Opportunities for Disobedience | Jonah: God's Mercy In My Mess (Part One)

Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.

To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,

connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.

Man, nothing like being able to start off our Sunday with some

baptism. We actually get to celebrate

more baptisms in the 11:00 service.

So really excited about that. If this your first time with us

at Riverbend, let me go ahead and tell you if somebody hasn't

told you yet. Thank you so much for choosing

to be here with us. We hope that you have already

felt so very welcomed and very much at home.

My name is Ben. Get the service lead pastor.

We'd love to personally thank you.

After the service, meet with you, place a small gift in your

hand. You just do us the greatest

favor by doing two things. If you're new to riverbend #1

simply make yourself at home #2 that Connect card that you

received on your In whatever info you feel comfortable

passing on that Connect card, just jot it down.

That let's us know where to ship a small thank you gift out to

you in the mail. But coming off of Easter week,

man, incredible, incredible week.

We can't get over everything that God has done throughout the

past week or so, and we hope that you can't either.

But this morning we're going to be starting a brand new series

going through the life of Jonah. We're going to be doing an in

depth exploration of the Old Testament book of Jonah.

And Jonah is probably most famously known for what, being

swallowed by fish or whale. Yeah.

So I think it's only appropriate to kick off this series by

giving some giveaways. Here's some hats you probably

want to look up. It just says, get in, loser.

We're following God's will. So there you go.

There you go. That one curved.

That one curved again. So nothing makes you feel better

on a Sunday morning than the pastor throwing you a hat that

says get in loser, right. Anyway, so one of the things

we're going to find out throughout this series, really,

really excited about it. Several things.

I just want to let you know on the on the forefront of it.

I believe that what we're about to walk through over the next

several weeks together through the life and the teachings of

the book of Jonah is going to be the most important, probably the

most applicable series that we have gone through walkthrough

throughout this year to date. Second of all, I believe that

some of us are going to experience a freedom like we've

never experienced before throughout this series.

But in order for us to understand and for, in order for

us to receive and get everything that God wants to give us

throughout this series and throughout the book of Jonah, I

got to go ahead and give you a heads up and a warning.

It's going to require some pretty uncomfortable and brutal

level of honesty, self-awareness, being honest

with yourself about yourself. And the fourth thing that I

would tell you about the book of Jonah is, even though it's

probably probably most well known for the incident in which

Jonah's swallowed by a great fish.

We'll get to that next week. But even though it's it's

probably most well known for that incident, the Book of Jonah

is not really about a fish. The Book of Jonah is really

about freedom. And really the book of Jonah, if

I were to summarize it into one phrase, the book of Jonah is

really about the lies that we so easily believe and the truth

that can actually set us free. So let's go ahead and dive in

really quick. Book of Jonah, If you have a

Bible with you, Jonah chapter one verse one for you super

spiritual people out there, there's no shame in using the

table of contents because it's a really tricky book to find in

the Old Testament. But if you don't have a Bible

with you, no worries. The passage is on the top of

your note sheet and it's on the screen.

Jonah chapter one, verse 1, verses one through 3, says, now

the word of the Lord came to Joseph or Jonah the son of Amata

saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out

against it, for their evil has come up before me.

But Jonah rose and fled, rose to flee to Tarshish from the

presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa.

We're going to see if that's the seaport in a moment, and found a

ship going to Tarshish. So we paid the fare and he went

down into it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence

of the Lord now sets the stage for the entire book of Jonah

sets the stage for the entire series that we're about to walk

through. But I think before we go any

deeper, I think that it's really important that we have some

background info on who Jonah is and exactly what's going on.

Who is Jonah where and, and, and what is Nineveh and, and, and

what's the big deal with all of it?

Well first of all, Jonah was an Israelite prophet.

He was a prophet of Israel and he actually ministered in around

the 8th century BC, so 8 centuries before the birth of

Jesus. We first see Jonah appearing in

the pages of scripture in Second Kings chapter 14 to where he's

2 Kings 14 · chapter mention

ministering up underneath Israel's King Jeroboam.

Jeroboam. Now what made Jonah different

from his contemporaries, especially Amos and Hosea?

Amos and Hosea had a way of prophesying, getting a word from

God and prophesying and criticizing the the royal

administration's stance of of injustice on its people and

unfaithfulness towards God. Jonah, on the other hand, were

able to read in Second Kings 14. Jonah actually was a fan of

Jeroboam. King Jeroboam's aggressive

military policy that sought to expand the borders, expand the

power, and expand the influence of Israel.

That's one of the things that made Jonah unique from his

contemporaries. Another thing that we'll see

about Jonah throughout this book of the Old Testament is Jonah

struggled greatly with racism and nationalism, greatly with

racism and nationalism. A very unique thing about

Jonah's calling is God actually called Jonah not just to

prophecy against foreign kingdoms and foreign powers and

empires, the Assyrians in this case, he actually called him to

go to those, to those places that that was very, very rare.

Very few of any of the Old Testament prophets did God ever

call to go to a foreign land to prophecy against them.

Jonah was pretty much the only one that we're able to read

about in Scripture. Now, why did Jonah, when he got

the call from God to go to Nineveh, why did he go to

Tarshish? Why did he go the opposite

direction? Well, like I just said, he

struggled greatly. And we'll see this playing out

through the book of Jonah. It's only four chapters long,

but Jonah struggled greatly with racism and nationalism.

I think that was reason number one reason #2 is Jonah could not

fathom how God could ever pour his grace out on a people that

were so brutal. Now, us sitting here,

Gainesville, GA 2026, a lot of times we don't know about the

brutality of the Assyrian Empire.

Nineveh just so happened to be the capital city of the Assyrian

Empire. But let me kind of give you some

stats. So let me kind of give you a

depiction of what Jonah would have been facing here.

He struggled to go to the Assyrian Empire because they

were known as the cruelest, most violent empire on the face of

the planet. The Assyrian kings would often

tell stories or depict their victories in battles by

explaining planes, entire planes or fields of corpses and cities

burned all the way down. There was a famous Assyrian king

by the name of Shallow Mancer the Third.

Shallow Mancer the Third actually had artwork

commissioned and in which he depicted through stone large

stone tablets and released the decapitations of his of his

enemies. The Assyrian army was very very

well known for after they conquered a people they would

gather all the people together. They would cut off their legs

and cut off 1 arm just so that they could shake the hand of the

dying person as one last final insult to them.

They were very well known for for for forcing loved ones and

friends to carry the decapitated heads lifted up on poles and

parades throughout Nineveh. They were also very well known

in the city of Nineveh to take to take prisoners, to take

foreigners. They would stretch them out,

flay them alive, and hang their skins outside of the city walls.

We're talking about some bad, bad people here.

This is not who you would necessarily want to just go

straight into. So we're starting to get a

picture of what Jonah would flee in the opposite direction.

The the geopolitical background here is you have the Assyrian

Empire exacting a heavy, heavy tax on the Israelite country and

then even always threatening their very existence.

And you can read throughout history in, in, in around 744

BC, you have, you have an Assyrian king by the name of

Sennacherib who finally just goes and wipes out Samaria, the

the capital city of Israel and takes them away.

So again, we're starting to understand a little bit why when

God calls Jonah to walk 550 miles east, he hops, he goes

down to the near seaport, gets on a ship in Joppa heading 2500

miles West. You see Nineveh.

He called him to go to Nineveh, which is modern day Mosul, Iraq.

Instead, Jonah decide not I'm not going there, I'm going to

sail towards modern day Spain. And here we have here we have

the 1st example or exhibition of a lie that Jonah believed.

And it's so easy for you and I to believe.

It's so easy for you and I to believe.

But I think like after going through all of that, you may be

sitting here thinking, OK Ben, thank you so much for the

history lesson or not. I could have done without the

fillet alive and skins hung on the walls.

Thank you for that though. But man, it's good to know, but

I'm not a prophet. Glad I'm not a prophet.

Glad I'm not called by God. Well, yes and no.

No, you're not a prophet like Jonah.

None of us are. But yes, you and I are called by

God. Let me get you to do an exercise

with me. Take out the bullets in the note

sheet that you received on your way in.

At the top of that note sheet there's a TTCE that stands for

the Truth that Changes Everything.

Jot this down really quick. Every person has a God-given

call on their life. Every person has a God-given

call on their life. Look at the person next to you

and say you have a God-given call on your life.

Look at the person on the other side of you and say you too.

Every person has a God-given call on on on their life.

That God-given call is to know God to to grow in a relationship

with God and to be used by God. All of those things and and that

has to be put into practice daily.

Now, we're not like Jonah in that Old Testament office of

prophet, but we still have a God-given call on our lives.

But just like Jonah, we do have the option to embrace that

God-given call or to reject that God-given call.

Here's what I would tell you if you and I were to take seriously

and to embrace this truth that changes everything.

Man, we'd set the world on fire to where instead of just getting

up and going through the motions and, and, and qualifying

ourselves of hey, I'm just a blank.

I'm just a student, I'm just a store worker.

I'm just an employee. I'm just a mechanic.

I'm just a, a doctor. I'm just a lawyer.

I'm just a stay at home mom instead of qualifying ourselves

in those ways. And if we qualified ourselves as

hey, I have a God-given call, the day that each day that God

wakes me up is an opportunity for me to embrace and to run

towards this God-given call that would change absolutely

everything. Now when we talk about this

God-given call, and maybe it's just me, I think our minds often

wonder to all the ways in which we've fallen short and all the

ways that we've blown it, say, well, Ben, you tell me I have a

God-given call, but you don't know my past.

You know, I've really blown it. Well, me too.

And this is where I want to introduce us to a main truth or

the big idea that's going to be running throughout this series.

Here it is if you're taking notes with us.

Main idea, big idea. God's mercy is greater than my

mess. God's mercy is greater than my

mess. Turn to the person next to you

and say, God's mercy is greater than your mess.

Turn to the person on the other side of you and say, and that's

a big mess. But then look at them and say

God's mercy is greater. God's mercy is greater than our

mess. There's no exception clauses to

that. It doesn't matter the longevity

of your mess. It doesn't matter the severity

of your mess. It doesn't matter the complexity

of your mess. God's mercy is greater than your

mess. God's mercy is always greater

than your mess. But what ends up happening is we

often accept a law and we don't live in the truth and the

freedom that is found in that principle that God's mercy is

greater than my mess. So what do we do?

We end up we just stay stuck in the mess, right?

So I want to show you something talking about how God's mercy is

greater than our mess. I want to go back and read these

first 3 verses of Jonah one again together, and then we're

going to talk about the lie that we so often believe.

Check this out again. Jonah 11 Now the word of the

Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amata, saying, arise, go to

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

evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to

Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.

So we paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to

Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

And right there we had the first example of the lie that we often

believe. Check this out if you're taking

notes with us. This is the lie that we often

believe. The various opportunities for me

to display or to disobey God are just random everyday

occurrences. The opportunities for me to

disobey God are just some sort of random everyday occurrences.

Think about what we just read in Jonah 11 through three word of

the Lord comes to Jonah. Jonah, I want you to go to

modern day Mosul, Iraq. Jonah's like, no, I think I'm

going to go to the local seaport, Joppa.

And hey, it must be my lucky day.

There is a ship waiting here in the harbor that just so happens

to be heading in the exact opposite direction that God's

called me to go. What are the odds?

And apparently it must have been an affordable rate for that

cruise. Jonah paid the rate.

He hopped on board, went down below decks, and then he

probably, like, tucked himself into bed and he took a nap.

And we'll see how Jonah's woken up next week in the midst of a

storm. But Jonah's probably sitting

there going, man, what are the odds?

Now, you and us sitting here in this room or joining us online,

we would sit there and go. I don't think that that was just

coincidental or, or, or, or just happenstance.

Well, you know, the same thing is true for for us.

Let me kind of unpack that. This lie that we believe,

listen, it's so easy to believe that the temptations that I

face, they're just coincidental, they're just casual or they're

just common. These lies that we face, they're

just coincidental, casual are common.

We think maybe the temptation that, that, that, that we face,

we think that they just appear out of nowhere.

They're just, they're just random.

We think the temptations that we face, they because they don't

come at us in loud and obvious ways.

They seem small. Or the temptations that we face,

they, they just seems like everybody faces them.

They, they, they feel, they feel normal.

And because they feel random and because they feel small and

because they feel normal, there's another truth.

That's actually what makes them dangerous.

Because if you keep tracking with us, here's what we're going

to find out is the danger with sin giving into that temptation.

The danger with sin is how easily it feels harmless, how

easily it feels harmless. And it's really easy just to

give in to that, that sin or that temptation that feels

random or feels small or it just feels normal.

It's just so easy. But that's actually the danger

because it feels harmless. And I would tell you that it's

anything but harmless. I want to read to you.

There's a, there's a quote that I came across that really

explains the consequence of sin better than I've ever heard it

stated. It's a quote from Tim Keller.

This is what he wrote. He said the results of sin are

often more like the physical response you have to a

debilitating dose of radiation. You don't suddenly feel pain the

moment that you're exposed. It isn't like a bullet or a

sword tearing into you. You actually feel quite normal.

Only later do you experience symptoms, but by then it is too

late. Sin is a suicidal action against

the will upon itself. It's like taking an addicting

drug. At first it may feel wonderful,

but every time it gets harder to not do it again.

Here's just one example when you indulge yourself in bitter

thoughts. I know that none of us ever do

that, right? All right, yeller, holier than

me. When you indulge yourself in

bitter thoughts, it feels so satisfying to to fantasize about

payback. Man, I am a great defense

attorney in the shower. I can argue a situation from two

years ago. I'm awesome.

Don't believe me? Ask me later, I'll tell you.

But you do that slowly and surely.

It will enlarge your capacity for self pity.

It's going to erode your ability to trust and enjoy

relationships, and generally drain the happiness out of your

daily life. Sin always hardens the

conscience, locks you in a prison of your own defensiveness

and rationalizations, and eats you up slowly from the inside.

Check this last statement out. All sin has a mighty storm

attached to it. Isn't that so true?

All the calls? A random thought just to indulge

in in in in bitterness. Just to entertain bitter

thoughts and fantasize about payback and just toss them

around and turn them around in our heads.

Something that seems random, something that seems small,

something that seems very normal and ordinary.

It ends up going to have drastic and destructive consequences.

So how do we, if that's the lie that we believe that like these

opportunities to disobey God are random, what's the truth that

God wants us to see this morning?

Taking notes with us quickly. The opportunities to disobey

God, they're not random. They're strategically and

intentionally positioned to pull me away from God.

They're not random. The opportunities and the

temptations that I face, the opportunities to disobey God,

His word, His call on my life. Hey, God, instead of taking the

opportunity this day to know you, grow in you, and to be used

by you, I think I'm just going to do my own thing today.

Those opportunities, those thoughts, they're not random.

They're strategically and they're intentionally positioned

to pull me away from God. Instead of Jonah going man down

here at the harbor, there's a there's a ship heading to

Tarshish. It's still in the harbor and

it's an affordable rate. It must be my lucky day.

We should look at that and go, of course there was, of course

there was. There's always going to be an

opportunity, a very strategic, precise opportunity for you and

I to disobey God's call on our lives.

Let me get you to do an exercise really quick.

I want you to think about in the room online with us.

I want you to think about what is your greatest area of

temptation? What is your greatest area of

temptation? Where do you struggle the most

in temptation? It could be it could be anger,

it could be it could be lust, it could be materialism, it could

be, it could be anything. What?

What's your what's your greatest temptation like you knowing you

deep down, What's your weakest spot?

Now turn to the person next to you and tell them, I'm just

kidding. Don't do that.

Don't do that. That'll make it really weird.

But I wanted to get you to think about something.

Do you realize that not everybody had the same thoughts

when I said, hey, think of the greatest temptation, the

greatest struggle like your weakest part.

Do you realize that not everyone, the same thing came to

everyone, everyone's mind? Why is that?

Well, let's look a little bit deeper into it.

You see, when we're talking about strategic and

intentionally positioned, I believe the temptations that I

face and you face, they're specifically shaped for me based

on my story, my struggles, my surroundings and my season.

They're tailor made for you. They're tailor made for me.

That's why as a church, River Bend Church, we are committed.

We are not going to tier or to level temptations or struggles

like, hey, if you struggle with this, you're welcome.

If you're struggle when struggling with that, you need

to clean up your act. And then once you get your act

together now you can come and join us.

Listen, we're not going to tear or to level out different

struggles or temptations because they're all going to be unique

to the unique uniqueness that God created all of us in.

You see, here's the thing, my story, our enemy, our enemy will

actually leverage your past to derail your calling.

Our our enemy. He knows your struggles and he

will exploit your weak spots to distract you from your calling

your, your surroundings like who, who you, who you're around

and and what is normalized in, in your in your sphere of

influence in your circle of life.

He will use those things to absolutely wreck your calling

the season that you're in. He will use that season as an

excuse to get you to try to tempt you and convince you that

you don't have to live out this calling.

And that's just simply not true. And here's the here's the thing.

This is where we have to be very, very self aware is as my

story changes, my struggles change, my surroundings change

and my seasons change, the temptations that come against me

will also change and they'll morph.

That's why I always have to be very self aware of the

temptations and the opportunities for me to disobey

God in my life. Listen, I cannot even begin to

tell you. I can't even begin to tell you

pop up that next statement force.

I can't even begin to tell you how important this truth is.

Write this down. What is pulling me away from God

is actually pushing me toward toward a wrecked life.

It's amazing how easy it is for us.

And I say us because I'm included in this.

It's amazing how easy it is for us to actually believe.

Listen, I may not be following God's will for my life, but

that's not the same as heading toward a wrecked life.

Again, that is a lie. Here's what I would tell you

looking at the life of Jonah. Jonah was not just running away

from the call of God. He was actively running toward a

consequence that he could never fathom.

He was actually running towards a storm that he had no idea was

on the horizon. Listen, I'm not saying that

every storm in life is the result of sin, but what I will

tell you, every sin has a storm attached to it.

You see, Jonah wasn't just running from God, He was running

toward a wrecked life. So there's no riding the fence

of I'm going to be halfway in, halfway out with God when it

comes to living out my daily calling and my daily mission to

know Him, to grow in Him, and to be used by Him.

If I'm not being pulled towards God, I'm being pulled away from

God. And if I'm pulled towards God,

I'm being pulled towards towards holiness and godliness.

And if I'm being pulled away from God, I'm being actually

pulled away from godliness and holiness and toward a wrecked

life again. I can't even begin to tell you

how many conversations I've had with people that they've slowly

but surely drifted away from God.

And by the time I'm having a conversation with them, there's

a lot of wreckage and baggage. Unnecessarily unnecessary

wreckage and baggage, all because of a drift away from God

and toward a wrecked life. Now there's grace in that mess.

God's mercy is greater than that mess, but it's also unnecessary.

So how do you and I, how do we avoid going down that same path?

In other words, how do we reject the law and embrace the truth?

Give you 3 things as we head towards the close this morning.

My daily purpose is to live out my God-given calling.

My daily purpose is to live out my God-given calling.

My daily purpose is to live out my God-given calling.

The number one question that I'm often asked has been how do I

start and what do I do to start if I really want to grow in my

relationship with God? Great question.

My favorite question ever. And I would tell you, I would

tell you the same thing that I tell every person that I ask the

question number one, we've got to prioritize.

We've got to prioritize reading the Bible.

That's God's word to US. Prioritize reading the Bible,

and I understand that that seems pretty daunting to some of us.

Let me go ahead and kind of set you free for me in my life.

I've done it both ways. I've read long stretches of

passages. I've kind of had it in my brain

like, hey, no matter what, I have got to make it through

these 4 chapters of Hosea. I may not know what they mean,

but I'm going to make it through these 4 chapters of Hosea.

Hosea is a great book, by the way, but what does it benefit me

if I if my main goal is just to make it through?

One of the things that I've I've discovered that the way in which

God has helped me the most is not necessarily concentrating on

large passages, large stretches of Scripture, but actually more

specific pointed passages or verses that speak directly to

where I am. And when I prioritize reading

those passages and, and, and, and meditating on those passages

or thinking through them, studying them, memorizing them,

quoting them, or praying those passages back to God.

God loves it when we pray his word back to him and even

writing those passages down to where I come across those

passages. And there's such life in that

I've got to prioritize. And if I'm going to reject the

law, embrace the truth, I've got to prioritize reading the Bible,

but I've also got to normalize prayer.

And prayer is just simply talking to God throughout the

day. Prayer is simply talking to God

throughout the day. I also think that it's very

important, it's very key for us to wake up in the morning with

just a short prayer to God and say, God, I want to give you

this day everything that I'm about.

Got my main goal today is to know you to grow in you and to

be used by you God would you help me to walk in holiness and

righteousness today and then at the end of the day a pretty good

self diagnostic is maybe just applying and we've put verbiage

around this as our church's mission statement.

Just asking yourself, spending some time alone and with God in

prayer and asking God, God, would you show me like, did I

really bring myself to you today?

God, did I really did? Did did I, did I grow in you

today? What, what what have you taught

me about you and what have you taught me about me and how?

How have I slowly but surely let go of more myself and invited

more of you to take control? God, did I live sent for you.

Today as a church we talk about like, bring people to Jesus,

grow generations in Jesus, send disciples for Jesus.

It's not just a corporate church thing.

That's a personal thing. God, did I bring my full self to

you? God, did I grow in you?

God, did I live sent for you. In the ways in which I fall

short, say God, I know that your mercy is greater than my mess.

Would you help me to bring my full self to you tomorrow, to

grow in you tomorrow, to live scent for you tomorrow?

The first way that we reject the lie, embrace the truth is living

out that daily that God-given calling daily.

Second thing is understanding. I cannot walk in God's will

while running from God's word. I can't walk in God's will

without running from God's word. Let me go ahead and say this as

plainly as I know to say it. God will never bless our our

disobedience. He will never bless our

disobedience. We've got to know His word.

A lot of times we want clarity. And then God, if you give me

clarity, I'll obey your word. Can I let you in on something?

God very rarely, if ever, gives clarity before obedience.

God most often, if not always, gives clarity through obedience.

And there's a big difference between the two.

Hey, God, you show me the five year plan for me and then I'll

be obedient to you. And God's like, no, no, no, you

be obedient to what I've already shown you and then I'll show you

the next steps. You see, it's not clarity before

obedience. It's clarity through obedience.

So what are we called to do? We're called to read the Word,

know the Word, study the Word, apply the Word, third thing,

third and final thing this morning.

How do we reject the lie and brace the truth?

Discernment is realizing that not every open door is from God.

Discernment's realizing that not every open door is from God.

You and I, we need to be on the on the intentional, the active

lookout for the temptations that that want to pull us away from

God and want to push us toward a wrecked life.

You and I, we have a very real enemy that he will bring some

open doors or opportunities to destroy your life.

He'll bring some open doors or opportunities to distract you

from your calling. Let me let me tell you, if

nobody has ever told you this before, not all opportunities

are from God. Many times temp, many times

temptations come wrapped as opportunities.

Not all open doors are from God. And you say, well Ben, it's

funny that you should mention an open door because right now I'm

facing an open door. I'm facing kind of a fork in the

road or a crossroad in my life and I just don't know which way

to go. So what in the world should I

do? Well #1 you should know that if

that opportunity, if that open door, if it violates God's

words, you know that it's not from God.

Then I have prayed for more financial freedom and I just got

this call from a Mexican drug cartel that wants me to be their

chaplain, not from God. Well, Ben, they need Jesus.

True, that open door is not from God.

Wouldn't it be? So?

Wouldn't it be a lot easier if it was just like that?

Hey, cartel's bad. Here's here's what's worked in

my life. I've shared this story a lot,

but for me, when it comes to open doors and just kind of a

fork in the road, I typically pray that God opens up about 5

or 6 of them and gives me the discernment which one to walk

through. But God knows that I'm too

stupid, so he closes all of them, opens 1, and kicks me

through it. But in that process of opened

and closed doors, you know what I've learned To pray for God.

Would you give me an an inescapable peace about this?

Or maybe an inescapable lack of peace about this.

Over 7 years ago, Almost 7 1/2 years ago now, this was exactly

where where Julie and I were when we were praying about

whether to come here to Riverbend.

We weren't looking to leave where we were, but we began to

pray. God, would you give us an

inescapable peace? God, when, when?

When I think about when I think about Riverbend, when I think

about the Gainesville community, Hall County, when I think about

it, Would you, would you overwhelm me by your peace or,

or God? When I think about, when I think

about staying where we're at, where we're where we're

comfortable, Would you overwhelm me by lack of peace?

And, and here's what I would tell you if you're facing a fork

in the road or, or big decision, an open door and you're trying

to discern if it's from God or not.

Don't just sit there like Jonah and go, hey, there's a ship

waiting in the harbor going in that direction at a fair that I

could pay. Because again, sometimes the

temptations are disguised as opportunities.

Pray God, would you don't jump straight into something, but

God, would you give me when I pray about this opportunity?

Would you give me? And by the way, if you're

married, pray this together, husband and wife, both of y'all,

God, would you give us an inescapable peace about whether

or not we should step forward in this open door?

Or would you give us an inescapable lack of peace?

There's, there's just a, there's just a check in your spirit that

you just can't get past. Like I said at the very

beginning of this time, the book of Jonah is not about a fish.

The book of Jonah is about freedom.

The book of Jonah is about freedom.

And freedom only happens in the context of rejecting lies and

embracing truth. And as we as we close things out

this morning, I want to walk us through three key questions that

will hopefully guide your time and prayer with God this

morning. Here's the first one.

What is God calling me to do that I'm hesitant to do in the

room online? The youngest person in the room,

oldest person in the room, most experienced church member in the

room, Very new. First time in a church online.

Same way. What is God calling me to do

that I'm hesitant to do? Is it a move?

Is it a conversation? It is a is it a step forward?

Is it a step back? What is God calling me to do

that I'm hesitant to do #2 Is there a Tarshish in my life?

In other words, what am I justifying now that I know deep

down as disobedience? Man, we are so good at

justifying and rationalizing aren't we?

What it what? What am I participating in right

now in my life that deep down I know is disobedience?

3rd question am I man this is a this is a game changer of a

question. Am I actually seeking God's will

for my life or am I just asking Him to bless mine?

Man, that's huge. Am I actually seeking God's will

for my life or am I just asking him to bless my will for my

life? Sprinkle it in a little God dust

over here. Bless what I'm doing.

And you know that that's not what he's calling you to do to

begin with here. Here's what I want to do.

I just want to invite us into a Tom with our, with our heads

bowed and, and with our eyes closed.

And I want to, I want to just guide us and just kind of kind

of prep the time of response that we're about to enter into.

So wherever you're at, let me kind of read those three

questions over you. And if any of those questions

resonate with you or, or apply to you, I just want to invite

the Holy Spirit of God to go into the deep places of us to,

to, to expose and to, to rise to the surface, to bring to the

surface of our lives and to our minds so that we can bring them

before him anything that he needs to.

Let me ask you a question. What's God calling you to do

that you're hesitant to do? Is it taking that step of

obedience like we just celebrated with Parker?

You sit there and go, man, that's awesome, man.

He, he, he, he took that step of obedience.

And I know that that's something that I need to do.

I'm just so hesitant. Listen, let go of that

hesitancy. You be obedient to God.

Is it finally letting go and surrendering your life over to

Jesus? Is it saying yes to that job

opportunity? Is it saying no to that offered

promotion? What is God calling you to do

that you're hesitant to do? What are you justifying that you

know, deep down it's actually disobedience, kind of bringing

our minds back to the to the Keller quote, Man, it's a slow,

slow burn. Keep in mind, what we justify is

not just pulling us away from God.

It's actually pushing us toward direct life.

And I got great news for you. God desires so much more for you

than that, but at some point in time, you've got to acknowledge

what you're part of is disobedience to God's, God's

will, his ways and his word, and turn back to him.

And then I think this is a great question, a great gut check

question for all of us. God, would you show me, am I

really seeking your will or am I just asking you to bless mine?

In just a moment? We're going to, I'm going to

pray over us. And we have an opportunity to

stand and worship God through song again, but also another

opportunity for us to come and pray.

And if there's anything that you need to bring before God, if

there's anything that you want to pray over with somebody,

bring somebody with you to pray. If you want to come and pray, I

promise you won't. You won't have to pray alone.

If you want to come and pray with a pastor, we'll have a

pastor that's here to to pray with you and to talk with you as

well. But our main aim this morning is

to just allow the Holy Spirit to move in freedom and empower and

for us to respond in obedience to his movement.

God, we love you. We thank you for your word.

God, we thank you for your presence.

God with us in this place, in this space, in this moment.

God, we thank you. How your word that you give us.

God is not just simply information, is an invitation.

It is living, it is active. God, it exposes us.

God, it gets to the deep down parts of us.

God, for the man or the woman or the student.

God that is so hesitant and is holding on to be faithful and

obedient to what they know that you've called them to do.

God, I pray that you would provide freedom and release for

them. God, that they would have a

greater love for you than a fear of their peers.

God, for those that may be struggling with justifying some

type of disobedience in their life.

God, I pray that you would allow them to let go and that you

would set them free. God that they would turn back to

you. God, for all of us.

God, I pray that our combined prayer would simply be this.

God, would you search me and know me?

And God, would you answer this question about me?

God, am I truly seeking your will for me or am I just simply

asking you to bless mine? God, I pray that you would not

allow any of us to walk off of this campus and out of this room

the same way that we walked in God, that we would have been

with you. God, I pray that we would be

obedient to what you call us to do over the next several moments

together. And it's 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, Riverbend Church dot

Life.