Turning back to God

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.

Jonah chapter three.

My wife.

You may.

Melanie, I felt so so for you.

I have done that to her for 35 wonderful years.

Put her on the spot.

Listen, they have sung.

We had a trio.

It was it was uh Susan.

Where is Susan?

I bet she's back here making sure everything she's in the lobby.

Okay.

But Susan and Christy and Robin Bonner was our trio.

Remember them?

Come at uh open door, and boy were they good.

But they've gone all over the southeast United States with me, and we'd be in Burger King.

And there'd be a group there, and I'd say, All right, ladies, come on.

Start singing.

They'd just start out.

Actually, when we've been there 10,000 years, they'd sing Beulah Land, and everybody just stop.

And then I just get up and start preaching.

I'm serious.

Wherever we were.

We've been out, we've been out walking, and uh we were down at the Big First Baptist Church conference, and uh there was a bunch of people down on the on the uh river there, and I said, ladies, start singing.

Got a crowd, I started preaching.

So we've uh we've put I've put Susan on the spot a bunch of times, even here.

Honey, come up here and sing this.

But you know, it's always a blessing.

Always a blessing.

Today I want us to talk to us about one of the most important things you can do as a Christian.

If you do not have a worship guide, raise your hand.

I make sure you have one.

Anyone that does not have a worship guide, all right, we've got one or two right there, Bob.

Thank you so much.

But again, let me say thank you, Tom, and your precious sister-in-law and wife for being with us.

We've been preaching through the book of Jonah.

And we're gonna finish chapter three today and then chapter four next week.

Got two more messages, and then we go in and uh Sylvester is ready.

He'll be up in a couple of weeks preaching to us.

One of our preaching pastors here, he helps me, and it's gonna be honoring our servicemen anyway.

It's that week, so he's gonna be preaching.

You're welcome to wear your garb if you want to, too.

I love I love honoring our servicemen.

Can we just give them a hand this morning?

Amen.

And then we go right into Thanksgiving, and that's gonna be a fantastic time.

And then we start our new series on the Christ of Christmas.

And there'll be three or four messages there on the Christ of Christmas.

I always love preaching on Christmas.

It's one of my favorite times of the year because it's really what Christmas is all about.

It's not gifts, it's about the gift.

Amen.

The greatest gift ever given to mankind was the birth of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So it's just gonna be a great, it's always a great time around here.

Rosemary, and then it'll be all decorated.

It'll be gorgeous.

It'll be gorgeous.

Today, let's pick up.

Jonah had just repented.

Jonah has just turned back to God, and he is now being obedient to God.

He goes to Nineveh and he tells the Nineveh, he says, You got 40 days to repent.

40 days.

If you don't repent, God's gonna bring judgment on you, the Ninevites, for all your wickedness and all your cruelness that you've done over all these years.

God's gonna take you out.

40 days.

And so we pick up the king.

He doesn't hesitate, he hits the beach preaching.

He is regurgitated out of the big fish's mouth, and he doesn't waste any time, he starts preaching.

And he cried in verse 4, he said, 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

And then the king, look at verse 5.

So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

Tom, I've never seen a revival like this.

I've been a part of some great revivals.

We had a revival for about eight years at Open Door Baptist Church, and we didn't even realize what was going on.

We were, we were seeing, listen, 200 plus people saved every year and baptized.

Two years in a row, we saw over 300 people saved and baptized, and we saw that for 10 years.

We went from about 35 folks to almost 1,200, 1,400 folks in less than eight years, and most of them through salvation.

It was unbelievable what God was doing there.

That's been one of the greatest revivals I've ever been a part of.

And then in uh Danville, Virginia, for 20 days I preached every night, and we saw over almost 800 people saved.

Went back that summer, did a crusade in the football stadium, saw 4,000 people a night, and another 250 people saved.

I've seen a lot of great revivals.

But nothing like this.

There's this is the, you've heard people, if you haven't, they said this was the greatest revival in the Bible.

There's a reason.

Here it is in this one verse.

Let me read it to you again.

So the people, verse 5, and Nineveh, believed God and proclaimed the fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.

In other words, from all the adults, even down to the children that could understand.

Everybody got saved.

Unbelievable.

That's a revival.

The whole city.

We're talking about 600,000 people.

Wow.

And then look at verse 6.

For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne.

This was a wicked leader now.

And he laid his robe from him and covered him with sidecloth and sat in ashes.

In other words, now the king is confessing his sin.

He is confess, he's fessing up.

And then notice, and he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying, Let neither man nor beast or herd nor flock taste anything, let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast, watch, be covered with sackcloth and watch, cry mightily unto God, yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hand.

Wow.

God needs that same message today to America.

America's in trouble.

We need the cry of God, God's man, God's word, crying out.

Repent! Turn from your wicked ways.

Then look at verse 9.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn?

Somebody said, wait a minute, God doesn't have to repent.

There's two words that are used for the word repent.

One for your remorse and your brokenness over your own sin.

And that's true repentance.

You turn from your wicked ways.

It's a 180-degree turn.

You're walking in sin and living in sin, and God gets a hold of your heart, as Todd was saying, and you turn around.

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin.

And you turn around and you start walking in the opposite, the entire opposite direction.

You change your attitude and you change your actions.

Get that for me, dear.

Thank you.

Amen.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

It's a change of attitude and a change of actions.

And so here we see, right here, that God does not change his mind for remorse or for sin in his life, but he changes his attitude and his actions of judgment toward people that have truly repented.

Can I get an amen?

What a powerful insight there.

Powerful.

And he says, and God, and here's why he changed his attitude and actions toward these folks.

Here's true repentance.

And God saw their works.

Look at verse 10.

And they turned from their evil way, and God repented.

He changed his attitude and actions of the evil.

In other words, he saw that they had turned from their evil and that he was not going to bring judgment on them that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.

He did not bring judgment because of their repentance.

So, with that said, how did they return to God?

How to turn back to God?

How do we turn our lives around and restore our fellowship with the Lord?

It's very important we understand this.

What are the steps we can take to get our life right with God and turn back to the Lord?

What are some of the things that we need in our life?

Get ready.

Number one, what do we need in our life?

What do we need?

This is so awesome.

Number one, we need to pay attention to the Lord.

Amen.

We need to pay attention to the Lord.

Listen to what the Lord has to say in his word, and we need to turn our attention to him.

Listening is a vital aspect in growing in the Lord.

What I just loved about the Stevens family, what I just loved about them, every song they sang was filled with the Word of God.

Because Isaiah 55, 11 says his word will never return void.

But it will accomplish where God sends it.

It will be completed in that person's life or in that city's life or in that country's life.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.

But when the wicked bear through, the people mourn.

There was mourning in Nineveh.

There's mourning in America.

We need to repent and turn back to God.

One God.

Hey.

One God.

Indivisible.

One nation under God.

Amen.

Not Muhammad.

Not Buddha.

No.

Not Joseph T.

Smith.

But God.

Jehovah.

One way.

One truth.

And it's Jesus.

And it's so important we see that.

We got to be at listen to what he says in Psalms 85, verse 8.

Psalms 85:8

I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to folly.

True repentance.

Again in verse 10, and he saw their works.

True repentance is evidence in your new attitude and your new actions.

Can I get an amen?

That's it.

It is.

Then watch the second thing.

But not only do we pay attention to the Lord, but we must probe our hearts.

Look at what he says.

We are to examine our lives for anything that will hurt our walk with God.

We must examine our lives and eliminate anything that's going to bring, hey, hey, bring a black eye on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can I get an amen?

Hey, that'll make sure you, hey, you walk right, you talk right, you work right.

Hey, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, you do what?

All to the glory of God.

Where we go, what we listen to, who we talk to, what we say, how we say it.

By the way, how we say something is just important as what we say.

Amen.

I was.

Y'all ever have trouble with your dish or basically right in the middle of the world series.

I did want a little bit eye called it, and I think I made it worse.

But anyway, so I called.

I called me.

Oh, we can fix it.

But they didn't fix it.

So they said, well, it'll be at least it'll be Tuesday or Wednesday before we can get somebody out there.

I said, what?

So that means not only I'm gonna miss the World Series game tonight, I'm gonna miss the rest of the World Series.

No football.

I said, Do you mean to tell me y'all are that busy?

I'm sorry, sir.

And then about that time, Susan sticks her head into the living room.

She says, You're a preacher.

Then she says something else.

They're recording you.

He better be glad that they were recording me.

Because I was about to lose it.

And then the Holy Spirit just convicted me, and I just turned around and I said, Sir, I'm so sorry.

I said, God just doesn't want me to watch the end of this World Series, I guess.

So anyway, long story short, then guess what I did?

Then I just happened to go back there to the H D I M cable.

I know what that is.

Ha ha ha.

And it was, yeah.

What is it?

H D M I.

Well, that's the cable.

High definition.

And I plugged, it was loose and I plugged in.

Thing came right on.

I said, woo! And then the Holy Spirit said, see, be still and be patient.

I was ready to rip the whole thing out of the box.

You say, why?

I'm very impatient.

But the Lord knew that Susan needed to come there and tell me I'm being recorded.

So, hey, the Bible says in Lamentations 3, 4, let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord.

We've got to always be probing our heart, asking God to, when we start thinking, I love Psalms 139, 23, and 24.

Search me, O God, know my heart.

Try me, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

Oh, my thoughts.

My thoughts were not real good there for a moment.

Don't laugh, yours aren't either, some of you.

Hello.

Hey, how would you like right now on this screen if God would just take a spotlight, put it on you, and every thought in your mind for the last hour goes all on that screen.

You go, ah.

No, we can't handle for the last 30 minutes, much less all week.

All week.

If they threw him up there all week, we'd just go ahead and shoot ourselves.

But really, what are we doing?

You know what I'm talking about.

We've got to probe our hearts constantly.

Let every thought, every, I love what the little, the little ducks that I have up on the what I had and I can't find them.

I'm gonna get somebody make me some more.

And it says, be careful what you watch because it will change your heart.

Man, that's good.

I will set no, and then under that it said, I will set no wicked things in my sight.

That's so good.

Then notice the third thing penance.

Humbling yourself before God and others will get you on the right path.

You need to make matters right with others who have been offended, and humility will have to be needed.

Listen to what he says in 2 Chronicles 7, 14.

If my people, and this is gonna be a very important verse, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.

Then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.

Humbleness.

Humbleness.

And then number four, positiveness or faith in the Lord is a must.

We walk by faith and not by sight.

We have got the trust in the Lord.

Tom was singing and talking about as we walk through the valleys as well as the mountaintops.

Can I tell you something Dr.

Falwell taught me?

I've been serving the Lord now 35 wonderful years, but I can tell you over all the years of my life and my ministry, there's been more valleys than there's been mountaintops.

Amen.

For every mountaintop, you got to go through several valleys.

But those valleys do make the mountaintop experiences so glorious.

So glorious.

So we've got to walk by faith.

Listen to what he says in Psalms 44.

Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

You know the verse Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not on thy own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he what?

Will direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3, 5 and 6.

And then number 5, the proud.

Look at this.

The proud.

We're not to be proud.

The proud are not to be admired.

The perverse people and the paths of the wicked are to be avoided.

Listen to what he says in Psalms 1:1.

Psalms 1:1

Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the way of the scornful.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me say something right there.

Young people, listen to me.

It does matter who you hang out with.

It matters.

It matters.

And I don't believe in missionary dating.

Hello.

People that are saved shouldn't be dating people that are lost.

I've dealt with this for 25 years.

When I was a college professor and the dean and teaching all those years, I'd have young ladies come up to me and Susan and say, Well, hey, Pastor Daddy, Dr.

Lovett, would you pray for us?

I'm dating this guy and he's lost, but I'm going to lead him to Jesus.

I'd say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

The Bible says, have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

I said, have you told him that, hey, you you love Jesus and that you're not going to date him until he gets saved and starts living right?

No.

But but I'll win him.

I said, no, you won't.

He'll take you back.

We need not deceive bad character, corrupt, good character.

And we're going to see that evil communications, 1 Corinthians 15 33.

So we've got to really realize how important it is.

We've got to, hey, and by the way, we can't be proud and we don't need to be around the proud.

Can I get an amen?

We really can't.

That's why.

It's so important.

It really is.

Proverbs 4.14 says, listen to this, enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men.

Now watch what it says.

This is awesome.

In fact, I want you to read it with me, church.

Read it out loud.

Ready?

Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men.

Wow.

Don't even go in their way.

Don't even go in their way.

And then the verse that Darren was quoting, 1 Corinthians 15, 33, listen to what it says.

Do not be deceived.

Evil communications corrupt good manners.

In other words, evil associations corrupt you.

Hello.

It doesn't matter what you watch on TV.

It does not what you go to the movie and talk.

I meant, hey, we don't even go to a movie until we pull up and see how many bad languages, bad stuff, all that.

I'm not going, I'm not going to pay$10 for somebody to cuss at me.

Hello.

I ain't going to do it.

Just ain't going to do it.

Amen.

That's why we try to keep good movies in front of you.

Wasn't that awesome when we took the whole church last week to see Woodlawn?

Wasn't that awesome?

And we're going to have more, we're looking in, we want what we want to do in the pavilion, we want to turn that into a movie thing, like on Friday nights.

Wouldn't it be something that, you know, with that line, what I sing about, we might could have an unbelievable drive-in Christian theater right here at CCW.

Woo! Would that not be awesome?

Free for the community.

And then halfway in the intermission, I'd come on and say, Jesus is awesome.

Let me tell you about Jesus.

Amen.

I've always thought out of the box.

Why not?

Why not?

Number six persistence in repentance.

Is vital.

I just read these verses to you in Jonah 3, 8 through 10.

Notice the key.

They cried mightily unto God.

They cried consistently unto God.

Look at it again.

Throw up 2 Chronicles 7:14.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Here it is.

This is awesome.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven forgive their sins and heal their land.

Wow.

That is so unbelievable.

Notice this verse, powerful.

Here's what he's saying.

If my people, my people, that's the Christians.

He says, if my people, which are called by my name, now watch, shall humble themselves.

We've got to turn from our pride to humility.

It's not about us, it's about him.

Can I get an amen?

It's not all about me, it's all about him.

It's him.

Not I but Christ.

Say that with me, church.

Not I but Christ.

So we've got to turn from our pride.

What's wrong with America?

Why America has fallen so badly is because we have been a prideful nation.

We've kicked God out of our country.

Notice the second thing we got to do.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray.

We've got to turn from our prayerlessness back to our prayerfulness.

We got to start praying, folks.

Most of the time we don't pray till we get in trouble.

It's time we fervently start praying.

We had nine or ten in the prayer room early this morning at nine o'clock.

Come on Sunday mornings, pray with us.

Tuesday and Thursdays at 6 o'clock, we're praying.

I meant find some times and start crying out.

If, listen, you know what I'm doing right now?

I'm crying out for my grandchildren.

I'm, hey, I'm in deep concern for my grandkids growing up in the nation that they're growing up in.

Where when the nation says it's okay for homosexuality to be legalized and right, and it's going against everything God's word says, folks, we need to be crying out that God will protect our kids.

You ought to be praying and fasting, sackcloth and ashes right here for your kids once a week.

You ought to take a day or a lunch or something and pray every week consistently for your kids.

And by the way, when you're doing that, throw your preacher in there too.

But that's true.

That's what we're talking about.

Then notice the eighth thing.

Praying and pleading with the Lord is so important.

But then the, hey, pursuing or seeking to know the Lord is so essential.

Seek the scriptures.

Listen to what he says.

Hey, listen to what he says in Jeremiah 29, 13, and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart.

Do you seek God as much as you seek your favorite football team?

That's a good one.

Do you seek God as much as you seek, hey, your favorite hobby?

In fact, I love what Tom said about his wife.

But hey, I hope also that ought to be all our hearts toward the Lord.

You know who my first love is?

It's Jesus.

Now my wife, Susan,'s a second runner-up.

Amen.

And then Rocky.

Susan would argue that Rocky sometimes, no, that's not.

No, don't go there.

But hey, pursuing and seeking to know God.

Paul said that in Philippians 3.10 that I might know him.

Watch this.

That I might know him and the power of his resurrection and watch the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformed unto his image, his likeness.

Ladies and gentlemen, you'll never be like him till you suffer with him.

Hello.

You gotta allow him to walk you through the valleys.

Oh, that's so good.

And then, number nine, a positive response to God's reproof is a must.

Ooh.

Oh, yeah.

In other words, listen to what he says in Proverbs 123, and it's so powerful.

Here's what he said.

He said, Turn you at my reproof.

Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you.

I will make known my words unto you.

Wow.

We've got to be positive toward the chastisement of the Lord.

Aren't you glad to know that God's not going to let you get far without getting your attention?

Now, if you're lost, that's one thing.

But God will get your attention even if you're lost through storms too, and we've talked about that.

If you've been, most of you have been following the series with me.

But listen to me, listen to me, Christian.

Listen to me.

If you are not doing what God's asked you to do, He's gonna, hey, He's not gonna let you go AWOL.

Hello, He's not gonna let you go AWOL.

He's gonna, hey, He'll bring the right storm at the right time, at the right place, and He'll say to you, He'll get in your face and say, Listen, Danny Lovett, report to duty.

So when this comes, instead of blaming God and getting bitter toward God, we need to thank God and be obedient to God.

Can I get an amen?

Boy, that's good.

That is good.

So a positive response to God for proof is a must.

And then, number 10, or whatever the next one is, praising, and what which we just did with the Stevens family, praising and worship the Lord should be done daily.

Hey, don't wait to come to church to praise him.

Can I get an amen?

Just like that guy that was listening to the Stevens uh DVD.

Well, not DD DVD, but I was gonna say cassette, but that would be telling my age.

Eight track.

How many have remember the eight-tracks?

Oh, look at it.

All right, all right.

Man, I tell you what, you you had a big old bag of eight tracks or a little leather thing, and it was as heavy as all get out.

But yeah.

Oh, and you have to put it up underneath your dash and and it's oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

But hey, hey, but listen, here it is, here it is.

We've got to constantly praise him.

Listen to what he says in Hebrews 13, 15.

By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise.

Now watch what he says.

Praise to God.

How?

How?

How?

That is the fruit of our lips, giving things to his name.

We ought to be getting up every morning putting on praise and worship music, or just get up and start singing.

But if you sing like me, make sure nobody's listening.

But then go ahead and sing.

How many of you sing in the shower?

I do.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

But notice, continually.

You know what I've learned?

I don't think I put the verses, but God just gave them to me.

Here's what it says in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

The hour has come and now is that true worshipers will worship the Father, hey, in spirit and in truth.

And watch what he says.

For the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Wow.

God seeks me and you to worship him.

Can you think about, can you fathom that?

He wants you to continuously to worship him.

And that's good.

And then, not only that, patiently waiting upon God will help us avoid mistakes.

Oh boy, this is good.

Number 11.

Patiently waiting upon God will help you avoid mistakes.

Listen to what he says in Psalms 27, 14.

Wait on the Lord.

Be of good courage.

And he shall strengthen thy heart.

Wait, I say, on the Lord.

We tend to get ahead of the Lord in our lives and make all sorts of mistakes.

Anybody guilty besides me?

Be still, Psalms 46, 10.

Be still and know that I'm God.

That's what he says.

Waiting for God's leading will help you and me walk with God.

And then number 12, persevere in suffering.

I don't care what you're going through, don't quit.

Can I get an amen?

I don't care what you're going through, don't quit.

Don't give up.

Don't give out.

Just rekindle.

Re-fire.

The Bible says, 1 Corinthians 15, 58.

Therefore, beloved, and I love this.

In fact, listen to what it says.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye what?

Steadfast.

You know what that means?

Unmovable.

You know what that means?

Always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Self-explanatory.

In other words, just stay faithful.

I've had so many major, major trials in my own life.

My first wife, I was in Tuscaloosa, been there two weeks.

She was 27 years old, died in my arms with asthma.

Right out of seminary.

Then Susan, she and I had been married, I think four or five years, and we had Mary.

And between Mary and Stephanie, we had a little baby boy, five and a half months old, born dead.

Then my mother died.

I have buried every one of my intimate relatives except for my sister.

My mama, my daddy, my grandmother, my grandfather.

I've done them, I've done all their funerals.

I mean, I've been through trial after trial after trial.

And when a trial comes, church, you've got one or two options.

You can get, hey, you can blame God and get bitter, or you can say, praise God and get better.

Amen.

Amen.

One or the other.

And you say, how can you do that?

Because of Romans 8.28.

For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

That's how you can do it.

You just get up and keep going.

You don't give out and you don't give up.

Oh, you'll get tired, you'll get weary.

But remember the song?

He's in the valley.

Remember, God, you know when God showed up, I'm about to have a running spiel.

You know when God showed up with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

It wasn't until they were in the fire.

You know when God showed up intimately in the person of Jesus Christ with Daniel when he was in the lion's den.

Hey, he didn't deliver them from persecution and trials.

He delivered them from persecution and trials in the midst of their trials and persecution.

God wants to see what you're made out of.

Hello.

God wants to see if you're the real thing.

Why do you think he says in verse 10, God saw their works continuously?

In the Hebrew, it means continuously.

Hey, you can repent this morning and go out here and live a day.

That's not going to get it for the Lord and then go back to living away.

Uh-uh.

That's not true repentance.

True repentance is you change your attitude, which leads to changing your actions.

Can I get an amen?

And then the last thing.

Perform what is right in the sight of God.

Listen to what he says to us in 2 Kings 22, verse 2.

2 Kings 22:2

And he did that which was right, talking to the king, in the sight of the Lord, walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

And then look at Micah chapter 6, verse 8.

Micah 6:8

This is powerful.

He had showed thee, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require thee?

Here's the invitation.

What does the Lord require thee?

Are you ready?

To turn back to Him.

Here it is.

But to do justly, do right, and to love mercy.

And watch.

And to walk humbly with thy God.

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.com.

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Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at CW.com.

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