Running on Fumes

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Jonah chapter 4.

Jonah 4 · chapter mention

We've been going through the book of Jonah.

We've got two messages left in the book of Jonah.

Now, next week, Sylvester's going to be preaching the stars down.

He's up next Sunday, and I can't wait to hear it.

And uh so it's gonna be a great Sunday, next Sunday with him.

And then the following Sunday, I'll come back, the Sunday before Easter.

Now, listen of Easter, listen to me.

I got I got the resurrection.

I've been studying.

Let me tell you why I said that.

I had a guy tell me, a preacher, I just heard a preacher preach why he didn't believe in the resurrection.

Why he didn't believe in Easter.

I heard that on the radio.

Yes.

And I'm sitting here, I can't believe I'm listening to what I'm listening to.

So I kept, so that's the Easter.

In fact, he was he was going on about Easter now, Easter, I don't know what is such a big deal.

And uh, so uh I can I say something?

It's not a big deal, it's the deal.

Amen.

I mean, it's the deal.

Without the resurrection, our faith is vain.

And I love what Paul said.

Behold, he said, I'm he that liveth and was dead, but whole, I'm alive forevermore.

But he says, hey, he's the resurrection and the life.

He that believeth in me shall never die.

So he is the deal.

I promise you.

So don't ever forget that.

So the Eastern resurrection's kind of been on my mind because I just listened to this preaching for 20 minutes.

Then I find I'm sitting there debating and quoting scripture to everything he was saying, saying, You this is wrong.

You this is you're a false prophet.

And that's what he was.

So, and I'll just tell you what it like it is.

But anyway, I can't wait for us to start our new series right after Thanksgiving.

And by the way, now, Thanksgiving, if you know someone, in fact, we got a couple of things.

We got the food drives going on back there with Deedra and Rose Marie.

We got the food drive bags.

Be bringing in your bags.

We hope we will surpass what we did last year.

And we had a good, I think over 1,500 pounds.

I think that's what Keith told me.

In fact, Keith Brown's dad died uh Friday.

Their funerals this afternoon at one o'clock.

So would you be lifting up Keith Brown?

He is such a close friend of ours.

He works with our association.

He heads up uh the food uh distributed uh uh situations there with the association, and we do such a great job.

We really do minister into the whole of Shelby County with his dad's funeral.

Uh Keith had a tough year.

His wife had breast cancer, but I got that under control.

But just left Keith around his family up.

He's a time and a true servant of the Lord, and I love him so much, a dear friend.

But anyway, the food truck will be here two weekends from now.

So you need to here's what y'all want you to do.

Go invite your neighbors for Thanksgiving dinner right here.

We're gonna give them the best turkey they've ever had.

We're gonna feed them, and then we've we can supply about 25 boxes of food to needy families, okay?

We really can.

So would you please help us find the needy families?

Now we've got several already.

We know that we minister to, they'll be here.

But this is a great opportunity for you to know people that need help, to invite them to be your guest on Thanksgiving service the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and not just bless them individually and personally here, but then we'll make sure they get a good box of food for their Thanksgiving and their family.

So that's what we do here.

But we need you to help us.

So anybody and you have people in your school, I tell the parents, you know, people, uh, children that's friends with your children, that they're, you know, they don't have a whole lot.

You know that.

And we will not embarrass them in any way.

In fact, that's what I love about our church.

Hey, you walk on this campus, we don't care who you are, what color you are, what social status you are, we love you.

We love you, and we're here to bless you and minister to you.

We're not interested in your past, we're interested in your future.

Amen.

And God's got a fantastic future for you.

I guarantee it.

And that's why God has been blessing our church.

So would you please uh do that in our food drive and then our Christmas box, the children's shoe boxes, we're getting ready for Christmas.

I mean, this right now starts to the end of the year is one of my favorite times of the year.

Because it's a thankful time.

We're helping people all the time anyway, but we really go out of our way to help us.

And please let us know, you know, any way we can help our association.

Um they uh uh they you know come alongside us and we are alongside them to help people with Christmas and stuff.

So we are here to be a blessing.

So if you know a need, let us know.

Let our office know.

We'll get in contact with our social.

We will meet those needs.

So we love you.

Jonah chapter four.

Jonah chapter four.

Today's title is Are You Running on Fumes?

Hello.

You say, well, I don't know if I'm running on fumes.

Well, if you don't know, you are.

Because you know if you're full or not.

Amen.

Have you ever run out of gas?

I know now.

My granddad said if anybody runs out of gas, they're not real smart.

Guess what?

I've run out of gas more than once.

So I'm not real smart.

But can I get you to be honest with me?

How many of us have run out of gas?

The majority of us, and some of you did, and you're just lying again, but that's okay.

That's okay.

We love you anyway.

We love you anyway.

I mean, that's a very, very sick feeling, isn't it?

I I won't call any names, but he plays the drums.

He calls me one morning, he had just left the house, and he's living with us right now, and he said, Pastor Daddy.

Well, first of all, he'd call Benji, and Benji said, I don't know what to do.

And so then he calls Pastor Daddy, and so he just he hadn't gone a block from the house, and he's up here by the clock.

And I run up, I said, All right, Ben, I'll let me come up there.

It's probably your battery.

So I grabbed my battery thing that I keep in my truck, and we I go up there and I said, Well, let me try it first.

And it goes, mm-mm, mm-mm.

I said, that's not a battery.

Then I, as I do, I look at the gas gauge.

The needle is beyond E.

Hello.

E stands for what?

Empty.

I said, Ben, when's the last time you put gas in this thing?

Well, a couple of weeks ago.

I said, I love you, brother.

Get the gas can.

So we went back and put the gas in the crank right up.

It's amazing.

What gas does in a vehicle.

And I said that to say this.

It's amazing what the Holy Spirit does in our lives when we're walking and filled with the Spirit of the living God.

Because when you are walking in the flesh, you are walking, hey, and you are walking in the flesh, you are living on fumes.

You are headed to empty.

And when you get empty, you are headed to disaster.

And that's what we see with Jonah.

Throughout this whole four chapters, we see Jonah, his problem was he was running on empty.

He was trying to do the work of the ministry without the Lord of the ministry.

Woo! Hello.

I'm gonna say that again.

You didn't get it.

He was trying to do the work of the ministry without the Lord of the ministry.

And how many of us have been guilty of that?

Many of us.

Doing the work, doing the action without the power, doing the preaching without the power.

Doing the ministry without the love of God.

Amen?

So that's the message.

Running on fumes today.

It's gonna be good.

So let's look at it.

And then, by the way, after Sylvester, the last message, we're looking at verses 1 through 3 today, then 4 through 11, two weeks from now, is we're gonna end it, this series, with stinking thinking.

Hello?

Because that's what Jonah was doing.

He had some stinking thinking.

And so that will be the last message.

And then we'll start after Thanksgiving our series on the Christ of Christmas.

It's gonna be good.

If men were writing the Bible, apart from the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they would have quit in chapter three.

At the end of chapter three, we would have quit.

Because we all love happy endings.

How many of you are guilty of going to the end of the book before you read it and reading the end to see what happens?

All right, don't don't don't don't be telling a story on me again now.

Okay?

And if it's not a happy ending, most of the time I won't read the book.

Because why do I want to waste my time and my energy to read something that I don't like the way it ends?

Hello.

That's why all these new shows on TV, I just get disgusted and don't watch them.

Because they never end.

You gotta watch the sucker all semester.

I don't have time to do that.

Well, somebody said, Well, I just record them and watch them all at one set, and I said, Who would do that?

Good grief.

Oh, I'll take a weekend and just go off to the morning.

Give me a break.

But anyway, I mean if it's not a good ending, we don't like it.

Well, guess what?

Chapter 3 was a fantastic ending.

It ended in victory.

It ended in revival.

The whole city comes to know Christ.

Almost 600,000 people.

Hey, the young, the old.

Everybody gets saved.

And this a major revival to the most horrible, most ungodly people, the Ninevites and the Assyrians.

They would have been the Nazis of Germany back in the days when they killed, massacred over six million Jews.

That's the way they were.

And they hated the Jews as vehemently as Hitler did.

So, and I'm not going back to go over that, you've been with me.

So we see that.

So now revival breaks out.

Now I don't know about you, but if I'm a pastor and I am, and Westover, the whole city of Westover and Chelsea comes to know Christ, revival breaks out.

I'm gonna, you you wouldn't want to be around me.

I'd just be running that 91 acres all the time.

Woo! Jesus is awesome, Jesus is awesome.

I'd be so excited.

But that's not what happened to John.

He was not excited about the revival coming to Nineveh.

Now, if we stopped at chapter three, we'd say, amen, great.

But aren't you glad that God divinely wrote the word of God and not man?

Because chapter four is probably the most important chapter of the whole book, which I it's the most ununderstandable chapter, because Jonah repents and then he comes back with a bad attitude, and then the question is, well, did he really repent?

Yes, but why did he go back, hey, and have a bad attitude after after he repented?

Because that's what you and I do.

Hello.

Ooh, that was all.

That one hurt.

Man, you repent, you get right with God, you've worked.

Next thing you know, a week later, maybe a month, if we're lucky, and you're right back doing old bad attitude again and complaining and griping.

Can I get a no-me?

Why is that?

Because we're running on fumes.

And not walking in the Holy Spirit of the living God.

So that's the message.

We would miss all the vital lessons that God teaches us in chapter 4.

Jonah does, by the way, let me tell you what I love about Jonah here.

He does nothing half-heartedly.

Can I get an amen?

I mean, he's all in or all out.

Listen, guilty.

One thing about your pastor, you'll never have to worry about me doing anything half-heartedly.

I'm either all in or all out.

Amen.

And if I'm all in, get out of the way.

Leave, follow, get out of the way.

Amen.

Let's go.

Don't do anything half-heartedly, what Jonah didn't.

In fact, in chapter one, he disobeys God with full speed.

In chapter two, he repents with great earnestness.

In chapter three, hey, he preaches with great dedication.

And now we come to chapter four, and in chapter four, he's going to be as unhappy.

Hey, no, he's not just unhappy, he's very unhappy.

Jonah was not, hey, just displeased and angry.

He was exceedingly displeased and very angry.

In fact, he was either very cold or very hot.

In chapter 4, he is spiritually cold.

And the problem is no longer Nineveh, because Nineveh has come to Christ.

They've come to hey, to know Jesus.

Revival's broken out.

It's no longer Nineveh is the problem, Jonah's the problem.

Hello.

Isn't it a matter how we try to blame everybody else for our problems when we're the problem?

Oh, ooh, help us, Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Help us.

Help me.

We're the problem.

You know what my granddaddy used to teach me?

He said, if you're, hey, if you have any problem with anybody else, you're the problem.

I never understood that until I really got saved and started walking in the spirit.

I am the problem.

Because if I'm walking in the spirit, it doesn't matter what you do to me.

What matters is how I respond back to you.

And if I'm walking in the spirit, I will respond with love.

Just like Jesus did on Calvary.

Amen?

Father, forgive them.

Boy, couldn't that be unbelievable if we all had that kind of love and the kind of forgiving spirit?

You know, husbands and wives wouldn't fight.

I don't fight with Susan anyway, because I never went.

By the way, men, I'll help you out.

Go ahead and surrender.

You ain't gonna win.

And my wife saying, yep, amen.

But really, really, notice what Jonah.

Man, this is so good.

What is Jonah's problem?

He's running on fumes.

Now, what caused this emptiness?

Number one, let's look at it.

Let's get ready.

Get your outline.

Here we go.

Number one, let's first of all look at the displeasure of Jonah.

Verse one, but it displeased Jonah.

Now, watch, exceedingly, and he was very angry.

Man, I'm shocked.

Jonah's upset.

Revival has come.

Now, Satan should be upset, but not the Christian.

Not the Christian.

Satan's crowd ought to be upset.

The drug dealers, the pimps, the prostitutes, the pornographers, and the gamblers, and the dirty politician.

They all hate God, want to kick God out of everything, and are doing a pretty good job of it.

But not Christians.

Notice that the resistance to revival comes.

I want you to put a note somewhere.

Notice that the resistance to revival comes from the carnal Christian.

Hello.

The resistance to revival came from within.

When I saw that, I started thinking about over the 35 years of ministry I've been in.

And I've watched God in churches move so greatly and mightily.

Why?

Carnal Christianity will kill a revival in a heartbeat.

Hello.

See, it's not the world.

Because we're going after the world.

They're lost.

They, hey, they don't know any better, but we Christians know better.

We see Jonah resisting revival to the Ninevehes.

That's unbelievable.

Now watch.

Jonah was look at the word displease, which means, let me tell you what the word displease means.

It's a powerful word.

It's the Hebrew word Yah.

Yahrah.

And it literally means to, hey, are you ready for this?

It means to evil or bad.

That's what it means.

I mean, he was so mad that he wanted evil to come to the Ninevehes, not good.

God help us.

And notice what else it says.

In other words, Jonah considered the deliverance of Nineveh to be evil or bad.

He was, and now notice the word exceedingly.

It's the Hebrew word Gadol, Gadol, which means great magnitude.

He was also, and then look at the other, very angry.

Hurrah, which means to burn, kindle, grieve, hot with anger, and disturb within.

Jonah was all burned up with anger because revival had come to Nineveh.

Now let me tell you what, let me bring that to today.

You know what?

Many of us are sitting here today, and we're all burned up inside.

Why?

We're bitter.

Bitterness is the burned up inside today.

You're bitter.

You haven't forgiven someone, or you haven't forgiven God.

And by the way, the reason you haven't forgiven someone if you've got that malice and that anger and that bitterness that you're holding on to, it's because, hey, you haven't received the forgiveness of God.

You haven't come to the place in your own life that you realize that it was God's grace and God's love and God's forgiveness for you that you became a Christian.

When you really understand that relationship, ladies and gentlemen, that all your righteousness is as filthy rags.

There's none righteous, no, not one.

There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God.

You will learn to love and forgive.

Because God so loved you and forgave you.

Is that not good?

So we see that.

He is burning up inside.

Listen, I want you to see this.

Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 9.

Ecclesiastes 7:9

When we are in that state, when we are resisting the movement of God in our own lives and in our church, watch what happens.

Be not hasty in the spirit to be angry.

For anger, hey, resteth in the bosom of fools.

In other words, when we're holding that bitterness and that anger, we're just foolish.

We're foolish.

You know who you're hurting?

You're not.

I know you may think you're hurting the person that you're bitter toward, or you're trying to get them back, but it's not.

You're the one that's, hey, you're the one that's being hurt.

And you don't even know it sometimes.

And you wonder why you're sick and your high blood pressure and all that, all these things that lead to one root problem: bitterness.

Bitterness.

So the Bible says in Proverbs 14, 17, he that is soon angry, watch, deals foolishly.

Wow.

In other words, you're gonna make foolish mistakes when you're hanging on to that bitterness.

And the reason you're hanging on to the bitterness is because you are running on fumes.

You're empty.

That's why you respond that way.

Boy, is that not good?

So why is Jonas so angry?

This experience has drained him.

He was drained physically, he was drained emotionally, he was drained mentally, and he was drained spiritually.

Wow.

I mean, he had hit rock bottom.

He is running on empty.

He may have felt that God made a fool of him.

We don't know.

And you say, why would you say that?

Remember?

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell him, and he did in chapter 3.

He said, Hey, if you don't repent in 40 days, God's gonna, hey, God's gonna bring judgment.

And Jonah was wanting judgment to fall.

So now he looks like, hey, kind of an idiot.

He says to them, hey, if you don't change, in 40 days, God's gonna bring judgment on you.

Now, with his attitude toward them, isn't it amazing?

Even as great of a preacher as Jonah was, and a lot of people said he was the Billy Graham of his time, hey, he still, as he's preaching, doing the work of the ministry, does not have the love of the ministry.

Is that not scary?

How many times have we that are in full-time ministry, well, and by the way, we're all in full-time ministry, have mechanically done what we're supposed to do, but our hearts were not there.

Big difference, isn't it?

You know, you know what it is?

It's called the joy of the Lord.

Hey, when you're walking, hey, when your car is full, ha ha ha, you got the joy of going down the road knowing you're not gonna run out of gas.

Amen.

And you just, man, I'm I know I'm gonna get where I'm going, I'm gonna be on time, I've got everything planned.

It's my my car's full, I'm ready, I'm going, and I can't wait to get there.

But all of a sudden you look up and you're out in the woods, or you're out in the big back roads or somewhere, no gas station, look down, your car's on empty, you're in trouble.

What do you start doing?

Oh, what about this?

Oh, run a gas.

Then you start panicking.

You start making foolish decisions.

Amen.

So, why is Jonas so angry?

Maybe God.

He felt like God let him down.

Or he's jealous.

Not only does bitterness and anger bring on this emptiness, let me tell you what else brings it on.

Jealousy.

Now, what do you mean?

He's jealous because now the Ninevites and the Assyrians, their arch enemies, are worshiping Jehovah.

Now, wait a minute, now wait a minute.

That's not good, that's not good.

The grace of God is only for the Israelites.

He wanted, hey, isn't it amazing when he's in the belly of the fish and he's asking for repentance when God deals graciously with him?

He's a, hey, thank you, God, but now he's dealing graciously with the Nineveh and He's mad.

Hello?

You ever been there?

You know, God's blessing other people, and you're a good Christian, and you've been praying for him, and God starts blessing your prayers, and but yet you're not getting blessed like that.

And you now you never tell anybody, but you say, Well, I don't understand.

Lord, I'm getting blessed more than I am.

Well, I don't understand why that church down the road's got more people than we got.

They must be doing something that's not right.

Hello?

Little selfishness, major selfishness.

In this one verse, you're gonna see six times where Jonah says, I my, I my, I my.

Talking about selfishness.

So he's selfish.

His enemies are now worshiping Jehovah, just like the Jews.

They have now received God's mercy and grace.

They repented, and here's what was really getting him.

They had repented when Israel didn't.

Woo! Israel was still being negative and doubting God and not being obedient to God, but now their arch enemies have repented and worshiping the king of kings and been obeying God.

Whoa, he's upset.

I preached to my old people and they won't do squat, and I preached to my enemies and they listen.

I've been there, I feel that way sometimes.

Y'all walk out of here and you didn't hear a word I said.

And I just have my own pity party.

They don't hear anything I say.

I study all the way, I preach my heart out, and they just go out there and still live like the devil.

They don't listen.

That's what Susan says to me sometimes.

Hebrews 12, 15, looking.

Look at what he says.

Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up troubles you.

Now watch.

And thereby many be defiled.

Folks, don't do this.

Don't be jealous.

Don't be, hey, hey, resistant to what God wants to do in your life.

Most of us sometimes miss what God has for us because we resist what God wants for us.

Why?

Because we're walking in the flesh and not in the spirit.

We're doing it our way and not God's way.

Big difference.

Big difference.

Ephesians 4.31, you don't have this.

God gave me this early this morning.

He says, listen to what he says in Ephesians 4.31.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you.

But be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.

Ephesians 4.31, 32.

Is that not good?

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

Thank you, I will punch him.

Punch him.

Rose from me, you got my permission.

If he won't say it, you say it.

That's true.

Number two.

Look what else brought this unbelievable running on empty.

First of all, the displeasure of Jonah.

Secondly, the demeanor of Jonah.

Look at verse 2.

And this is good.

And he prayed unto the Lord and said, I, now underline the word I am I.

And he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord.

Was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country, therefore I fled before unto torchets, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

Six eyes and nighs in one verse.

You think he's self-centered?

You think it's all about him?

Hello.

All about him.

Now I'm going to go ahead and be honest.

I'm very guilty of this sometimes.

It's all about me.

Thank you for not saying amen.

But how many of you are right where I am?

It's all about you.

Huh?

Do you get up in the morning, first thing you think about is how you can bless other people, or do you get up in the morning and say, What am I going to do today?

What am I going to do today?

I am so guilty of that.

Jonah was selfish.

Here's another thing.

Hey, hey, you know what's so so exciting about this?

Jonah knew how God really was.

He knew God in an intimate way.

Or he had, but now he had kind of gotten away from God.

He had backslidden.

But he knew what God would do.

I mean, he had been a great preacher.

He was a great preacher.

Hey, he knew, he said, you know what he did?

He gets so mad, he looks at, he, he, hey, he's praying to God.

Now, this is a prayer of complaint.

Can I say something?

If you're going to pray and complain, don't pray.

Hello.

God's got enough ears already.

Somebody said, Well, prayerlessness is bad.

Well, I'm going to tell you what's worse than prayerlessness is praying, complaining.

Hello.

So here, you know what Jonah does?

He starts praying.

First of all, he was praying for deliverance in the belly of the fish in chapter 2.

So he's praying for deliverance and forgiveness.

Now he gets delivered and gets forgiven, and guess what?

It didn't last long.

God did what he said he was going to do.

God said he'd do what Jonah said, I'll do what you want me to do.

He went and did what he wanted God to do.

And because God, hey, told Jonah, if you'll do this, I'll do this.

He what?

Saved the whole city of Nineveh.

And now, instead of Jonah being excited, hey, he's upset.

But remember this, this is the part I want you to get.

Jonah said to God, praying to God complaining, I knew you would save him.

I knew it.

I knew it.

That's why.

And then he goes on, tries to excuse his disobedience.

Then he goes around.

He said, That's why I went to Tarsus, or tried to go to Tarsus, and you interrupted it.

That's why I was going away.

I didn't want to come to Nineveh.

I didn't want to preach to Nineveh.

Hey, I knew what you would do.

Now, folks, if this doesn't make a Presbyterian shout, nothing will.

You can be assured that if God tells you to do something and you do it, God will make sure that it happens.

Woo! That's good.

So the moral to that story and the truth, the application to that truth is when God tells you to do something, I don't care how ridiculous it may sound or circumstances may be, just do it.

And God will do the rest.

God will always do his part.

And we see that right here.

I meant, wow.

Wow.

It was okay for Israel's sins to be forgiven, but it wasn't okay for Nineveh's sins to be forgiven.

Huh.

His thinking is distorted.

Can I get an amen?

For quote it with me.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, whosoever, should not perish but have everlasting life.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.

God loves us all.

Red, yellow, black, and white, they're all precious in his sight.

Jesus loves the children of the world.

Can I get an amen?

Isn't that good?

Man, that's good.

So now let's look.

You say, well, didn't he repent of his repentance?

Jonah seems to repent of his repentance.

Did he not repent, preacher?

Well, let me just ask you, old sins rising up again and again.

Did that happen?

You know, you ask God to forgive you and you crucify it and you try to bury it, and after a while it comes back, that same temptation comes back again.

Anybody other than me have that problem?

Thank you.

Thank you.

The other half of you, I'm telling you, and my next series is online.

Not telling the truth.

Amen.

Oh me.

Now listen, hey, in fact, I was thinking about this.

Old sinful habits and temptations are like old soldiers.

They never die.

It is a battle.

I'm gonna help you.

That thing that you fight daily and you wonder what's wrong with you, there's nothing wrong with you.

It's normal.

It is a daily battle with that sin.

It's called the sin nature.

And that's not eradicated until we go to be with Him.

Why do you think heaven's gonna be so exciting?

Yes, family reunion.

Yes, we'll be with our loved ones.

Yes, we'll be together forever.

But something else, we won't have to fight temptation and sin anymore.

Woo! The disease, sin, everything's passed away.

Man, that's exciting.

Every day Satan tempts me to do wrong.

Amen.

I got two.

I'm gonna say that again.

Every day Satan tempts me to do wrong.

Amen.

And he does you too.

Paul says I have to die daily.

It is a daily crucifying the flesh so the spirit can live.

It is, whoo! Thank you, thank you.

It is a daily stopping at the gas station, putting ethyl in.

Did you hear that?

Ethel?

Putting ethyl in, putting the Holy Spirit in, and filling up the car.

It's that every day taking the Word of God and putting the Word in your heart, in your tank, memorizing it.

Hey, putting it in your mind, your heart, living it, memorizing it.

Hey, and then praying and asking God to help you take the word of God and live it out.

The application.

In fact, I think New Year's, our new series is gonna be.

After doing this, God's laying on my heart, I think I'm gonna go to Ephesians.

Put on the armor of God.

Yeah.

That's gonna be our new year, our New Year's series.

Benji, you like me to be ahead of time?

I'm way ahead.

Putting on the armor of God for 2016.

We're the battle.

We're the battle.

So, I die daily.

Jesus said, if any man come after me, what does he say?

Let him deny himself and what?

Take up his cross what?

Daily.

And follow me.

Luke 9, 23.

Number three.

We see the displeasure of Jonah, the demeanor of Jonah.

Now the third thing we see is the desire of Jonah.

Now this is pretty bad.

It's pretty.

I mean, Jonah's empty.

I mean, he's about as low as you can get.

Another great principle you must get.

Oh boy, this is good.

After the greatest revival in Old Testament history, used by Jonah used to bring the greatest revival in Old Testament history.

Now listen.

Used greatly.

Bam.

Right after that.

He has another great fall.

Here's.

By the way, the same thing happened to Elijah.

On Mount Carmel.

Destroyed 450 prophets of Baal, and one Jezebel ran him into a cave.

Don't marry Jezebel.

I shouldn't have said that.

My wife, I feel it, honey.

I feel it.

I know.

I saw Rosemary.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know.

Shouldn't have said that.

But hey, listen, Elijah.

Elijah on Mount Kerbal.

I meant, why?

He was exhausted.

He had been up 48 hours, run five and a half miles.

He had not taken time to be still and know that God.

He had not filled his tank back up.

You say, I don't have time for quite time.

You better make time.

The reason you get cranky and critical is because you're not, hey, you're running on empty.

You're running on fumes.

I can tell it.

Listen, I've been doing this so long.

I've been teaching so long.

I can tell with students.

I can tell when the students were sitting in my class and I'm talking to them.

I know which ones are, hey, filled and which ones are empty.

I used to start say, I'm just going to go by and after about 30 minutes, you're empty, you're full, you're empty.

Just by the way they would talk and the way they would.

You know, even if you feel bad, I know you're going to say, Well, I am what I am.

Well, bless God, you can be nice.

And by the way, I am what I am.

Well, that's not biblical change.

Let the Holy Spirit change you.

Amen.

Let the Holy Spirit change me.

But just smile at me.

Just smile at me.

Do you know it takes less muscles to smile than frown?

Everybody smiles.

I know you're empty.

You're empty.

Everybody.

I'm full of through you.

Now notice, this is unreal.

The desired Jonah.

Therefore, now, O Lord.

Look at verse 3.

Take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

After the greatest revival in Old Testament history, he says, kill me! Now that is about as selfish.

By the way, can I say something?

You know what suicide is?

It's selfishness.

When people think about killing, don't be, don't do that.

Don't let Satan bring you to the point where you think that you're.

And by the way, this selfishness comes from being, hey, running on fuse because you don't think anybody cares.

You don't think you're worth anything.

You don't think all these negative thoughts that Satan has placed in your brain, he thinks that you're worthless, you think that you're not pretty, you think that you're overweight, you think this, you think that.

Nobody cares.

My parents kicked me out of my house.

I was adopted.

I was a baby that was supposed to be aborted.

Oh, you can go down the.

I've heard it all.

I got news for you.

I was I was kicked out of my home.

And I, hey, when your mother and your father forsake you, nobody else cares about you.

That's somebody that loves you more than you can ever know.

He loves you so much that he died for you.

He died for you.

When your mother and father forsake you, the Lord will take you up.

Woo! Hallelujah.

Amen.

He loves you.

He's got something special.

Nobody's made like you're made.

There's no DNA like your DNA.

You get up and you tell the devil, you get up and you say, get thee behind me.

God made some good stuff.

God doesn't make junk.

Amen.

Some of you right now, you're feeling as low as you've ever felt.

I got good news.

God loves you.

I got good news.

You fill your tank up and watch what happens.

Woo! They'll be stopping you for speeding.

Sometimes you don't have to be filled up with spirit to do that.

Notice the book of Jonah speaks much about prayer.

Chapter 1, the sailors pray about the storm and casting Jonah into the sea.

They had a prayer for deliverance and forgiveness.

A prayer for deliverance from the storm and forgiveness for throwing the preacher over.

He did.

He told us to do it.

I don't know what.

Lord, we got to throw him over, please.

Chapter 2, the whole chapter is Jonah praying to God.

Repenting and forgiveness.

Chapter 3, Nineveh prays and cries out to God for forgiveness.

Chapter 4, Jonah offers a prayer, but it's a prayer of complaint.

Lord help us.

You know why?

Here's another one of these.

I hope you've been picking up on some of these nuggets about the Christians, carnal Christians resisting revival, selfishness.

Here's another word that popped up.

And someone that's running on empty.

Lack of contentment.

Jonah was not content with what God had told him to do.

Hello.

He was not accepting the situation that God said he had put him in and what he wanted to do.

You know why I know that?

He says, Why don't you just kill me?

I'm no good.

He had not accepted what God had told him to do.

He was discontented.

Now don't get so bent out of shape about Jonah, his prayer to die, which shows how illogical we pray when we're depressed and running on empty.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

Remember Moses?

Prayed the same thing.

Exodus 11, 15.

Remember Elijah?

I just talked to you about Elijah with the prophets.

Just kill me, God.

He said.

In fact, he really had a pretty bad pity party because he said, Oh Lord, I'm just the only one.

Whoa, there's that selfish, self-centeredness again.

God said, You're not the only one.

I got 7,000 ready to take your place.

I don't want anybody taking my place.

Amen.

I don't want anybody taking my place.

Have you ever been there?

Have you ever been empty?

Empty of God's love, power, strength, compassion, right priorities, submissive to the Lord's will and dedication.

He is out of gas right here, spiritually speaking.

Have you been there?

Yes.

Why?

Have you ever been tempted to quit or throw in the towel when I wrote this to me?

Because you've been attacked, not appreciated, you feel your work is fruitless, or you are wasting your time.

I have felt every one of those things.

Every one of them.

Especially when you're personally attacked.

Every one of them.

So how does a person get there?

Get ready.

This is good.

But by the way, let me give you a couple of scriptures about contentment.

Put down 1 Timothy 6, 6, but godliness with contentment is great gain.

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

And then Philippians 4 11, not that I speak, Paul said, in respect of want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am, there were to be content.

When you're filled up, you're content.

You know why?

You're full.

Once your car's full, you can't put any more gas in it.

It runs down on the pavement.

You're full.

When you're full, you're content.

You say, why is that?

Because you, hey, you know that you got what you need to go where you need to go.

You're full.

Jesus said, These things have spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

John 15, 11.

Man, that's good.

How does a person get to this point of emptiness running on fumes?

What are the conditions?

Here they are.

Ready?

Number one.

I call it the drain condition.

Jonah's alone, one man against the city.

His reputation as a prophet is at stake, and he is in the heart of the enemy territory.

He gave it all and has nothing left.

Drain people that do not refill their tank are the ones that are very easily, what?

To be critical about everything going on.

And by the way, it is as bad in the church as it is in the work arena.

I told a young preacher the other day, he said, I can't do anything right.

I said, Yes, you can if you're obeying the Lord, you can.

I said, he said, but people, I said, let me tell you, you know what keeps criticism down in a ministry?

I've been doing this 35 years.

I've learned a little bit.

You know what keeps criticism down in a ministry?

It's when lives are being changed, people are being saved, babies are being born again, and hey, people are being ministered to.

When nothing's happening and it's dead, people start looking inward.

But if it's alive and well and ministering and doing what God said, everybody's looking outwardly.

And they're serving, they're getting involved.

Don't have time for a part.

No, don't have time.

By the way, you know what I've learned at 35 years?

I have a hard enough time keeping me intact.

I don't need to try to keep you intact.

Hello?

Can I get an amen?

And I'm gonna help you.

And I say this as lovingly as I can.

You don't need to keep anybody else intact either because you've got a major job yourself.

Amen.

You just worry about making sure your tank's full.

Amen.

And everything else take care of itself.

Everybody be going down the expressway together, and nobody gives out a gas.

Notice the second thing: the distorted condition.

When people say bad things about you.

You ever been there?

Huh?

The drain condition.

Oh, let me give you the verse for that.

Well, it's there, but I didn't quote it to you.

Isaiah 40, 31, on the drain, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and faint not.

You just rock and run with the Lord.

You don't have to worry about being drained, he'll fill you up and keep you full.

Then the distorted condition.

Matthew 5, 11, 12.

Zeal is under attack by distortion of truth.

In other words, can you imagine what Jonah was thinking or what maybe was going on about his people, the colonel Israelis, hey, the colonel country of Israel?

What is he doing over there?

Has he lost it?

Oh, what is my what is our number one preacher, our number one prophet over there preaching to the worst enemies that we have?

Boom, boom, boom.

Just let him have it.

Let him have it.

And then he's there not knowing what the Ninevites are thinking.

Listen to what Jesus said about the distorted condition.

Let me let me go ahead.

I'm gonna help you.

Listen to me.

I'm gonna help you here.

I don't care who you are, I don't care what position you're in in leadership or serving God at work in the marketplace.

I don't care.

If you're doing anything for God, people are gonna criticize you.

So go ahead and get ready for it.

But let me tell you how you can do that in a loving way.

Right here.

Jesus said to the disciples, rejoice and be exceedingly glad.

Be glad when you get criticized.

As long as it's criticism for you doing right.

Okay, there let me distinguish that and define that.

Notice what he says.

For great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted the prophets which were before you.

And look at verse and well, actually, go back to verse.

Yeah, blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner are evil against you.

Now here's the key word.

What does it say?

Falsely.

For my sake.

Number three, the devastated condition.

The results from fatigue produced by people or events opposed to what you stand for.

Oh, boy, we're gonna get I'm already getting it now.

You know what we are?

If we preach against homosexuality, that God created that God established the home for one man and one woman till death do you part, when you preach all that, it's not politically correct.

When you preach the truth, the word of the living God, hey, hey, you're gonna be persecuted.

We're gonna go.

They're saying now, when I preach against homosexuality, I preach against abortion, I preach against any biblical truth that opposes political correctness, it's hate speech.

Well, look what Paul said about it.

We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

Now look at verse 6.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that's what we are, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now watch verse 7.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and it's not I but Christ.

Now I love verse 8.

This is it.

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.

You know what that means?

It's coming from every direction.

Hey, but you're not knocked down.

Or if you're knocked down, you're not knocked out.

We are perplexed, but not in despair.

Persecuted, but not forsaken.

Cast down, but not destroyed.

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Woo! It's coming, it's there, it's here.

And America's starting to experience the persecution that's been going on ever since Jesus' time.

It's just now coming to America.

But I got news for you.

The righteous fall seven times, but they get back up.

Proverbs 24, 16.

Amen.

They get back up.

Number four, the disillusioned condition.

You know what this is?

Zeal is neutralized by the deflation of dreams.

Moses took 40 years.

Remember, he failed.

He thought he was through.

Remember, he was going to deliver his people.

But the problem with Moses on the first attempt, he did it his way instead of God's way.

He said, I'll deliver the people and ended up killing the commander, and then they, hey, they came after him, and he had to go to the backside of the desert and live for 40 years as a fugitive.

40 years.

What do you think he was?

He was back there with nobody but sheep.

It doesn't get any lower than that.

If he had to talk, he had to learn sheep language.

You thought Spanish was hard.

What about sheep language?

Disillusion.

You know what?

We're tempted to do exactly what Moses did.

Withdraw.

That's the worst thing we can do is to withdraw.

One of the greatest battles of the Civil War.

Was at Gettysburg.

It was the greatest battle of the Civil War.

But there was a heel called Roundtop.

Anybody familiar with that?

Colonel James.

Ended up being the governor three different times in the state of Illinois.

He is a graduate from seminary.

He's a preacher, but he was a colonel.

The Southern Army had attacked Roundtop four times.

If the Southern Army had taken Roundtop, they would have won Gettysburg.

Because Roundtop would have put them on the top down into the heart of the Union Army.

They would have been able to take their artillery and easily have won the battle.

The last charge, the fourth charge, the Union Army was out of ammo.

They all turned to Colonel.

We gotta go back to the main army.

We're out of ammo.

If they charge again, we're through.

They'll kill us and overrun us.

What are we gonna do?

He paused, he prayed, and he said, put your bayonets on.

Everybody ban that up.

We're gonna charge.

They said, What?

Charge! And sure enough, over 2,000 or 1,500 to 1,800 Union soldiers charged over four to five thousand Southern army that was at the bottom of the hill.

And they came, just hollering, you know, shouting, ah! Long story short, true story.

It scattered the army, they scattered.

And Round Top was secured as a northern army hill.

So when it looks like you're through, folks, you don't quit and run.

You charge.

You charge.

You don't give up.

You charge.

And if God be for us, who can be against us?

The defeated condition, the person is defeated from failure.

You know how many elections Abraham Lincoln won?

Two.

You know how many he ran?

Twenty-four.

Ran 24 times for office.

One first time he ran as a congressman and then was defeated after four years or two years.

And he ran the next 22 times and was defeated in all his attempts and everything he ran for, except the last one.

And you know what it was?

The presidency of the United States.

He became one of the greatest presidents, if not the greatest president of the United States.

He never quit.

He didn't give up.

He got back up.

And then number seven, the dishearted condition.

The person feels intimidated when others appear more powerful than God.

Remember the spies went into Promised Land?

They thought the giants were more powerful than God.

Hello.

Can I say something?

I don't care what you're facing.

Nothing's more powerful than my God.

Nothing.

But they won, you know what it cost them?

They wandered 40 years in the wilderness by not trusting God.

Yep.

But they still had to wonder for 40 years.

So what does that mean?

That means, oh, that's another message.

I don't want to get on this rabbit, but it's a good rabbit.

Hey, you can be right, but if the majority is wrong, you still pay too.

Hello?

Ooh, you have to go through it with them.

That's why you go to your brother and say, please get straight.

Get right.

Because judgment.

Hey, your wrong affects everybody.

Come on, say amen with me.

Your wrong affects everybody.

If you're part of the family.

All right, I gotta wrap this up.

You ready?

So how do we overcome these conditions?

Number one, have the right disposition.

The right attitude.

Say that with me.

Right attitude.

Right attitude.

There should be a spirit of compliance, not conflict.

1 Peter 3.8, finally be of one mind, having compassion, one for another.

Number two, be one, hey, with the Holy Spirit.

One in the direction of what the Holy Spirit tells us to do, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4.3.

Number three, we are to be united in our, hey, one dependence upon the Lord.

We are to be one in faith.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

Ephesians 4, 4 and 6, there's one body, one spirit.

Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all.

Wow.

We're to be one in doctrine and delightful fellowship.

I love this.

This is our verse that birthed this church right here.

Acts 2.42, and they continue.

This is our heartbeat steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking bread and in prayers.

People ask me all the time, why do we feed every week?

Here, it's the love feast.

In 1 Corinthians, they did the love feast.

This is why we fellowship.

We believe it's the New Testament principle and example.

Being one in doctrine and delightful fellowship.

We're to be united, number five, in duty and devotion for one another.

You gotta hear this.

Look at this one.

This verse is worth us reading.

1 Corinthians 12, 25, and 26, these two.

Listen, that there should be no schisms.

You know what that word means?

No divisions, no backbiting, no criticizing, no schisms.

I didn't say we couldn't have different opinions, but not to the point where it divides the body.

But that the members should have the same care one for another.

And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Hey, right now we've got so many people that have lost loved ones.

We mourn with them, we hurt with them.

I had a guy ask me the other night, he'd call me, and I hadn't had this happen in a long time.

I was in one of the small groups, and he called me yesterday.

He said, Pastor, I I I just wanted to talk to you.

Are you okay?

I said, Yeah, I'm okay.

He said, Well, you were in our small group the other night and you just didn't act yourself.

He said, and I love you, and I just want you to know that.

Are you okay?

And I said, You know what?

Thank you for asking.

It's been a long time since somebody's asked me.

Am I okay?

Because I'm usually one, are you okay?

Are you okay?

But they asked me, he asked me whether it's okay.

I said, Yeah.

He said, Well, I just you felt like you got a lot on you.

I said, I do.

And I started, I didn't call any names, I just started talking about situations.

So-and-so's died, so-and-so's breaking up, their families, their kids are running wild, and I I just started going down the line of all the things that on my prayer sheet I'm praying for.

And how my heart was aching for my people.

He said, I understand now.

But this is what Paul's saying.

When your people hurt, that's why you want to be a part of a church like CCW or a church like CT CCW.

I know everybody's not gonna join this church.

I understand that.

But I'm telling you one thing: if you join here and you want to be a part of this ministry, you're gonna, hey, you better not want to be loved and cared for and taken care of and prayed for.

And if you don't come church, we're gonna check on you.

You don't want to be here.

We care about you.

I'm a shepherd.

We are shepherds.

We love you.

And that's what Paul's saying right here.

Undoubtedly, Jonah didn't understand that about the Ninevites.

He didn't understand it.

And then we are to be united in our dialogue and declarations.

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment.

What that means is, hey, we may not agree with the color, all that, but we agree on this that Jesus is the way, the truth, the light.

No man can come into the Father except by Jesus, and that's what our main thing is, the main thing, and we're gonna keep the main thing, the main thing, Jesus and Him crucified.

Amen.

And then the last thing, and I'm through.

We're to be united in delivering God's word.

You come here, you're gonna be taught the word of God.

Can I get an amen?

You're gonna be taught the book, verse by verse.

Listen to what he says in Philippians 1 27.

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

Wow.

You know the talk's getting out about this church.

How many of you before you visited here had heard about the church, CCW?

Yeah?

Okay.

You know why?

Because we have the same heartbeat, the same message.

Jesus, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Right there, I wrote it down.

I wanted to leave this with you because it was so good.

Jonah made three major errors.

Three major.

Three major errors.

Listen to what they were.

Number one.

Jonah quit.

Jonah quit.

He just said, that's it.

I'm going outside the city and end up in under a juniper tree.

I'm quit.

You know what?

I think he went out there and looked back down on the city because he was still hoping maybe God brings judgment.

I don't know.

I know he was he was running on empty, he was running on fewer.

He quit.

That's number one.

He just quit.

He didn't stay there and start discipling like he should have done.

I meant 600,000 get saved.

Miss Deedra, you and a your mission's director, you go, don't you think there ought to be some discipling and church starting going on?

He just left the city.

He quit.

Second thing he did, Jonah separated himself from others.

Listen to me.

The worst thing you can do when you hit the rock bottom, one, you separate yourself from God because you're running on empty.

But the second worst thing you can do is separate yourself from your church family or your close Christian friends because those are the ones that's gonna help you back.

Can I get, hey, they're the ones gonna take you to the, hey, you run out of gas.

They're the ones gonna go get the gas can fill you back up.

If you don't get any gas, you're gonna stay empty.

You need gas stations.

Woo! CCW, what a gas station.

Cheapest in town.

Woo! That's good.

That came straight from thrall, that's good.

We're a gas station.

Gas station, hospital.

That's who we are.

Amen.

Need help?

Come here.

Need filled up?

Come here.

And by the way, we'll even wash your windshield.

We'll check you all.

Remember the service station, what a service station really was.

That's what we want to be.

We want to be a service station.

Can I get an amen?

Darren's service station.

Need dishwashes.

Darren said he can cook and they cook and they wash.

Hey, you can help wash dishes.

Now, it doesn't take a whole lot of PhDs to wash dishes.

I know because Ben and I are washing them since Susan's gone.

And the problem is, she told us very three months ago, she said, Alright, boys, that's it.

I'm through.

I cook you wash.

I'm learning to wash dishes.

Not too bad, Ivan.

Not too bad.

You'd be proud of me.

I ain't gotten to cutting the grass yet.

But I'm washing dishes.

Not bad.

Not bad.

Jonah quit.

Jonah became a, hey, Jonah separated himself from others.

Here it is.

Wow.

Hey, sweet.

Jonah became a spectator.

He went outside the city, got on the hill, under the juniper tree, and he just started watching.

He wasn't doing anything.

Wasn't doing anything.

Why do you need gas if your car stays parked in the garage?

Huh?

Get a bicycle.

Really?

Think about that.

If you're not gonna serve, why do you need gas?

Makes sense, doesn't it?

So let me ask you this morning.

Are you running on empty?

Are you running on fumes?

Because I'm telling you, Jesus Christ right here, right now, is ready to fill you up.

He's ready to save you.

He's ready to, hey, impart the Holy Spirit of the living God into your heart.

For by one spirit, are we all just ready?

For by one spirit, are we all baptized into one body?

When you say, Lord Jesus, come into me, he brings the Holy Spirit, he comes into your heart and he places you into the body of Christ.

And then you're ready to fill her up.

Fill her up with the Word of God.

Fill her up with faithful church attendance.

Fill it up with being serving.

But let me tell you something.

You can't serve until you get filled up.

Because if you do, you'll be like Jonah.

You'll be praying for, hey, one minute, then you'll be praying complaining the next.

You'll be running on empty.

Now we've all been there.

Me included.

Hey, I'm preaching.

Let me tell you something about your pastor.

I love you so.

I preach to me before I preach to you.

So all this is not a self, self-righteous message.

Every time I step in that pulpit, God's already worked me over big time.

He's taken me to the woodshed.

I guarantee it.

Every time.

And I love it, even though it hurts.

I love it.

It's one of those, ooh, ah, yeah.

Ever been there?

It's kind of like working out.

You hate it, and then when you get through, you shout, ooh, yeah, man, I feel good.

You died doing it, but you feel good now.

That's kind of like the Holy Spirit working on us.

Works all that ungodliness and unrighteousness out of us.

Replaces it with righteousness.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw dot com.

You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at TheChurch at CW.

Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.