Running Nowhere

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That video takes us to our title this morning: Running Nowhere.

And so get your Bibles and turn them to Jonah.

You should have a hard time finding it.

It's about three pages.

And so, unless you're really good, you might got them cheat tabs.

But go to Jonah, and uh I'm excited to be back in the pulpit.

The hardest thing I've had to do for the last two weeks, and I drove 15 hours in one day.

Uh the hardest thing is not preach for two weeks.

Um and so, but I know that God has uh moved here, and Pastor Joe preached last week and did an awesome job.

Good job, Joe.

The training's going well.

No, he did a great job.

And then, by the way, this Thursday, hey, look, CCW, we look for every opportunity to share the gospel.

And so you heard earlier this month that we had uh, I think it was 18 football players came to know Christ because we were able to give them a meal.

Um yeah, amen.

But Joe had an opportunity Thursday.

They asked if we'd bring them some Gatorade at the middle school, and Joe took them some Gatorade.

That's a cheap opportunity.

And I think was it eight students that came to know the Lord?

I don't know, he put up his hand, he might have corrected me.

So, anyhow, man, God is doing some neat things and uh great job for that.

And I'm thankful for all of our pastors and appreciate just they work week in, week out, and shepherd and love.

And so we had a good time going to Delaware.

Thank you for prayers and got to see some family.

And we've been 500 miles away from any of our family for the last 17 years.

Um, and so it's good to get back.

And I met I met family members, met people that have been married in the family.

I watched them on Facebook, felt like I knew them.

But uh anyway, so it was good to see family and cousins and and do all that.

But thank you, church, for the way that uh and pastors for the way that you jump in and continue on.

I want to give you two commercials, and I know we're gonna get them at the end, but I want to give them to you too, because it's that important.

In just two weeks, we have Harvest Jam, which is the biggest outreach event this church puts on, and we're gonna see the property here flooded.

We're gonna have hay rides, and it's a basically our version of a carnival, and so we've got a bunch of rides that are rented, and we're gonna have a pumpkin patch for pumpkins to be gotten, and hay rides, and kids' games, and lots and lots of candy.

And the main thing, we've got a kids evangelist gonna come and share the gospel and several shows that afternoon.

So be inviting somebody, there's cards as you leave for Harvest Gym, and the following day is our friend day.

And so we want you now to be thinking about a neighbor, coworker, friend, family member that needs to be in church.

And here's what you tell them I can't go to friend day, they won't let me in the door at my church if somebody doesn't come with me.

So please, please come with me.

And I'm telling I'm saying the same thing to my neighbors.

I am going to say that.

I'm the pastor, they're not gonna let me preach.

Please come.

And so that's coming.

And then today kicks off our connect groups, okay.

Back in the new series, our guides.

Don't these groups, these guys did an awesome job.

Don't these look great?

And uh, you can get a booklet if you're in a group.

If you're not in a group, okay, five o'clock today they start.

So you still got time.

So sign up.

Get in a group.

It's only this is the easiest commitment.

It's five weeks.

So get in a group, and it's okay if you miss.

You can commit and miss, it's okay.

We just want you to bear burdens and grow deeper with the church family.

I'm done commercials.

Jonah chapter one, let's go.

Let me read here in Jonah.

It says, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarsus from the presence of the Lord.

He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshus, he paid the fare, and went down in it to go with them to Tarshus from the presence of the Lord.

Let me pray.

Father, we pray that you would lead us in this study, lead us through this book.

And God, we need you to meet with us where we are today.

Lord, I thank you for every person, every guest that's here this morning, and it's not an accident.

God, uh, you meant for them to be here and hear your word.

So, God, I pray you'd speak it.

Get us and our agendas out of the way and let your Holy Spirit speak in our ears this morning.

We love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Running nowhere.

Anyone here ever felt like that?

You ever felt like you were running in circles or running nowhere?

Well, about 2007 or 8, I took my family.

Uh, we were taking a trip to Texas to go see Heather's family for Christmas one year.

And those were those, that was back in the days of MapQuest.

Y'all remember following MapQuest?

Maybe the most dangerous time of driving in history.

Following the next block.

Well, I'm following MapQuest, and we're talking about a 16 to 20 hour drive because we got little kids already.

So it's already a long drive.

And I take off, and somewhere along the way, I missed a MapQuest step.

And I traveled on and on and on, and I traveled two hours out of the way.

Y'all hearing me on a 16 to 20 hour trip?

Do you know the feeling of disgust when you come to and figure it out?

And I look over, and it was Heather that figured out, which is worse, because I couldn't backtrack and make it a secret.

She figures it out, and I'm like, we're somewhere in Louisiana that we didn't need to be.

And I'm like, oh, two, it's so just just thinking of it now.

I'm not that over it.

And so we start to backtrack and we just say, let's go to Cracker Barrel, let's get a meal, let's get ourselves together, figure this out.

So we go to Cracker Barrel, and I promise you, Heather, uh Callie's just a baby, and and I can't remember if it was me or her, one of us going around to get the seat, and as we do, it was cold.

And so you lock the door, I locked the door, and get the seat and walking in.

Next thing you know, I'm looking at her, she's looking at me, and the keys are sitting in the ignition of now the locked car.

And I'm like, no, I have driven us two hours out of the way.

Now I've locked the keys in the car.

And by the way, these were lean days, if you know what I'm talking about.

Lean in the wallet kind of days.

Like cracker barrel might have been a push, but we were gonna make that happen.

Well, now the keys are locked in the car.

So I called the police and they're like, no, we don't do that kind of thing.

And I'm like, what do you mean?

You serve and protect.

This is definitely those things.

And they're like, no, we don't do that.

Call a locksmith.

So I call a locksmith.

He was very happy to serve, he had no problem.

Serve, protect, and took almost a hundred dollars like that.

And no, he was very accommodating, by the way.

I didn't have the cash, so he drove me to the ATM.

So we got him the money, right?

And and I get in Cracker Barrel and I'm just like, what in the world?

The feeling, overwhelming feeling that I had is as a father, as a husband, I just took us nowhere.

Even worse than nowhere, I took us nowhere two hours and$75,$100 in the hole.

Talk about dissatisfying.

Talk about a lonely, sick feeling.

That's how I felt.

And I still felt.

I'm gonna pray about it some more later, but look, I'm not happy that had to happen.

But I know what it feels like to run nowhere.

And when we look at Jonah here, it's interesting that God calls Jonah.

Point number one this morning is the runner's call.

And it says in a verse, it says verse one, now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, and it says, Arise, go.

Jonah had a call, a divine call from God.

It says, the word of the Lord came to Jonah.

Now Jonah was a prophet.

The word of the Lord came to prophets and went through prophets.

I want you to look back for some context to 2 Kings, just so you know that this story is not just a story.

Some people want to make this story a fable.

They want to make it like a nursery rhyme, Jonah and the whale.

Now, I want you to understand there's history.

2 Kings chapter 14, verse 23 through 25.

2 Kings 14:23–25

Jonah's a real person.

In the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, reigned 41 years.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord.

This is verse 24, 2 Kings 14.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord.

He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.

He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamat to the Sea of Arabia, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he had spoken, through his servant, Jonah, the son of Amitai, the prophet who is from Gath Hephers.

So I want you to see for some context here.

This is a real person.

This is a real prophet.

God had called, he had been serving God in this area, and the word of the Lord came to him.

So a prophet would hear from God and act upon what God has told him.

Or he would hear from God and he would then speak to a people.

And so the word of the Lord, it's important that word Lord there.

It's capital L-O-R-D, and it's Master Lord.

In the Old Testament or the Old Testament, it's the word Jehovah, and that's the redemptive name for God.

That's important for the study in Jonah that you know that it's the redemptive name of God.

It's an important theme.

The time was about 793 to 753 BC.

And this is what you need to know about the time.

I'm unpacking some stuff.

We're going to get to a point.

It was a wicked time.

The place was declining spiritually and morally, but interestingly, it was a financially prosperous time.

It was a time where money was not in lack, but they were declining spiritually into idolatry.

And by the way, church, listen to me.

Many people confuse the hand of the Lord with financial prosperity.

It can be a part of prosperity, but I want you to understand it doesn't define God's hand.

Many people want to see God's hand in the heavens, dropping hundreds.

And think, then we're blessed.

That's the blessing of God, right?

And it's just not a biblical idea.

You hear the term uh prosperity gospel, right?

And that that's the idea that when God blesses you, he's coming with truckloads.

And he can, or he might not.

But that's not a biblical idea.

And so, by the way, every man here, you're just a steward of stuff.

You have some stuff, they have other stuff.

You might have more stuff, they may have less stuff, but you're just a steward of an amount, okay?

And you're to steward that the right way.

That was free, okay?

That has nothing to do with Jonah here.

We're just letting you know.

Jonah's call, though, first, it's a divine call, it's a call from God.

The word of the Lord came.

Now, people think that Jonah is a story about a great big fish.

You know, the great big fish is mentioned four times.

Or it's a story about a great city, Nineveh.

Nineveh is mentioned throughout Jonah nine times.

Or even a story about a disobedient prophet who is mentioned 18 times.

But let me tell you, the story is about a great God who's mentioned in Jonah 38 times.

And it's about a great God with a call.

And listen to me, this is your point today.

We all have calls.

We all have a call.

And how we proceed when God calls.

Well, God called Jonah.

He called Jonah.

In the New Testament, Jesus said his the ultimate and spiritual nourishment for him in John 4.34, he said, My meat is to do the will of the Father that sent me.

My nourishment, the way that I get filled, is doing my Father's will, fulfilling God's call in my life.

That's how I'm satisfied.

Well, for Jonah, the will of God here was a medicine that choked him.

Any of y'all ever dealt with a toddler or a four or five, six-year-old child who needs medicine?

Yeah, Weston needed medicine one time, and it was the cherry-flavored cough syrup.

And I don't remember exactly what had him sick.

I know he was stuffed up, but we'd never had an experience like this before with Weston.

So I remember we took him to our bathroom and we sat down by the bathtub and we began to try to administer medicine to the needy child who needed medicine to be well.

And we talked to him at first, and that was fine until we got near his mouth, and then it was like something took over this miniature body.

He became as strong as ten men.

Arms were moving, head was shaking.

It was like a competition.

I'm gonna get this medicine head move, jerk.

And I'm like, what is going on here?

Why can't I get this medicine to him?

And he we got some in his mouth, he spit it back out.

We hold his nose, put it to his mouth, it goes down, he throws it back up.

I'm like, look, I don't know what happened here, but I'm pretty sure he's a little bit worse off than when he started.

We wanted to make him well, right?

I don't know if he ever got the medicine, but listen, Jonah had a call, and God says, do this, and Jonah, he just I'm I don't want any part of it.

And I need you to hear a verse from Romans 11.

Romans 11, 29 says this.

Hear this, Christian.

The gifts and calls of God are irrevocable.

God has a calling on your life, and you might dodge and you might bend and you might duck.

But scripture says it's irrevocable.

He's gifted you for a time like this.

And so Jonah had a call from God.

Let her be as this.

Jonah had a call to go.

He had a call to go.

Verse 2 arise, go to Nineveh.

It was a directional call.

God calls all throughout the Bible.

And listen, let me tell you something today, church.

His call throughout the Bible, you never see once where he calls someone, he says, you know what?

I'm calling you to retirement.

I'm calling you to a month vacation.

I haven't seen that.

He never calls us to more comfort or ease.

I've never seen God say, You are going to go here, and money is gonna start piling up.

I haven't found that scripture.

Let me tell you about some calls.

Remember Noah?

He said, Build a boat, a football field and a half long for some rain that nobody's ever heard of.

There's a call for a flood that nobody's ever heard of.

Nobody's ever even heard of rain.

He called Abraham and he said, get out of your country, and when you get to the next point, I'll tell you where to go.

He just had to start going.

In Exodus, we see scripture and we don't have time to go there, but Exodus chapter 3, he calls Moses and he says, I'm going to call you to go unto Pharaoh, a hard-hearted king to rescue the people.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

And Moses said, What?

You want me to go?

What am I even going to say?

He says, I'll let you know.

Just go.

And so he calls him to go.

He called David to take a rock and a stick with some rubber bands.

And he said, Not really.

He didn't have it, it was just leather.

But he said, Go to a nine foot six, four hundred-pound giant, and you are going to kill him, and that's your weapons.

Does that sound comfortable?

For Esther, he said, You're here for such a time as this, and you're to go into the king and save your people, but the process of going into the king could have you killed.

There's calls all throughout scripture.

In the New Testament, he said, Peter, James, John, leave your jobs and follow me.

Drop your nets, fishermen, and follow me.

This is the call of God.

God has called Heather and myself three times.

Called me to go to Tennessee Temple University.

Um, I didn't, I had a postcard.

I thought, okay, God called me.

I knew it.

I knew it within my being.

Okay, he called me to the ghetto in Chattanooga, and I said, okay, there's a lot of pretty schools, God.

I didn't even consider any.

That was the only one.

And God called, and then God called us once we got married to Connorsville, Indiana.

I fought telling Heather, you gotta live in the city.

When we get married, I got a job.

I'm a dispatcher for a moving company.

This is this is how we're gonna have money.

You've got to follow me.

And she she wanted to be in the country.

And little did I know what God had planned eight months later.

Here we are at Connorsville, Indiana.

Country, let me tell you.

Look, they didn't know what to do with a Yankee, okay?

And then God said, You think that's funny?

You think that's country.

And God called us to Chelsea, Alabama.

And it's so clear.

I told Heather they I said, we would never move when God calls us somewhere.

We will never move.

We will only look for something if God begins to call.

I don't have a resume, I've never written a resume.

I said, God has my address, He knows how to send me.

And so they said, What would you think about coming to Chelsea?

And I said, Heather, we got something to pray about it.

And she said, I know we're going.

That's how God works.

And so, listen, God has a call for your life.

I have a prayer for this church.

Listen to me, this is a future for this church.

I pray that God calls some people here to be missionaries.

I pray that God has a call on some people here that we'll see pastors that'll come out of this church.

I pray for church plants to come out of this church.

I pray that God has a call on your life.

Not just those things, though.

1 Corinthians 7 24 says this.

Listen to me.

Let each one remain with God in the state with which he has called.

That means, yes, there's a lot of people called to works all over the world.

But a lot of people, according to 1 Corinthians 7, 7, you can read the rest of that chapter.

A lot of people are called right where they're at.

There are people called to stay.

And what he says about people called to stay is this that you remain with God, that you stay focused on God.

And so whether you're called to go or you're called to stay, you're called to lead a godly Christian life.

Remain.

Be steadfast, right where you are.

And your first call, by the way, if you're married, your first call is to your spouse and then your kids, if you have kids and disciple your kids, and then using your gift to make Jesus known wherever you are, whatever workplace you are, whatever gift you have.

And so my question with that making Jesus known, what is your weekly target right now?

You're not called there to make a product, you're not called there to deliver a service, you're called there with that gift so that the target can hear about Jesus.

That's the whole thing.

If you're a plumber, you're a plumber for Jesus.

So who is your target?

Who's your one?

Who are you going after?

It starts with prayer.

Look, we're not going to reach somebody if we're not reaching them and we're praying over that face.

I want you to think right now about that face.

Who is the neighbor?

Who are you working out with?

Who is your friend that needs Jesus?

You say, Pastor, all my friends have Jesus.

Well, then you need some more friends.

That's why we're here.

So Jonah had a call to go.

The next thing we see about Jonah is he had a call to the gospel.

It says in verse 2 Rise, go to Nineveh.

Why go to Nineveh?

Just a trip to Nineveh, that great city.

No.

And cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.

God wanted Jonah to go before this wicked city because God wanted to.

Save them.

And let me tell you about the gospel.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is relentless.

Nineveh's wickedness had come up before, it says, it came up before him.

God says, their wickedness, and I don't know how that works in the heavens and how your mind works when you think about God, but it says the wickedness of these people has come up before him.

I don't know if it was a slideshow, a PowerPoint, pro person.

I don't know how it came, but it came up before him, and it got in his face.

That word before is Paul now, and that means in God's face.

Moms, let me ask you a question.

Have you ever been so fed up with the kids?

Been dealing with them all day and just tired of it.

And you couldn't even deal with it.

They were so bad, and you said, When your father gets home, you're gonna get it.

Any moms been like that?

Alright.

So you were gonna, they were gonna have to deal with the father.

Right?

This inference makes me think that the evil was so bad.

It comes up before the face of God.

And interesting, listen.

The evil's so bad.

And you know what it doesn't say?

And God, in his wrath, poured out his displeasure.

You know, it doesn't say that.

Yeah, he doesn't lose it.

Evil with which he hates has come before him.

Sin that separates him and us, our relationship, and evil with which can only be cured by a cross and a savior and his son.

He doesn't pour out a cup of his wrath to them.

It's irritating to me when people speak out of context about us having an angry God.

You ever hear this?

He's an angry God.

And they'll pull a piece of scripture and say, God was angry and he's a ruthless judge.

Listen to me, God watched the terrorism of Assyria, and his response was, Jonah, I want you to go cry out against their wicked.

Give them a chance.

He says, I want to save them.

Psalms 103, 8 says, The Lord is slow to anger and quick to mercy.

Isn't that your story about him in your life?

Wasn't he patient with you?

Man, he was patient with me.

Hasn't he still been patient?

Can somebody say, Amen?

He's still being patient with me right now.

Romans 5.8 says, but God demonstrated his love towards us in that yet while we were yet sinners.

He wasn't kind to me because I was good and making him proud.

He was kind to me because it's who he is and he loved me as a father.

Parents, you understand that.

You'll love your kids when they've been trash all week, won't you?

You just love them.

They're yours.

I'm not saying you're trash kids, but sometimes sometimes you are.

Sometimes the things you do.

Jonah was called with a gospel call.

2 Peter 3.9 says this.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promises.

He's patient.

Not, listen to this, not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance in faith.

God wants people to be saved.

And if you read that for what it says, he wants all people to be saved.

He wants them to be given the gospel message.

That's why he sent his son.

And Jonah was a prophet.

Listen to me, I want you to think on something.

Jonah was a prophet, a man of God saved.

And prophets used words.

Jeremiah 29 said his word was like a fire shut up in my bones.

I couldn't do anything.

I had to get it out.

Jonah was a prophet and he used the word of God.

Man, anybody here bad at keeping a surprise?

Christmas is coming, right?

You're bad at keeping presents hid, keeping a surprise.

This is the greatest gift that we get to blab immediately and always.

We don't have to keep it.

And Jonah, a prophet who had it burning in his being, didn't want to go.

He didn't want to go.

I want you to look over at Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

He was a prophet, he was a saved man.

Romans 12, we're not just saved, we're also gifted.

Look at verse 6 through 8 in Romans 12.

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith.

Or ministry, let us use it in ministering.

He who teaches in teaching exhorts to exhort exhortation.

He who gives, give with liberality.

He who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

And so we're saved and we're gifted.

My prayer through this series is that these two calls would be understood.

One, if you're lost, I want you to know that the relentless love of God is for you.

He loved you so much, it's for you.

And secondly, everyone's given a call.

Everyone has a call.

Listen to God's gift, his call.

1 Peter 2.9 says, You're a chosen people, royal priesthood, God's special possession that you might declare the praises of Him who called you out of His darkness into wonderful light.

You've been called to salvation to declare it.

Declare means speak.

We're called to the gospel.

Mark 16, 15, Mark was the evangelist.

He said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel.

That's the good news.

The good news of Jesus Christ.

And the gospel begins with go.

For six years I spent with Pastor Danny.

And I'm telling you, there wasn't too many weeks that he did not quote Luke 14 to me.

And it starts, go, go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come that my house may be filled.

And he would say, We might be visiting that one, but somebody else will come because God would be a liar if he said, My house would be filled if you go and he doesn't fill it.

So we go and we visit and we visit and we go see people and we've knocked on your door and you didn't expect us and we were there and you said, What is going on?

There's a preacher at the doorstep.

Thank you, all of those of you who let us in.

And I'm sorry for those of you who it's uncomfortable for you, but we go because we feel like it's what the gospel says.

I want you to understand it's our duty in this human experience to go and declare.

The gospel is the greatest gift.

And here's what's hard the gospel's confrontational.

You have to look at somebody whom you love or care for and tell them to look in the mirror of their life.

And I understand that that's not easy.

The gospel makes you look in the mirror because in the beginning of your confession, you have to say, Lord, I'm a sinner.

And that's difficult for people.

It's a confrontation.

But let me tell you this: a gospel conversation, it reveals your heart.

Do you love people enough to approach their rejection?

Let me say that again.

Do you love people enough to approach their possible rejection?

You see, rejection is about you.

Rejection is about how I feel.

The gospel conversation is about them.

You know, we say here our motto, we love God and we love people, and people champion it that all the time.

But do we love people enough to be rejected by them?

And so the gospel call is that.

Well, the funny thing about it, point number two, is this the the runner's condition, Jonah didn't care about the rejection.

In fact, Jonah preferred the rejection.

He did not want these people to hear the message.

So Jonah, letter A, verse 3, Jonah fled the scene.

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshus.

He said in verse 2, arise, go.

And in verse 3, it says, and Jonah arose and fled.

Okay?

Arise, he did the arise and he went, but he didn't go the right way.

Why?

Let me give a little context here why Jonah.

We give Jonah a really bad rap.

And I want you to get some context here.

Israel and Nineveh were bitter enemies.

Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria.

And Assyria was known for gruesome tactics when it came to warfare.

They would defeat a city, they would torture its captives, they would hold them hostage, and they were known for things like ripping out tongues.

They would take people and they would allow them to be eaten by animals.

They would be skinned alive, and when they were done, they would stack skulls and pyramids, letting everybody in the world know this is Assyria.

Don't mess with Assyria.

It was a tactic used to warn other nations.

We have might and we are bloodthirsty.

Don't mess with Assyria.

And so I understand we give Jonah a really bad rap here, but I want you to imagine God calls you to the world's terrorist organization to give the gospel.

This is terrorism to the Israelites.

And Jonah has been called to take them the gospel.

So Jonah put on his suit, grabbed all of his gospel tracks, slicked his hair for evangelism, and thought, God might not notice if I go this direction.

He went on.

He went on a trip to go preach.

Jonah went, he said, I'm doing my hair, got my suit, got all my stuff, and I'll just sneak out, see if God notices.

We're just gonna go anyway.

Right?

God might not notice if I still go on a mission trip.

It's just a few miles the other way.

Jonah says, God, you want me to go to Nineveh?

God, you know they kill people there, right?

You can't want me to go there.

In fact, don't send me to judge them.

Just judge them.

You don't need me to do it.

You don't need me, just go ahead and kill them.

He didn't want them saved.

He was scared that they would get saved.

Be honest.

There's some folks in your life that you say if you're real, I'm it'd be alright if I got rid of them.

Be honest.

There's some folks here, you're like, I'm not sure I want to see them in heaven.

Look, be honest, your church.

That's where Jonah is.

Some folks in your life that have just made a real mess of your life.

And Jonah's like, ah, God, you don't need me to judge them.

Just go ahead and judge them.

They don't need my message.

I don't need to be skinned alive, Lord.

So Jonah would gladly speak the word of God where it was comfortable.

He was gladly a prophet in Zebulun.

And in fact, he'd easily go.

It was less miles to Nineveh, 550 miles from where he was to Nineveh.

And Jonah began a trip to get on a ship that would take him to Tarshus.

I got a map.

I want you to see the difference.

I want you to see up here the difference from where he was.

Okay.

So Jonah is just above Joppa, and he's called to go to Nineveh 550 miles.

Do we see where Jonah went?

He took a ship to the opposite end of the world as it was.

2,500 miles.

I looked it up.

Listen to me.

From Chelsea, Alabama to Tacoma, Washington, 2,561 miles from here.

Okay?

It's the furthest place you can go, right?

The furthest place possible for Jonah is where he decides to jump on the ship.

It's an easier trip to go God's 500 miles.

It'd be like God tells you to be a Sunday school teacher and you go and sign up to become a bartender.

God tells you to give a donation and you go buy yourself a new wardrobe.

God says you need to work less, spend more time with the family, and you pile on the overtime.

Right?

God says, be faithful and you go MIA, you're gone.

Tarshish is the furthest place from God's will.

It's the furthest place.

God wanted Jonah to go to the Nineveh and give a word, but what Jonah was looking like is an example in the New Testament.

The New Testament Pharisees.

They were the church super saints.

They maybe want to discuss a little more theology.

Let's have another.

They loved the law and they loved to talk.

It was all about appearances and building their name.

And listen, church, it's not lost on me in 2022 that the church super saints still exist.

Satan uses that Pharisee spirit.

People today want to go where church is fine and Jesus is fine, and as long as it builds my network and gives me and my kids good social outlets, then that's fine.

But if CCW provides something that makes me feel uncomfortable, makes me feel convicted, makes me feel called, or makes me feel challenged, and I'm gonna be like Jonah and put on my Ninevehite Nikes and get out of here.

I'm gone.

Jonah looked like Usain Bolt.

2,500 miles the other way.

He just wanted to talk.

He wanted to minister the gospel where it was easy.

Give me a theological question.

We can do that, Lord.

What about reaching people that are an enemy?

Well, there is a scripture on that.

Love those who persecute you.

You see, we're a part of the church Big C.

That's the body of Christ.

And you're called and gifted to encourage the body here, the local New Testament church.

A body dedicated to serving a community with the gospel and sending the gospel.

That Pharisee spirit, the minute God begins to deal with a heart, the minute we're beckoned to get out of our box, people run.

Hear me.

Jonah's call was not a call about comfort, and neither is God's call on your life.

Jesus exchanged heaven's glory as one with the Father, came to earth and became a man, and he hurt and he bled and he died a thief's death.

And he said, if they hated me and you follow me, they'll hate you.

And he says, There's a blessing.

Happiness comes to those who are persecuted for my name's sake.

If you get mocked, if you get made fun of, if you experience trial for my name, there's a blessing attached to that.

What about other things he said?

He said, Deny yourself.

Pick up your cross.

God might call you, listen to me, church, to share with your coworker.

God might call you to make a meal for your rude neighbor.

God might call you to a missions trip.

He might tell you to forgive somebody and you say, I deserve to be angry, God.

He might call you to serve.

He might call you to unity when you like to be contentious.

Say, God, now wait a second.

I love to disagree.

Don't tell me to be unified.

Behold, brethren, what a good thing it is when we have unity, Psalms 133.

But I just like to disagree with people.

Anybody got people like this in your life?

I've had some.

I'm like, it does not matter what I bring up, I'm gonna get a disagreement.

That's the quickest way to get a person out the door.

God might tell you to give money.

Jonah didn't like his assignment, so he attempted to run from God's presence, from God's will.

Look at verse 3 again.

I want you to see something else.

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarsus from the presence of the Lord.

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

So he paid the fare.

He paid the fare.

Running from God means you got to get the ticket.

So Jonah had to pick up the tab.

When you're in the center of God's will, it's God's ticket.

Where God guides, God provides.

And let me tell you, we have lived a testimony in that in our life.

God's provision is unbelievable.

Once Jonah takes off, he had to pay the fare.

In order to run from God, you are going to pay a cost.

It always costs.

It might cost you time, it might cost you money, it might cost you progress, it might cost you health, it might cost you peace, it might cost you unity.

You will always pay a fee.

And Jonah had to pick up the fare.

Might cost you mental stability, might cost you purpose.

It's always gonna be a bill.

You know, I've never gotten a flat tire once on the way to church.

I'm just saying.

I was in the middle of God's will.

God never struck my tires.

I've gotten flat tires when I've been trying to grind away, trying to make some extra money doing things.

When I've been right in the middle of God's purpose, God's providing.

If you go 2,500 miles outside of God's will, you can expect what's coming in next week.

Bad weather.

Bad weather's coming if you go 2,500 miles outside of God's will.

You can expect it.

Don't expect an easy ride on a boat to Rebellion Road.

Don't expect an easy ride.

That's the commercial for next week.

What do we do when we run into a storm?

Because that's what Jonah did.

He boarded a boat and headed into his storm.

Letter B is this, Jonah's flesh.

How did all this happen?

His flesh became sour.

Souring in the flesh is a dark place, church.

It's an apathetic place, a place of mediocrity.

It's that pit in your stomach place, an unfulfilling place.

Have you ever done something wrong for way too long?

And you knew it?

Listen to me.

I want you to see as part of Jonah's confession later.

This is how we know that he he was feeling this.

Jonah 2, 4 says, Then I said, I have been cast out of your sight.

Yet I will look again towards your holy temple.

He was away from God.

He confesses.

You don't confess if you're not wrong.

But then he continues to battle.

We'll see in weeks to come in Jonah chapter 3, verse 10.

Jonah 3:10

He's still struggling with the call.

Then God saw their works.

Verse 10, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

Verse chapter 4, but it displeased Jonah and he became angry.

Jonah's still dealing with this struggle.

Listen to me, John 10, 27 says this about a Christian.

The most miserable place on earth, church, is being a prophet of God, being called of God, with God's message in your bones, but your back turned.

Peter denied God three times and he got depressed.

He saw, warming his hands by a fire, trying to figure out is he even gonna be able to be a disciple?

What is he gonna do next?

Judas, for 30 pieces of silver, betrayed the Savior of the world.

And when he was through, it ate him up.

He went out and hung himself.

It was depressing.

A person running on rebellion road is depressed.

You're a bloodbought child of a king, but you can experience real discouragement if you decide I'm not gonna live under that kingship.

And it's real and it's a dark place for a Christian.

It's a souring place.

It's running to Tarsus.

It's pulling a tug of war rope with God on the other end.

So, what causes, real quick, some practical things, some causes and signs of souring to be looking at?

Why don't you see?

This is a temperature check for yourself.

A Christian going sour.

This is what happens.

Number one, they begin to care deeply about the approval.

That word approval, approval of the world.

That's a souring Christian.

I need the approval of the world.

I need other people to think highly.

I need people to care about me.

The Joneses.

I need people to know me and love me.

Two, anger.

Approval the word.

Anger in your heart.

If you don't confess anger, if you don't get it right, it becomes bitterness.

Three, the advisors in your life, the counsel in your life, the friendships.

You begin to sour because of the people that are around you.

Number four, the ambition in your life begins to change.

Signs of souring.

For a Christian, what that looks like in your daily walk.

Number one, a lack of prayer and Bible reading.

Hear me, church.

I know you're in church, you go, well, this is what he has to say.

If you can't find the time to get in God's word, it will sour your Christianity.

If you can't find the time to spend with God in prayer, it will source you.

Cannot do it in and of your own moral self.

Number two, missing church.

Won't bother you.

It's not a big deal.

I come sometimes.

I don't have to, I don't need to be around God's people.

Worship music becomes background noise.

When you hear it, you don't want to get into the presence of God.

It's just noise.

Sin doesn't bother you like it once did.

That's another thing.

And the last thing is other Christians, Christians that seem filled with God, irritate you.

Oh, you're just so bubbly.

Sad enough of them.

Should be a club for that kind.

Jonah's flesh had become sour.

Let her see that we see as Jonah's flight was senseless.

It says, He paid the fare and went down into that ship to go with them to Tarshish.

Trying, trying, listen to me, trying to flee from the presence of God.

How senseless.

I've got a video I want you to see before it comes on.

I want to share.

In this video, you're going to see a crowd of people who have been offered two$100 bills to go and do something.

Okay?

And then you're going to see one man in the video.

I want to see if you can identify the man who's not going that same direction.

Go ahead and play that video.

See if you can identify the man.

Get set go.

Anybody identify the man going the wrong direction?

His father right now has his eyes covered.

Look, I got really close to that bull's tail.

It was gonna win me two$100 bills.

And the bull got there and I was I was by myself.

It was me and the bull, and he turned around, and that was it.

That's all I needed to see.

But then there was Jason.

Barak is the word here, to flee.

And that word means to hasten, to take flight.

But Jonah arose to flee.

Flee from what?

The presence of the Lord?

Seriously?

What could be more senseless?

Listen to me, hear me.

We're thinking about Jonah, but I want you to think about your life and your call.

Some people hear you were 15-year-old and God put something on your heart.

And you knew it was as real as it could be.

There's people in here, there's a call in your life right now, there's something that you know you should be doing.

God's whispered it, you know it, but you're looking at all the things stacked against that possibility, and you're saying, It's impossible.

I want you to know we serve a God of the impossible.

Jonah tried to get away from God's presence.

You know, Proverbs 15, 3 says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

How do you get away from that presence?

Hebrews 4.13 says, Nothing in creation is hidden from God's sight.

Everything is laid bare before Him.

Where can I go?

Listen, I want to read to you a couple of scriptures from Psalms 139.

It says, Psalms 139, 7, you can go all the way to verse 18.

We won't go through them all.

Where can I go to get from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, you're there.

If I make my bed in hell, behold, you're there.

If I take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, you are there.

Even then your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me, for your you form my inward parts, you cover my mother's womb.

I will praise you.

I was fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works, my soul knows well, my frame was never hidden from you.

When I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written, days fashioned for me.

Listen to me.

Listen to what it says.

How precious are your thoughts on me, O God.

How great is the sum of them.

If I should count them, it'd be more than the sand, the number than the sand.

When I'm awake, you're with me.

How foolish is it for us to believe for a moment that we could get out of God's presence.

He has a call for your life, and he loves you.

He says, You're marvelous and wonderful.

I have made you for this time right here, right now, and I've never once made a mistake, and I made you on purpose with a purpose to speak and declare my name.

Before you were born, before you breathed in earth's air, God had a perfect plan for your life.

How can we then question that plan?

When you take a right turn to Joppa, you willfully choose to put God's plan in question.

God has a will.

Why would we fight against it?

God has a plan.

And it involves furthering his kingdom through you and the church.

Jonah loved God, but Jonah hated Nineveh.

And God's word says this.

This is what we got to reconcile.

I love God, preacher, but God says, love everyone.

When you take on his call, he says, love those who use you.

Love your enemy.

Listen to me.

He might tell you to get it right right now with that difficult family member.

Let me tell you this.

You say, I just I can't.

I can't face that.

The gospel's not going to make them any worse.

Your opportunity, the thing that you got to do to set up the talk is not going to make them any worse.

They might reject it, but at least you have loved.

You see, somewhere along the line, Christians started wanting lost people to act saved.

What are we doing?

Jonah's like, if the Ninevites would just act saved, I'd go.

Well, they're lost.

And they need Jesus.

And we're like, well, there are these people in my family, Pastor, you don't understand.

Yeah, I probably do.

They're probably lost.

And they need what you got.

Well, they act like lost people, rude, discourteous, hateful, whatever they act like.

Go love them.

They need it.

There's a reason they're lost.

They haven't responded to the gospel.

And if you got it, you're like, well, I do.

I always gotta be the one.

I always gotta be the one that you know stands above.

Yeah.

Yeah, you do.

I'm not saying it's not hard.

But God didn't call you to comfort, He called you to go.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

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Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.