you. God, they're looking at the at

the life and at the examples of, of Tia of dawn of Christie.

God, they know that they need to take that step of obedience

through baptism or they know that they need to fully

surrender their lives to you. God, I pray that this morning,

God, that you would break down any walls of hesitation in their

lives. Thank God that they would come

forward. They would come talk to a pastor

and God that they would leave forever changed and transformed.

God, for those who have surrendered their lives to you.

God, would you help us to lay down our pride and our shame and

our fear? God, that we would consider

being used by you. God, understanding that our

story is not about perfection, our story is about redemption.

God that you want to use our story for your glory.

God, would you help us to understand that it has nothing

to do with our abilities or our talents, has everything to do

with our availability. And God, we make ourselves

available to you by saying, God, I lay down my pride.

I lay down my shame. I lay down my fear.

Use my story in however ways in which it'll bring you the most

glory. God, I pray that you would move

among us this morning. God, I pray that you would grant

freedom this morning. God, I pray that you would bring

change and transformation in and through us.

This morning is in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen. Thank you for listening to the

Riverbend Church Podcast. Learn more about who we are as a

church and how to connect, you can head over to our website,

Riverbendchurch Life.