Scandalous Mercy Part 4 | Do YOU Give 2nd Chances? with Chris Schlotterbeck

Hey guys, this is Tracy. If at any time you'd

like to connect with HCV, go to hcv .church forward

slash connect. If you feel called to give, go

to hcv .church forward slash give. And if at

any time you feel called to make a change in

your life, text change me to 970 -00. Enjoy the

message. Good, good. So good to see a packed

house. Before I jump into our talk today, two

things. If you did not get a communion element

or you did not get a Sour Patch Kid, put your

hand up now because that's all going to take

place at the end of our gathering. I don't want

to interrupt the end of our gathering. So if

you need communion and you need a Sour Patch

Kid, I know it doesn't sound like it makes sense,

but it will, I promise. Bear with me. Put your

hands up. There you go. Our team will come around.

They're coming now. Mike Swain, a previous banana,

you know, we got it. So just keep it up. There

we go. All right, bring it back. That's not freedom

to talk. Just put your hand up. All right. I

don't want to be your teacher here. I don't want

to be your teacher. I want to be your leader.

All right. I want to share with you about Jonah.

All right. We also have a group. I want to let

everyone know. We also have a group of people

leaving today for North Carolina. They're heading

down for a week to serve and to repair houses

that were destroyed a few years ago when all

the floods came through near the Asheville area.

So we have a whole team of people headed to North

Carolina for this week for construction. So if

you could be praying for them, please do. And

I'm going to open in prayer now as they're handing

out all this stuff so that we can refocus and

bring ourselves back. Is that cool? All right,

let's pray. Jesus, we invite you into this place.

Holy Spirit, come. God, open our minds, our hearts,

our ears to receive your truth today, God. May

we see a little of Jonah in all of us, God. May

we leave this place different and open us up,

God, to your truth this morning. And bless that

van as they're heading to North Carolina, God.

May they have just supernatural encounters with

people. May we hear testimonies of all that you

did through their lives, not just serving, but

pointing others to you. We're grateful, God,

for all that you're doing in our community of

faith. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so for

those of you that haven't been here, if you're

new, welcome. We're glad you're here. We're in

the fourth and final week of our series, God's

Scandalous Mercy, A Journey Through Jonah. And

if you have been here, I don't know about you,

but this has been a great series thus far, right?

Do you think so? I have learned so much about

Jonah, but more importantly, I've learned a lot

about myself. Today we'll be reading from the

fourth and final chapter of the book. But before

we jump in, let's take a look at this recap that

I found on YouTube from Jonah himself. Are you

ready? Let's watch. What's up, fam? Jonah here.

So God said, go to Nineveh. Yeah, hard pass.

We're running. Wish me luck. Just booked a one

-way trip. Destination, not Nineveh. Let's see

if this works. Okay, so, apparently there's a

huge storm up top. Me, I'm vibing down here.

Nap game strong. Hit subscribe for more travel

updates. Turns out this storm, kind of my fault.

Should I just jump? Welp. Booked a trip to Tarshish.

Now I'm getting unbooked. Overboard we go, I

guess. See ya. So, quick update. Inside a giant

fish now? Yep. Should've just listened to God.

My bad, Lord. Super sorry. Lesson learned. Lord,

I was wrong. Please forgive me. I will go to

Nineveh. Just deliver me from this place. Okay

update out of the fish alive praise God Nineveh

here I come after some serious cleanup All right

in Nineveh about to preach Super excited. Can't

you tell? Yeah, I mean either All right So Jonah

was called by God to go and preach the city of

Nineveh. The Assyrian people were, of course,

his sworn enemies. Jonah said, no, thank you.

Booked a trip to Tarsus, more than 2 ,000 miles

away from Nineveh. God sends a storm to stop

Jonah. The storm was so frightening that the

sailors, fearing their own lives, commit to following

God and throw Jonah overboard to quiet the storm.

Jonah then finds himself in the belly of a large

fish for three days and three nights. He repents,

and God has the fish vomit Jonah back on the

shore of Joppa. God speaks to Jonah a second

time, and last week we learned that God is a

God of second chances. He goes to Nineveh and

preaches what could be the worst and shortest

sermon ever recorded. Five words, you are going

to burn. In one of the greatest miracles ever

recorded in the Bible, God uses that sermon to

convict the people. They all turn back to God

from the least to the greatest. We see one of

the greatest revivals in all of human history

take place. And the people in the city of Nineveh

celebrate God's mercy for giving them a second

chance. And I believe if God can do that miracle

in Nineveh, he can do it anywhere. Because God

is a God of second chances. And as a community

of faith, we believe that God wants to do the

same thing through us in the tri -state area.

We have a big God -sized vision to see the kingdom

of God invade the hearts of people all the way

from Virginia up into Pennsylvania. Just this

year, we've nearly baptized 200 people and we

are believing that many more will come in the

coming months. But here is what is tough about

the book of Jonah. If the story ended in revival,

It would be perfect. It would be the Disney ending.

Unfortunately, it doesn't end in celebration

or revival. Jonah has one last plot twist, which

leads us to our first thought. It's possible

to follow God's commands and not reflect his

love. Think about it. The whole nation, from

the king, the richest... in the city to the very

poorest turned to God. And how do you think Jonah

responded? Well, Jonah was a preacher. He was

similar to me. This national revival breaks out.

I can tell you right now that if everyone in

this gathering turned and declared that Jesus

is their Lord and began following him, I would

be celebrating and doing backflips. It would

be like hitting a walk -off home run in the bottom

of the ninth inning for me personally. If all

of you, Get me into a relationship with Jesus

today. It would be one of the greatest days that

I've ever celebrated. But Jonah, Jonah preached.

They repented. And what did he do? Well, let's

learn. Jonah 4, 1 through 3. This change of plans

greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.

See, Jonah wasn't happy. Jonah wasn't worshiping,

right? Everyone in Nineveh is celebrating. The

Bible tells us that all the angels were celebrating.

Even us today are declaring this is a miracle.

We are celebrating the fact that hundreds of

thousands of people came into a relationship

with God, but not Jonah. Now the Hebrew word

used for Jonah's reaction is the word ra. Everyone

say ra. Doesn't that kind of sound angry? Right?

It sounds negative. Well, ra is translated as

exceedingly evil. And it's actually the same

word God used to describe the Ninevites in chapter

1. The Ninevites were ra, exceedingly evil. And

now you see Jonah's reaction to God's mercy is

ra. And you begin to wonder, how can he have

that type of reaction? Let's continue. So now

he begins to complain to God. He complained to

the Lord about it. Didn't I say before I left

home that you would do this, Lord? That is why

I ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a

merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry

and filled with unfailing love. It's amazing.

He's complaining about God's characteristics.

The things that we celebrate, Jonah's what? He's

complaining about them. You are eager to turn

back from destroying people. Just kill me now,

Lord. I'd rather be dead than alive if what I

predicted will not happen. Now, after reading

those words this week, I made it begin to thought

about Jonah. It's like, really? I mean, this

is God. And you're going to be upset and angry

and screaming at God? And it's really easy for

us to throw shade at Jonah until we put ourselves

in his shoes. And that's what I want to challenge

you to do today. Remember in week one, I told

you about the Ninevites, how they would rape

the women, they would murder the kids, they would

take over an entire area, they would kill the

soldiers, putting their heads on top of the cities.

Scholars tell us that it's possible, in fact,

very likely, that some of Jonah's own family,

possibly his mom and his dad, his grandparents,

maybe some relatives, that they were tortured,

killed, and murdered by the Ninevites or the

Assyrians. So when we're looking at Jonah, we

have to realize there's history, painful history.

And we all need to acknowledge that Jonah eventually

did what God asked him to do. God told him to

go and preach to the Nevites. He did it. He did

the will of God, but he wasn't happy about it.

And what did he preach? 40 days from now, you

better turn or God will destroy you. And Jonah

is simply showing us a problem that all of us

have. He shows us that it's possible for us to

follow God's commands and not reflect his love.

It's possible to do what God wants, but to do

it with the wrong attitude, with negativity and

wrong motives. And it could be any number of

different ways in our life as we are in a relationship

with Jesus. I've seen it greatly in the church

when it comes to money. Once a year, I do a three

to four week series on money and giving and tithing,

and it's constantly pushback, pushback, pushback.

Does God really tell us to deal with money? And

then he convicts us, and then we give a little,

but we don't really want to, and then we're upset

at the messenger. It's Chris's fault. You're

justifying tithing. It really isn't biblical.

Jesus never spoke about it. Then begrudgingly,

Right? To clear our conscience, we throw a $20

bill in. You know, it's a hard issue, church.

I talk about it because Jesus talked about money

nearly more than anything else when it comes

to topics because he knew that money was the

closest thing to our hearts. Or it comes to service.

I challenged all of you last week, serve in our

community of faith. Give your time, right? And

maybe you are here and you're serving and you're

committing your life to serving and you're serving

in the kids or the welcome team, whatever it

may be, but what's your home life like? Are you

being harsh and negative at home, but being happy

and smiling here? Or it could be the exact opposite

saying, okay, God, I'll go to church. I'll go

to church. I'll show up, but I don't have time

to serve. I'll go to church, but someone else

can take care of my kids. I'll go to church,

but I can't show up early and high five people.

Or then it's the other factor where we judge

others because of their big sins. while we harbor

pride and bitterness and prejudice in our own

hearts. You know, God knows our hearts, church.

He knows our attitudes. He knows everything that

goes in and out of our mouth, what we say, what

we think. And he's challenging us to get real

before him, to identify ourselves, that there's

times in our life where we serve, yes, where

we do the things of God, but our heart is just

in the wrong place. And when it comes to love,

1 John 4, 8 and 20 says, but anyone who does

not love does not know God, for God is love.

If someone says, I love God, but hates a fellow

believer, that person is a liar. For if we don't

love people, we can see how can we love God whom

we cannot see. It's possible to follow God's

commands and not reflect his love. And the story

continues, which leads us to our second thought.

Selfishness and unforgiveness lead us away from

God. Jonah chapter four, verses four through

five, the Lord replied, is it right for you to

be angry about this? Then Jonah went out to the

east side of the city and made a shelter to sit

under as he waited to see what would happen to

the city. So picture this. Jonah preaches one

of the worst sermons ever recorded. He gets out

of town, leaves town, goes up on a hill east

of the city, and he's hoping that the city will

be destroyed. And it's interesting that this

very specific direction is in the Bible. One

more time. Which direction did Jonah go? East.

He went east. And this is important because in

the Bible, anyone who travels east, this is often

a picture or represents moving towards exile

and bondage. Many times in the Bible, when someone

travels east, they're moving away from God's

will because of selfishness and unforgiveness.

Let's look at a few examples. You got Adam and

Eve in Genesis 3, 24. After sending them out

of the garden, The Lord God stationed mighty

cherubim, notice where, to the east of the Garden

of Eden so that they would not come back in.

Genesis 4, 16. So Cain left the Lord's presence

after killing Abel, and notice where he settled,

in the land of Nod, which was the east of Eden.

Genesis 13. Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan

Valley to the east. east of them. He went there

with his flocks and servants, but the people

of this area, notice, were extremely wicked and

constantly sinning against the Lord. Ezekiel

Ezekiel 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, then he brought me into the inner

courtyard of the Lord's temple at the entrance

to the sanctuary between the entry room and the

bronze altar. There were about 25 men with their

backs to the sanctuary of the Lord. They were

facing east, bowing low to the ground and worshiping

not the Lord but the Son. What did Jonah do?

He didn't obey God. Then he listened to God with

impure motives. And then he finds himself going

east, probably because we now know he's not trusting

God again. And this is where it gets personal.

Jonah was a prophet. and he claimed to follow

God. All throughout the book, if you were to

read the four chapters, you can read that Jonah

called God his Lord and the Lord. He believed

in God, but in this case, he turned his back

to God. He moved away from him. God, I claim

you and your ways, but once again, he turned

his back toward God, hoping that God would destroy

the city. And it's not uncommon to see that in

the church today, unfortunately. People will

say, hey, Jesus saved me. And they know him by

name, but they have not made him Lord of their

life. Meaning they want to remain in control

of their own life. They want to do what they

want. They don't want to submit to God's authority.

And this is not God's best. Because simply when

people do that, they're saying that we believe

in Jesus. We love Jesus with our spoken words,

but our actions simply don't line up. Our lives

are not producing good fruit. And Jesus said

this, one day people are going to be like, Hey,

I called on you, Jesus. I did these works in

your name. I went to church in your name, God.

I did all these things, Jesus. And Jesus will

look back and say, I've never known you. Because

they personally haven't made him Lord of their

life. They haven't prioritized that relationship

Monday through Saturday. And unfortunately, I

wonder if there's anybody here, and I can pastorally

say, I love you, and that's why I'm saying this.

Do you claim God with your lips, but you live

with your back towards him? And the good news

is simply this. All you have to do is turn. That's

all God is inviting you to. He's inviting you

back to himself. So here we got Jonah, and I'm

actually starting to understand him a little.

And the reason I'm understanding him is because

I see a little bit of Jonah in myself. What is

Jonah ultimately doing in this situation? He's

throwing a tantrum. He's acting like a child.

And if you're anything like me, we're all the

same way. We get frustrated. We get aggravated.

Things don't go our way. And then we get negative

and spew venom at the people we love. We make

judgments and we say things we regret. He was

hurting. He was frustrated. He's mad. He's uncomfortable.

Things were not going his way. And now he finds

himself baking in the hot sun, which leads us

to our next thought. Humanity wants God's blessings,

but pushes back on God's growth. Jonah chapter

four, verse six. And the Lord God arranged for

a leafy plant to grow there. And soon it spread

its broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him

from the sun. This eased his discomfort. And

Jonah noticed now how he changes his attitude

was very. grateful for the plant. So first God

provides a fish to save Jonah from the sea. Now

God provides a plant to cover him, and he was

very happy, extremely grateful. And the Hebrew

word used here was the word weizma, and it means

to rejoice greatly or exceedingly overjoyed.

In other words, this isn't like finding $20 in

your pants pocket. I mean, that's a good day

that we can smile about. But the word used here

in the Hebrew, Jonah was celebrating that he

won the lottery. That's the type of joy he was

experiencing. He was exceedingly overjoyed. And

why was he happy? Because of God's blessings.

God sent a plant to shade him from the sun and

he was happy. Not. Not because of the people

that turned to God. Not because of the hundreds

and thousands of people that were saved because

of God's mercy. It was all about him. And that's

the part that makes me uncomfortable because

that's me. Jonah loves receiving God's blessings,

but notice what he's doing. God's going to now

teach him a lesson. Jesus is the good teacher.

God wants us to grow, but sometimes allowing

us to walk through the wilderness and tests.

God is about to give Jonah an object lesson.

And Jonah didn't like the lessons. He's like

many of us. He wants to skip the lessons and

get right to what? Get right to the blessings.

Give me the blessings, God, but I'm not ready

to change. Jonah 4, 7 through 8, but God also

arranged for a worm. The next morning at dawn,

the worm ate through the stem of the plant. and

it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God

arranged for a scorching notice, east wind, negativity,

frustration to blow on Jonah, the sun be down

on his head until he grew faint and wished to

die. Death is certainly better than living like

this, he exclaimed. So what is happening? Jonah

is having a pity party. He's throwing another

tantrum. And in our eyes, we're thinking, this

is pathetic. And as you read this story, We're

so quick to criticize. But it's incredible that

the Bible includes all these details about his

emotions. It's very real. I mean, think about

it. Jonah's all over the place. He's up. He's

down. He's happy. He's sad. He's celebrating.

He's angry. He's worshiping. He's praising. He's

screaming at God. He's all over the place. I

don't know about you, but I can be just like

that. In fact, while studying the book of Jonah,

there's now expert research done on his personality

that measured historic Jonah against today's

personality types and different mindsets. Now,

what I want you to do is I read these three different

mindsets and approaches. See if you identify

with any of these behaviors. The first one is

this. He had erratic mood swings ranging from

courageous obedience. to extreme dissatisfaction

and anger, suggesting underlying frustration

and the need to control. I know that's none of

you, but I'll put a check for me. The next one

is this. He had entitlement issues, focusing

on his own views of justice and expecting God

and others to operate within his parameters.

The things that make you go, hmm. The third one,

he had depressive symptoms manifesting from feelings

of burnout, sadness, anger, and hopelessness.

I don't know about you, but I just checked all

three boxes. It's so easy to criticize this guy's

emotional tantrums and drama. I get it. We're

reading the story. But if we're honest and admit

it, we are just like Jonah. I can obey God with

great faith one moment and then ignore God and

do my own thing the next. I can be in the presence

of God, worshiping him passionately, authentically,

with heartfelt song and dance on a Sunday morning.

And then Monday, I can be apathetic, even act

like he doesn't even exist. I can be completely

obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit,

praying for someone, seeing signs, wonders, and

miracles break out as I pray. And the next day,

God prompts me to do the exact same thing. And

I say, no, that's the devil. I don't have time

for that. We hate the lessons. But we sure do

love the blessings. All of us can relate. It's

kind of like these two plants from that object

lesson. We can look at them and say, oh, this

is definitely God's blessings. It's healthy.

It's plentiful. It's growing. Oh, this is God's

temptings. This is God's tests. This is God's

wilderness. But what if we flip the script? And

what if we said that abundant life is obedience?

abundant life as walking through tests and seeing

us come out stronger on the other side. When

in reality, when we focus on self and selfishness,

we're a dead, dying, withered plant that can

go nowhere. That's why James 1, 2 through 4 says,

Dear brothers and sisters, when trouble of any

kind comes your way, consider it an opportunity

for great joy. Not just joy, but great joy. Why?

Because you know that when your faith is tested,

your endurance has a chance to Grow. So let it

grow. And when your endurance is fully developed,

you will be perfect and complete, needing absolutely

nothing. Let's all learn from Jonah on what not

to do when God wants us to grow and change, which

I believe he wants us to do every single day.

Let's be grateful and joyful because as we walk

through those testings, we receive God's blessings,

which leads us to our fourth thought. Getting

a second chance is easier than giving. A second

chance. Jonah 4, 9 through 11. Then God said

to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry because

the plant died? Yes, Jonah retorted. Even angry

enough to die. Then the Lord said, you feel sorry

about the plant that you did nothing to put it

there. It came quickly and died quickly. But

Nineveh has more than 120 ,000 people living

in spiritual darkness. Not to mention all the

animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great

city? And see, what is being exposed through

Jonah's actions is a deeply seated racism and

hatred that Jonah had towards his enemies, the

Assyrians. And I get it. The Assyrians were a

brutal group of people, the type of people that

if they were alive today and we saw their actions

on the news and their evil, I believe that many

of us would pray for God to intervene, for God

to get rid of them. But here's the issue when

God intervenes. It may not be the way we want

him to move. Remember, God is using Jonah as

a mirror to reflect issues in our heart. And

the reality is all of us have those people in

our lives. It may not be the Assyrians, but who

are those people in your life that God is calling

you to give them a second chance? See, maybe

these people, they dress a little different.

Maybe they talk different, look different, vote

different than you. Maybe it's people that sin

different than you. Right? I sin, but not how

they sin. Maybe it's someone that has hurt you

in the past. A parent that wasn't there for you

as you grew up when you needed them the most.

Maybe it was a friend that betrayed you or a

spouse that said for better or worse, but apparently

didn't mean it. The book of Jonah is causing

us to look in the mirror and that mirror is looking

back at ourselves saying, who is it in your life

that you're harboring bitterness and unforgiveness?

And isn't it true that it's much easier to be

forgiven by God than to extend forgiveness to

those that have hurt us? Jonah, we see it. He's

wrestling with God. He's now angry. He's angry

that God extended mercy to a group of people.

We saw that Jonah knew God's character. He knew

that God would forgive. And friends, in today's

world of social media and news, we're constantly

bombarded with opportunities for our hearts to

be corrupted with hate. judgment, and unforgiveness

towards others. Jonah didn't have an issue with

receiving a second chance from God. We see it

all through his life. But he did have an issue

with giving a second chance to others. And we

have to realize that all of us have a little

hypocrite in our hearts. How do I know that?

Brene Brown writes this in her book. I thought

it was just me. The biggest potential for helping

us overcome shame is this. We are those people.

Truth is, we are the others. Most of us are one

paycheck, one divorce, one drug -addicted kid,

one mental health illness, one sexual assault,

one drinking binge, one night of unprotected

sex, one affair away from being those people,

the ones we don't trust, the ones we pity, the

ones we don't let our kids play with, the ones

bad things happen to, the ones we don't want

living next door. What is she saying to all of

us? We're quick to see the faults in others,

but so easily the myths false in our own life.

We judge others by what they do, but we judge

ourselves by our motives. We judge others by

what they do, but we extend grace to ourselves

when we need it after making a bad decision,

choice, or reaction. And Jesus warns us in Matthew

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7, why worry about a speck in your friend's

eye when you have a log in your own? How can

you think of saying to your friend, let me help

you get rid of that speck in your eye when you

can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite.

Get rid of the log in your own eye, then you

will see well enough to deal with the speck in

your friend's eyes. And when it comes to God

giving grace, it's our decision. The fact that

we even think that we're capable of making that

judgment shows that we're hypocritical. and shows

that we have no business harboring unforgiveness

and anger towards others. Jonah's story is our

story. And that's why it makes it difficult to

read, which leads us to our fifth and final thought.

God is for us, but not just us. God is challenging

us through the book of Jonah to see that God

is a God for all people. He is the God of creation.

And this book is challenging us to see that we

cannot allow our prejudices nor our politics

to determine who God can and can't love. It's

for us. God is not just for us. He is for all

people, and he desires to see all people come

into a loving relationship with him. We read

in Jonah 4 .11, but Nineveh has more than 120

,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not

to mention all the animals. Should not feel sorry

for such a great city. I mean, you see God challenging

Jonah, open your eyes. This is truth. There were

people in that great city that were not committing

the horrible atrocities that the soldiers are

doing and have done to the Israelites. And that's

why Jesus taught us in Matthew 5, you have heard

the law that says, love your neighbor and hate

your enemy. But I say, Jesus says, love your

enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6, 12, we are not

fighting against flesh and blood enemies. Let

me read that again. We are not fighting against

flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers

and authorities in the unseen world, against

mighty powers in this dark world, and against

evil spirits in the heavenly places. And remember,

when Paul wrote those words, it wasn't theoretical.

Jesus' followers were being stoned, murdered,

imprisoned, and persecuted. Yet Paul says, if

they are flesh and blood, And even if they're

hurting you, God is for them. God is for those

people. Translation, if your enemy is made of

flesh and blood, they are not your enemy. They

are not your enemy. And I wanted to make this

as real as possible for all of us living in 2026

in the United States of America. I'm going to

flip some images up on the screen. And as you

see these images, see how your heart responds.

Let's look at our first one. The person in that

car driving is not your enemy. Even if they cut

you off and even if they're driving slow in the

left -hand lane, they are not your enemy. The

same person that goes through the express lane

with a cart full of groceries, they are not your

enemy. They're not your enemy. I mean, they're

not thinking clearly, but they're still not your

enemy. To keep it going, HCV, these people are

not your enemies. They're really easy to hate,

but they're still not your enemies. Let's keep

it going. The rich and powerful in our world

are not your enemies. And they're also not your

saviors. But you also have to remember, it's

not just the rich and the powerful. It's the...

It's the politicians. They are not your enemies.

And it's not just them. This group is not your

enemies. They are flesh and blood. But unfortunately,

in our current political culture, there is deep

division and hatred between both. And we can't

allow that deep division and hatred to enter

into our hearts. In the same way, these people

are not. We cannot allow CNN and Fox News to

tell us who we can love and hate. God determines

who we love. Therefore, these people aren't your

enemies. Next slide. Thank you. And if it's not

these people, it's not these people either. Neither

one of them are your enemies. If they are made

of flesh and blood, they are not our enemies.

And we have to stop allowing politics and prejudice

determine who and how we love. And listen. And

listen, if any of those images made you feel

uncomfortable in any way, then the book of Jonah

is for you and me. And God is saying, I am a

God of all humanity and desire that all people

come into a relationship with me. Because we

have to remember Romans 5 .10. For since our

friendship with God was restored by the death

of his son, while we were still his enemies,

we will certainly be saved through the life of

his son. We used to be enemies with God. And

now I'm God's friend. And therefore, we are challenged

to allow our hearts to be friends with all people

throughout the world, which leads us to ponder,

what is God trying to show us through Jonah?

Well, it's one simple truth. Church, we need

to choose to forgive. We need to choose to forgive.

Jonah chapter 4 verse 11, but Nineveh has more

Jonah 4:11

than 120 ,000 people living in spiritual darkness.

Not to mention all the animals. Should not feel

sorry for such a great city. Now, hear me out.

Many scholars believe that that number that God

is referencing there is the number of innocent

women and children that were alive currently

in Nineveh. Remember, that city had more than

600 ,000 people, and God is calling Jonah back

to his heart. He's saying, you have to come back

to my heart. Jonah was so angry that he wanted

to die, and God is trying to show him that bitterness

and unforgiveness is literally killing him from

the inside out. And it's been said that holding

on to bitterness and unforgiveness is like lighting

yourself on fire and hoping the smoke annoys

the person next to you. Bitterness and unforgiveness

only hurt you and me. Does it make us any better

to hold on to anger and unforgiveness toward

that parent or spouse? No. It just makes us angry

towards our own children. Is the rage and negativity

toward a coworker or classmate or boss making

us a better person? No. It's just making us not

good at our job. So what I want to do for you

is I want to give you a simple example. Many

of you were giving a Sour Patch Kid on the way

in. Please open up your pack right now. If you

did not get one, there's like six Sour Patch

Kids in that pack. Give it to your neighbor,

okay? Because Chris made a foolish mistake of

purchasing Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish.

The Swedish Fish, unfortunately, aren't sour,

so I just need the Sour Patch Kids. So if you

have one, put it in your hand now. And what I

want you to do is, if you're able, I want you

to put a Sour Patch Kid in your mouth and look

at your neighbor's reaction to the sour. Ready,

set, go. Okay, you see where I'm going with this.

Okay. Typically, I get it, work with me. Typically,

when we put something sour in our mouth, our

face suddenly turns, like, what was that? And

our initial reaction when we put sour in our

mouth is to spit it out. Now, unfortunately,

with candy, it turns sweet, so it doesn't quite

fit the example. But we want to spit something

out of our mouth that's sour. Why is it when

it comes to bitterness and unforgiveness in our

hearts, we want to hold on to it and stew over

it and stew over it and stew over it to make

ourselves more angry and upset? Because it's

a choice that we want to heap negativity on the

person that hurt us. When in reality, God is

challenging us to let go of bitterness and unforgiveness.

Matthew 6. If you forgive those who sin against

you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But

if you refuse to forgive others, notice, your

heavenly Father will not forgive your sins. Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 tells us, church, get rid of all bitterness,

rage, anger, harsh words, slander. as well as

all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind

to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,

just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

And the best way, church, to move past bitterness

and unforgiveness is to release it to God. And

that's why I'm skipping next week and moving

communion to this week. Because see, for many

of us, we think that communion is just something

we do at church. When in reality, Jesus left

this as an ordinance to the church. And an ordinance

means something that we should do regularly to

remember what God did for us. The bread represents

Jesus' broken body on the cross. The juice represents

his shed blood for what? The forgiveness of our

sins. And the Bible very clearly tells us that

before you take communion, before you drink the

juice, search your heart. So what he tells us

to do, he says, look in the mirror and if there's

any unforgiveness or bitterness or anger or rage

in your heart, towards anyone, towards a parent,

a spouse, a son, a daughter, a group of people,

whatever it may be, that we're to lay that down

before we drink that juice because we just learned

what Jesus said to us. Our Father in heaven can't

forgive us until we've what? Forgiven others.

In other words, get rid of the roof that you're

putting over yourself and open up your connection

with God. Will you stand with me? So before we

take communion, I want to share a little instructions

with you. We're going to share in the bread together

and celebrate God's broken body, Jesus' broken

body on the cross. But before we drink the juice

together, I want to pray a simple prayer giving

you an opportunity to lay down any unforgiveness

and bitterness in your heart. And I want to encourage

you. You may have been holding on to it for years

and this is your opportunity to leave this place

free. Stop making excuses. Stop putting it off.

Lay it down. Let God have it so that you can

live and walk in abundance. This can be an incredible

celebratory day for many of you. But again, it's

a choice. God desires that we choose to forgive.

On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took

bread, broke it, gave it to his disciples and

said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken

for you. Do it in remembrance of me. Let's remember

Jesus on the cross. Likewise, after supper, Jesus

took the cup of wine, said, this is my blood,

which is shed for you and for many. For the forgiveness

of sin, shrink it often. And when you do, do

it in remembrance of me. Let's pray together,

church. Holy Spirit, come. Search our hearts.

If there's any unforgiveness, bitterness, anger,

rage, reveal it now in Jesus' name. And now say,

I choose as an act of my will to forgive. Lay

it down. Lay it down. Lay them down. Lay them

down. Let's drink. God, we are grateful for freedom.

We celebrate the ability to extend forgiveness

and grace and mercy to others. Allow for us to

see in Jonah ourselves, but more importantly,

to change and not live like Jonah, but live like

your son, Jesus. And we're grateful for all you

do. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, there are several

words of knowledge. Hold on, we're not done.

That I wanna share with you before we go, and

then we're gonna pray a simple prayer. Our prayer

team will be on my left and my right for any

of these issues. If these are you, believe that

God wants to work a miracle in your life. You

have confusion in your mind about a decision

that's leading to anxiety. You have right hip

pain. You have muscle spasm in your right leg.

You have left inner ear pain. You have pain radiating

from your lower back to the base of your neck.

You have forgiveness and bitterness issues that

you need to lay down. So if any of those are

you, our prayer team will be here to pray with

you or any other need that you may have. And

now like we always do as a community of faith,

we're gonna pray a simple prayer. And for some

of you, when I was talking about professing Jesus

with your mouth, but not living like him, this

prayer is for you. It's all about the relationship.

It's all about putting him first and prioritizing

making Jesus Lord of your life. And if you've

never made that decision, this decision is for

you also. And we'll all pray together. Let's

pray. Jesus, I'm broken. I'm full of doubt, shame,

regret, sin. Change me. Forgive me. I believe.

You're God's son. I believe you died for me.

I believe you're alive today. Make me new. Set

me free. Fill me with your spirit. Help me, God,

to serve others. In Jesus' name, amen. So listen,

if you prayed that prayer, see me, hug me, see

Rudy. We're gonna give you some next steps. We're

gonna get you baptized. We want to lead you into

a relationship with Jesus. Next week for May,

we kick off text to talk, and we're going to

be focusing on reading the Bible and prayer so

that our relationship with Jesus can grow and

flourish. It's going to be a great month of growing

closer to God. God bless you guys. I'm going

there to say goodbye to everyone. Have a great

week. Cut off my lifetime I was stuck up in that

grind Not knowing you gave your life for mine

You don't wanna turn water into wine Please fix

my heart and the things inside