Twenty Thousand Leagues under the sea

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.

I want you to turn with me this morning to the book of Jonah.

We're in chapter two.

And we'll be going through and finishing Jonah by the end of Thanksgiving.

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

So that's going to be a beautiful time.

I love this time.

From now to the end of the year is one of my favorite times of the year, probably the most favorite.

Because it's a time that we all get excited about a lot of things.

Kids are back in school, they're kind of excited about school.

Amen.

Oh, come on, come on.

Amen.

Hey, let me tell you why why you get excited about school.

I've learned, I learned this.

Because the quicker you get through, the better you are.

So school is something that you all have to go through and you want to go through because it betters you.

So, and I still go to school.

I just don't get tested.

But I still go to school every day as I study.

But I love school.

I really do.

So then we have Christmas, we have Thanksgiving.

It's going to just be a glorious time.

We have trunk or treat.

We have friend day.

So be inviting your friends right now for Friend Day.

We need you.

And please don't forget candy.

Candy in a bag.

Candy that's wrapped.

Amen.

Not unwrapped.

So be sure that you help us with our candy.

And if you haven't found a place, we do these community events two or three times.

Well, through at least three or four times a year.

So we as a church can get involved together.

We need every man on deck.

Every man on deck.

Every woman on deck.

Find something you can do.

And uh I know you can, and we got you can see all our leaders, you can see Tabitha, you can see our children's coordinators.

And let me just say, I didn't get the opportunity to express to all these folks standing up here.

You can see a lot of you don't realize all that goes on uh behind the scene so that this can take place right here.

I mean, we build everything to the main event.

This is the main event, but there's a main event going on down there for the children.

There's a main event going on in the toddlers, there's a main event going on in the bed babies.

So there's a lot.

30 or 40 people are here at 7, 7:30, getting everything ready.

And today we're gonna have uh some of the best barbecue you could ever eat.

I promise.

I promise.

And all the people that uh, you know, smoke the Boston Butts and the barbecue and all that.

I mean, there's a lot that goes on that you don't see in the practicing of all the praise team and all.

Can we just give them another hand?

Amen.

They really make my job easy.

They really make my job easy.

They free your pastor up to do the two things he does best, and that's preach and love on people.

That's what I do best.

Shepherd people.

I love shepherding you and people.

I really do.

My heart's beat.

That's my calling.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

How many have seen that movie?

I'm gonna tell you how old I really am.

I saw it when it first came out.

Now I was not that old, but Kurt Douglas starred in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

And boy, what a movie that was.

So when I was going through Jonah, I couldn't help but think when he was thrown overboard and went to the bottom of the sea that he was 20,000 leagues under the sea.

And so I titled the message this morning.

We're going to be looking at chapter two, the whole chapter, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or I gave it another little subtitle, Crisis Praying.

I meant, if there's ever been a time that you need to pray, it's when you're in a crisis.

Can I get an amen?

And sadly to say, that's when most of us do our serious praying.

It's when we're in a crisis.

And we shouldn't wait till we're in a crisis to be doing serious praying.

It ought to be a routine every day.

Can I get an amen?

Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you and me.

1 Thessalonians 5.16.

But let's look at the story.

As the curtain opens to chapter 2, we find Jonah, as I said, 20,000 leagues under the sea.

Jonah travels first class.

He's traveling first class in the belly of a huge fish.

The accommodations, I wrote this out to you like this, include a waterbed with seawater.

Amen.

And a slippery stomach lining for his sheets.

And the menu on the trip, boy, this was great, included seaweed for salad and raw fish for the main course.

What a trip.

Amen.

So we see this.

In fact, as I was looking at Jonah in chapter 2, I couldn't realize the parallelism of the sailors and Jonah.

In chapter 1, there's the sailors are in the crisis of the storm, verse 4.

And then in chapter 2, verses 3 through 6, we see Jonah in a crisis in the sea.

Then we see in chapter 1 for the sailors, they are praying to the Lord in verse 14.

And then we see in chapter 2, verses 2 and 7, that Jonah is praying to the Lord in his crisis.

In the sailors' crisis, we see that they are delivered from the storm in verse 15 in chapter 1.

And we see the deliverance from drowning for Jonah in verse 6.

So we see in chapter 1 the sacrifices and vows that are offered up to the Lord after the deliverance from the crisis by the sailors.

And then we see in verse 9, the sacrifices and vows are offered to the Lord.

So it is powerfully seen the parallelism.

So today let's begin and let's look at there's seven things I want us to see this morning.

First of all, look at verses 1 and 2.

We see the cry of despair.

Number one, the cry of despair.

Benji, where's Benji?

Can you bring this light down a little bit?

It is right in my eyes.

And it's causing me to blur, even though I do that without the light.

But notice what he says.

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me.

Out of the belly of Sheol, which is hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

Tremendous insight here.

The purpose of trouble is not to get us to cry against the Lord, but the purpose of trouble is to get us to cry unto the Lord.

Big difference.

Can I get an amen?

And we see that right here.

His altar, as he begins to pray, is a slippery, sloppy, swishy stomach.

What a place to pray.

But God brought Jonah to the point where he could do nothing else but pray.

Isn't it amazing when we are running from God that God sometimes will let us run, but then after a while, and after we have run for a while, he puts us in a place where we have no choice but to pray.

Sometimes it could be bad health.

He puts you flat on your back so you have one purpose, and that is to lift up your eyes unto the king.

Amen.

So we see that this is what's happened to Jonah.

Jonah was running from God, trying to get away from God, trying to get away from the calling of God.

And God said, Okay, I've had enough.

I've had enough.

I'm going to put you in a situation where you have no choice but to lift up your voice unto me.

And let me say, this is so important that we understand that.

Jonah gives his reasons why he's crying unto the Lord in this verse.

Listen to what he says.

And I cried in verse 1 and 2 by reason of my affliction.

Wow, there it is.

In other words, Jonah gives his reasons why he's crying to the Lord.

It was his affliction or chastisement from the Lord that motivated him to pray.

Hey, now I know we shouldn't wait for this kind of motivation, but it sure gets your attention.

Can I get an amen?

When chastisement comes, when the storms come, we begin to evaluate and we begin to search our hearts for why is this really happening?

And we've talked about it.

One's for rebellion like Jonah.

Two, it's for maturity like the disciples in the boat.

And three, it's for what?

The reason of bringing you to salvation like it did the Phoenician sailors.

So we know why the storms come.

But this one was because of his affliction.

I love what Psalms 91:15 says.

Psalms 91:15

You'll love this and listen to what it says.

He shall call upon me.

He shall call upon me.

And hey, listen to what God says.

When you call upon me, listen.

Oh, I love this.

I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble.

I will deliver him and honor him.

Can I get an amen?

God says that I'm gonna be with you in trouble.

Let's say that together.

God's gonna be with me in trouble.

Come on.

God's gonna be with me in trouble.

That's worth a Pentecostal shout.

Amen.

God's gonna be with me in trouble.

Now that's one thing for him to be with you, but then he says, but then I'm gonna deliver you.

And not only, you know, that's you know, for me, the deliverance would be enough to, you know, have a good spell.

But then he says, not only am I gonna deliver you, listen to this church, he says, I'm gonna honor you.

He's gonna honor you.

Now watch this.

He not only got Jonah's attention when he was running away from him, but then, hey, not only did he hear his prayer and delivered him, but then he honored him by using him to preach and bring one of the greatest revivals recorded in the Bible.

Wow.

Now that ought to get us all a little bit excited because that ought to teach us it doesn't matter how stubborn we've been.

Oh me, it doesn't mean, hey, it doesn't matter how rebellious we've been, God still will get our attention.

Hey, and if we repent, he will still deliver us and honor us.

Now that's encouraging to me.

Amen.

That's it very encouraging to me.

And we see that right here.

That's why in Proverbs 3, 11 and 12, listen to what he says.

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary.

Now listen, of his correction, for whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as the Father in the Son whom he delights.

Wow.

God loves you so much that he's not gonna let you get away with what you're supposed to be doing.

Some folks do not respond well to chastisement.

You res hey, you respond one or two ways when the chastening comes.

One, you get bitter and blame God.

Hello.

Or secondly, you get better, hey, hey, and you bless God.

And this is what we see Jonah did.

We see he got right with God because he had strayed away from him.

But let me tell you what else it does for us, too.

It also gives us a lot of encouragement.

Chastisement does not always, by the way, follow sin.

Remember that.

Sometimes it's for the purpose of maturing us, you know, getting us ready to be used greater in the service of God.

And we see that throughout the scriptures.

From Daniel in the lines in.

She had Rechmeshach and Bednego in the fiery furnace.

The disciples in the great storm.

God was using their storms, not for chastisement of being a rebellious and disobedient, but to mature them because God was ready to take them to the next level in their service for God.

You've got to mature if you're going to be used greater for God.

Amen?

It's a maturing process, just like life.

Isn't that amazing?

But notice what Jonah said.

He said, I cried, verse 2, and he heard me.

Psalms 34, 17 says, the righteous, now you're going to get excited.

Watch what it says here.

In fact, read this with me, church.

Read.

Ready?

The righteous and the Lord hears.

There's one little word there.

All.

Not some troubles, not the bad troubles.

Hey, he delivers us out of all the troubles, the little troubles, the big troubles, the median troubles, all troubles.

Can I get an amen?

He even delivers me from my wife sometimes.

Because I caused the trouble.

Ah, I had another part too of that statement.

I mean, I'm the one that's about to get killed.

And Susan has mercy.

And he delivers me.

And she says, don't ever do that again.

So, hey, look at verse 19.

You'll love this.

Verse 19 says, I think I've got it up there.

If it doesn't, I'll quote it for you.

But then he says, All of our troubles, hey, all our of our afflictions.

Can you throw it up there, Jason?

They got to see 19.

It's awesome.

When the righteous cry, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

And then he says, in verse 19, in all their affliction, God delivers us.

Say that with me.

In all our afflictions, God delivers us.

All of them.

All of them.

So what a tremendous blessing.

He says, I cried and he heard me.

I cried and he heard me.

Now, we have to realize that we are engraved upon the palms of his hands.

Oh.

Hey, he knows the number of every hair on our head.

Many of the afflictions of the righteous, but he delivers out of them all.

Look at that.

All of them.

Do you realize he knows every hair on our head?

Now, for me, he knows every hair in my goatee.

Amen.

Don't laugh.

Some of y'all right there with me.

So, but he knows every hair on my head.

Hey, he prays.

We see John are praying from the depths of the sea, and his prayers are heard in the heights of the heavens.

That is so exciting.

But now notice the second thing.

The credit for discipline.

Now look at verse 3.

For thou hast cried, hey, thou hast, he's talking to God.

He says, God, you have cast me into the deep in the midst of the sea, and the floods compass me about, and the billows and the waves pass over me.

Jonah saw God's hand in this chastisement.

He knew God was chastening him for his disobedience.

Can I get an amen?

Ladies and gentlemen, before we can come to true repentance, we've got to take responsibility that it's our fault.

What's wrong in America today, we blame everybody else for our situation.

Well, it's not my fault.

It's my mom's fault.

It's my dad's fault.

It's my counselor's fault.

It's my teacher's fault.

Isn't it amazing?

When I grew up and was going to school, I never went home and told my daddy that I got in trouble in school.

Because I never went home, and by the way, when I was in school, we got paddlings.

I never went home and told my dad, oh, guess what, Dad?

I got went to the principal's office and got a paddling today.

You think I'm stupid?

He would whimp me and beat me again.

No, you go home today, oh my teacher embarrassed me.

I made a bad grade, and it wasn't my fault.

The test questions weren't like I thought they ought to be.

And I like I didn't study.

Well, first of all, you didn't study.

But yeah, and then you you say, oh, get in the car, you run down there, and you give the teacher the devil.

What are you doing?

My little girl's smart.

Hello.

And you wonder why we are where we are.

You know what you just did?

You just told your child that she has no or he has no responsibility for, hey, his failing his test or acting ugly in class.

And guess what?

You just helped, hey, them become worse.

Can I get a know-me?

No wonder our teachers don't want to teach anymore.

They can't discipline, they can't teach, they can't do anything because they catch it from the government, they catch it from the system, and they catch it from the parents.

Nobody supports the teachers.

And so what do we do?

We just pass them right through school, and we got a illiterate, hey, generation or generations, plural, going through school, and they can't even add two and twos for.

Amen, sister.

Am I preaching it?

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Amen.

Preach it.

Yeah, that's where I am.

Amen.

Tell it like it is.

That's true.

You know it's true.

I've been there.

My wife's still teaching online.

And good grief.

None of the students take responsibility for a bad grade.

Oh, yes, yes, I'll not lie.

Well, bless God.

You gotta study.

You don't want to study.

You want somebody else to do it for you.

You know why?

You know why?

Remember, mom, when you went down to Johnny's first grade teacher and gave her the devil?

Hello.

Started way back then.

Hello?

When I grew up, I do better because I got two, I get, I got two whoopings.

I got one from the principal and one from my dad, and then I had to study and I got put on restriction and my car was taken away, all these things.

I meant I had consequences.

Amen.

God help us.

Jonah had consequences.

He rebelled and ended up having a free ride on free willing.

Amen.

Jonah saw God's hand in this chastisement.

Do you think teachers really want to fail you?

No, they love you.

They want to help you, but you got to do your part.

We want to go to work, not work, and get a paycheck.

Hello! Doesn't work, he doesn't eat.

So notice, when we go through a trial, we see it as the Lord.

It can bring about maturity, great growth in our life.

Remember Joseph?

Remember Joe?

Oh man, what a good example.

Remember Joseph, he was sold into slavery by his brothers.

Now he could have really had a pity party.

He could have been mentally and socially what?

Dysfunctional.

Thank you.

That's the word I needed.

He could have been dysfunctional.

I am dysfunctional.

Hey, that's no problem.

You are too.

Me, you and I both are.

Hey, birds of a feather fog together.

All right.

Now what's this?

What's this?

But now listen, listen, Joseph could have, but hey, three, 13 years in prison.

He could have blamed everybody, his family, everybody.

But he knew God was doing it, and God placed him in second in command.

Are you ready for this so that God could use him to deliver the nation Egypt?

Yes, but Israel, his family saved their life.

So when it looks like you're going down, bless God, you're going up.

Amen.

Think about it.

Think about it.

If Joseph hadn't been sold into Slavery by his brothers, he had never made it to Egypt.

Had he never made it to Egypt, he would have never been put on the block to be sold as a servant to Potiphar's house.

Had he never been sold as a servant to Potiphar's house, he would have never become head of the servants in Potiphar's house.

Had he never become the head of the servants in Potiphar's house, he would have never been tempted by Potiphar's wife and accused of immorality by Potiphar's wife.

Had he never been accused by Potiphar's wife, he'd have never been thrown in jail.

Had he never been thrown in jail?

He could have never met the butler and the baker.

Had he never met the baker and the butler, he'd have never interpreted their dreams.

And if he had never interpreted their dreams, he'd have never been brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams.

And if he'd have never interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, he could have never been second in command.

When it looks like you're going down, you going up.

He went from the pit to the palace overnight.

He went from a pauper to a prince overnight.

He went from powerlessness to powerfulness overnight.

That's what I'm talking about, church.

Allowing God to be in control.

Amen.

Woo! That wasn't in my notes, I'm sorry.

Woo! Hello! Woo! Yeah.

That's what I'm talking about.

Number three.

Amen.

Number three, we see Jonah.

Verse four.

Confidence.

About devotion.

Now he's in trouble.

He's praying to God.

And look what happens next.

Then he said, I am cast out of thy sight.

Whoa! When I saw that, you know what?

Be not deceived.

God is not mocked.

Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he reap.

Galatians 6, 7.

Remember what he wanted in the very beginning in chapter 1?

He wanted to get out of the sight of God.

Well, God granted that.

Be careful for what you want.

Be careful.

When you say, God, I don't want to do that.

Be careful.

God, I'm not going to do that.

Be real careful.

I said, I'm not going to preach.

Hello.

33 years, I'm still getting it.

I wanted a coach.

But you know what?

I am coaching now.

A shepherd is a coach.

It's encouragement.

My gift's encouragement.

Encourage you to go to the next level with God.

Take your walk to the next level.

Take your relationship to the next level.

And watch what God does and how he uses you and how he does the impossible.

He said, I am cancelled that.

Yet I will look again toward the Holy Spirit.

Woo! He knew what to do before he was through.

He did.

He turned back to the house of God.

Isn't it amazing when people get right, they show back up at church?

That's no coincidence.

Why?

Because this is the place where you come to meet with your brothers and sisters that love God and love you and are here to help you, not to accuse you, not to pass judgment on you, but to support you and build you back up.

We're not interested in your past, we're interested in your future, and God's got a fantastic future for you.

But he realized that.

Return until where thou hast fallen.

Return from where thou hast lost thy first love.

Is that not good?

Somebody say that.

Ah, well, that's good.

And that's what we see.

He returned.

Oh, Jeremiah.22 says, return ye backslidden children.

And I will heal your backsliding.

Some of us needs to get our backsliding healed.

You say, Well, how do I do that?

You just start being obedient.

Duh! Not hard.

Not hard.

The prodigal, woo! Here's another one.

Man, God just gave me all.

Hey, here's another one.

The prodigal son was in the pig pen.

Remember what he said?

Woo! They even have it better.

My servants.

The servants in my father's house have it better than this.

I think I'll arise and go to my father's house.

That's what you do.

When you hit the pig pen, arise and go to the Father's house.

Amen.

And this is his house.

That's why I love church.

Oh, I can have church anywhere I want to.

No, you can't.

You got to have church.

Hey, you can have a relationship in God anywhere in Christ here.

But the church, God, you know why God wants you here?

So we can love on you.

So we can encourage you.

You say, yeah, but you don't know what I'm going through.

Doesn't matter.

We'll go through it with you.

Amen.

Bear ye one another's burdens.

And so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6.2.

Notice the fourth thing.

The conditions in the deep.

Look at verse 5 and 6.

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul.

The depth closed me round about.

The weeds were wrapped about my head.

I went down to the bottom of the mountains.

That's a scientific educational principle that we learned thousands of years prior after Jonah.

Jonah learned it early.

The earth with her bars was about me forever.

In other words, he went down to the bottom, and all he could see was black, and he actually couldn't see anything, just the blackness, and he felt the mountains all around him.

That's why they use the Hebrew word there, Sheol, which in the New Testament is Hades for the word hell.

He was in darkness and despair and felt like he was over.

He was drowning.

Jonah hit rock bottom.

Now watch this.

This is going to be an encouragement.

Jonah had to hit rock bottom before he could go back to the mountaintop.

Amen.

So you're right now, you're you're you're you feel so defeated.

You're in that dark place right now in your life.

You feel like the water's covering you, the mountains are falling in on you, there's dark, there's no hope, there's no future.

That is a lie right out of the pits of hell.

Satan wanting you to kill yourself, wanting you to do this, turn to alcohol, turn to drugs, turn to relations, bad relationships, all these things, because you think that's your survival avenue.

It's not, it's not.

Your avenue is to lift up your eyes into the hills, to the King of Kings, to the Lord of Lords.

My eyes are fixed on thee, oh God, and the Lord is my trust.

Psalms 141, verse 8.

Psalms 141:8

That's your hope.

So it doesn't matter how deep, hey, you're gone.

It doesn't matter how low you are.

God can grab you and put you up.

Oh, don't you love Psalms?

He says, Oh, listen to this.

He says, Oh, you took me out of the pit.

You took me out of the murk, and you put my feet on the rock, the solid rock.

You put a new song in my heart.

Woo! Glory.

A new song, a new hope.

Man, that's so good.

That's where he was.

The conditions in the deep.

It hit rock bottom.

But remember this: when you hit rock bottom, there's only one way to go.

That's up.

Amen.

Only one way to go.

And that's up.

Look at number five.

Part of verse six and seven.

He says, and I call this the comfort in deity, the comfort in God.

The earth with her bars was about me forever.

Now watch this next phrase.

Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption.

Oh Lord my God.

When my soul fainteth within me, I remember the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple, and you answered my prayer.

Jonah says, You brought, look at it, up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

Now there is a tremendous, definite change in his attitude right here.

Can I get an amen?

He's still rock bottom.

Watch.

He's still in rock bottom in the most darkest, desperate situation, but his attitude changes.

Can I get an amen for attitude?

Attitude determines altitude every time.

Woo! Somebody say that's good.

Say that with me, church.

Attitude determines altitude every time.

Outlook always determines outcome.

Every time.

Hey, I will lift up my eyes into the hills from whence my help cometh.

My help cometh from the Lord Jesus.

Psalm has said.

Wow.

Wow.

Jonah says, Oh Lord, watch.

My God.

Say this with me.

Oh Lord, my God.

Say it out loud.

Oh Lord.

Now let's say it again and put emphasis on my God.

Oh Lord, my God.

Again.

Oh Lord, my God.

He's not somebody else's God.

He's your God.

Woo! He's your personal, intimate, loving Savior.

He doesn't care.

Hey, you say there's so many people he doesn't care.

He doesn't even, he doesn't even know who I am.

Oh, yes, he does.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are his works.

You look, you get up in the in the morning, you look in the mirror, and you say, ooh, no.

You get up in the morning, you look in the mirror and say, Woo, man, God, you did a good work.

You did a good work.

Amen.

You did a good work.

And can I say something?

There's no one like you.

And no one can be you but you.

DNA replica.

No such thing.

Even identical twins have different DNA.

Yeah, you are.

You're one of a kind.

Man, that's good.

Jonah says, verse 7, when my soul fainted within me, now what?

I remember the Lord.

God allows times of weakness, faint times, health problems, home problems, hopeless problems, hurting problems.

To draw us closer to Him and our focus and to focus our heart upon Him.

He uses problems to develop His grace in our lives.

Can I get an Amen?

I want you to read this with me.

2 Corinthians 9:8.

2 Corinthians 9:8

This is one of my favorite verses that I use when I feel like I'm going down.

This is one that I always turn to.

Well, I quote it, but I turn to it and just read it out loud.

Read it out loud with me, church.

Ready?

And God is able.

That ye may abound to every good work.

Now go back.

Go back to that verse.

I want you to see something.

Watch this.

And God is able to make.

Stop right there.

What kind of grace?

Abound toward you that ye always having what?

Again, what?

In what?

All grace.

What's this?

You're gonna this is gonna make for you Pentecostals, you got liberty to shout.

For you Presbyterian, you can say, hmm.

But all right, watch this.

All grace.

All grace.

All sufficiency in all things.

Ladies and gentlemen, what else is there, church?

Is that not his all sufficient?

He's all and then 2 Corinthians 12.9 says, hey, hey, that his grace, and he said unto me, my grace, God says, My grace, my grace, his grace is sufficient.

Hey, my when my strength is made weak, and hey, his strength, not my weakness.

Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, my my my deep times, my dreadful times, my discouraging times, my destructive times.

Rather, glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Woo! Pardon me while I have a spell.

Oh yes! Oh, I think I pulled my hamstring.

No, I do.

I've been doing my turbo kick.

You crazy preacher.

I am.

But isn't he awesome?

Mercy.

Real quick.

I put this in there because you got.

Have you ever wondered why in the world it seems like you're just going through trial after trial after trial?

Ever been there?

Four of us.

I'm gonna repeat that question.

Have you ever felt like you're going through trial after trial after?

That's better.

You're listening.

Lord help us.

If I'm the only one going through trials, I don't need to be preaching.

All right.

Ready?

Here's what the benefit.

This is good.

Boy, I hadn't done this in so long.

When I went back through this, I said, ooh, that's good.

Number one, patience.

Develops patience.

James 1, 3, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Now I know why I go through so many trials, because I ain't patient.

Don't say amen too long.

Okay.

Terry, I think Melvin's not real patient sometimes, is he?

I'll tell you who's really patient and brings conviction on me.

I will.

He had a bad ball the other day and he just went in to turn around and knocked it straight again.

I hit it and I go, man, I don't know.

Number two.

Benefits from trials develop a number of things.

One, patience.

Two, possible future ministry.

Now this is really good.

Possible future ministry.

Now watch this.

2 Corinthians 4.17.

Listen what it says.

For our light affliction.

And by the way, watch this.

Look how God considers our affliction in comparison to us.

Isn't that amazing?

We thank Christ.

Oh, this is the worst situation I've ever had.

Lord says, that's just a little skirmish.

You know what major surgery, hey, you know the difference between major and minor surgery?

Major surgery is when it's you.

Minor surgery is when it's somebody else.

Doesn't matter what it is.

You know, it's major.

But notice, and then here's the verse I really want you to get.

2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3 and 4.

2 Corinthians 1:3

Blessed be God.

Even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of what?

All.

Now watch verse 4.

Who comforts us, and there's that word again.

What?

Our tribulation.

Now here's why.

That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.

So see, you got a future, uh, excuse me, you have a future ministry after you've gone through your trial so that you can minister and comfort other people that are going to go through what you just came through.

Now that's good.

But that's true.

That's true.

God did not put you through that for you just to have a pity party.

Amen.

Most of us have a pity party, and we never use the trial for future ministry.

You gotta be sensitive.

But in order for you to help somebody else, you've got to get your eyes off you.

You know, I'm around a lot of people.

They're always the ones in the gutter, they're always ones in the depths.

Well, sometimes the reason we're there is we never take our eyes off ourselves, put them on God so that we can see that He's using that so we can be a blessing to others.

Amen.

Notice the third thing: production.

Trials come for us to produce.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

God is not satisfied with our growth, and neither should we.

He prunes us even when we are fruitful to make us more fruitful.

That's where the trying time sometimes is not because of we're being rebellious, it's we're being obedient, but God's wanting to get us ready to do more.

Amen.

And then number four, for maturity.

Job 23, 10 says, He knows the way that I take when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Woo! And then number five, the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Hebrews 12.11.

Now, no chastening for the present, right now, when you're going through it, seems to be joyous.

No, no, it's killing me.

But grievous.

Now watch.

Nevertheless, in fact, put that up there, Hebrews 12.11.

Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Wow.

Jonah remembered the Lord in his weakness.

You know what?

I thought the sad thing here that he didn't remember him in his strength.

Amen.

That's so important.

If you're going to remember the Lord, then make memories of him in your life now.

Don't wait.

What kind of memories do you have of the Lord working in your life?

Think about the prayers answered.

Think about the principles from God's word you've learned.

The provisions from his blessings.

Is that not good?

The protection and deliverances.

How many times has the Lord really delivered me out of a situation?

It's unbelievable.

And how many times have you said, Lord, if you deliver me this time, I won't do that again?

And then how many times did you do it again?

Hello.

Four of us.

Thank you.

Get them up.

Get them up.

I'm gonna break y'all from this line.

Amen.

Jonah.

Jonah.

Prayer came to the Lord.

Let me tell you.

Now, how many of you would love for your prayers to be so powerful that you know God's hearing you and you know God's gonna answer you?

Let me tell you what I found out that was awesome.

Unbelievable.

Enlightening the way Jonah prayed.

I did word searches.

You realized the whole prayer, and it was a crisis prayer, it was a short prayer.

He didn't go through the doxology.

You know, there's sometimes you don't try to worry about how to pray, you just pray.

You say, How do you do that?

Jonah and Peter both.

Remember when Peter started sinking?

He didn't say, Now, Heavenly Father, I know that this situation.

You know how he prayed?

Help!

Lord, I need help! But Jonah was praying in a crisis situation.

I call it crisis praying.

And listen, oh, this is worth, I didn't write it down, but that's okay for you because I just saw it have anyway.

But in chapter 2, verse 2, guess what he was praying?

He was praying Psalms 18, 6.

In chapter in verse 3, he was praying Psalms 42, 7.

In verse 4, he was praying Psalms 31, 22.

In verse 5, he was praying Psalms 69, 1.

In verse 6, he was praying Psalms 16, verse 10.

Psalms 16:10

In verse 7, he was praying Psalms 18, 6.

In verse 8, he was praying Psalms 31, 6.

In verse 9, he was praying Psalms 50:14.

Psalms 50:14

Jonah in his praying in a crisis situation was praying and reiterating and reaffirming the word of God.

Now you want to learn to pray?

You learn the word of God and you pray the word back.

And that's why your pastor memorizes so much scripture.

Spend at least an hour a day reviewing and memorizing.

But when I'm doing that, I'm praying those verses to the Lord.

That's why whenever once in a while I just start boom, boom, boom, they're coming back.

That's what Jonah, I had never seen that before.

Honey, that's awesome.

That's why we do a wana.

If you don't have your children in a wana, you ought to make that a priority.

A priority.

I mean a big priority.

Why?

That's what they learn.

They will grow up learning the word of God so that when they pray, it opens the portals of heaven.

Glad I had to top on that water.

I'd have been baptized.

Number six.

By the way, let me give a few verses here.

John 15, 7.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what it will and it shall be done.

Did you hear that?

If you abide in me, my words abide in you, you shall ask what it will and it shall be done.

Jesus said that.

John 15, 17.

Jesus said to the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious crowd, you do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God in your life.

Matthew 22, 29.

Amen.

Amen?

And Luke 4, 32, his word is with power.

Number six, the credit for deliverance.

Look at verse 8 and 9.

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.

I will pay that that I have vowed.

Salvation is of the Lord.

Dependence upon vanity leads to destruction.

There's a lot of vanities out here.

There are foolish fantasies of the carnal mind that think their disobedience will turn out okay in the end.

Let me say something.

Disobedience never turns out okay.

Never.

You will face judgment.

It does.

Now Jonah learned the hard way.

Let me show you some of his vanities.

This is so good.

Number one, Jonah thought he could sin and get away with it.

Hello?

Ever been there?

Nobody will know this.

Nobody will know it.

God knows it.

The eyes of the Lord in every place, beholding the evil and the good, Proverbs 15, 30.

Number two, if you hey, if you ignore reality, it won't bother you.

Just sleep away.

He thought he could go to sleep in the bottom of the ship and avoid the storm.

Didn't happen.

And then the third thing, listen this.

You can run away from the responsibilities of life and still enjoy the privileges of life.

Ooh.

That you can run away from the responsibilities of life, but still enjoy the privileges of life.

Like, you think that you can get a great job without any kind of training.

No school, no vocational school, no college.

Hello.

Or you think that you don't have to work to get paid, sadly to say, you can now in our society.

That's sad.

Goes against everything God's words talk about.

Now I'm not talking about the ones that can't work and need help.

But by the way, you know what?

If the church was, if all our churches were doing our job, we wouldn't need welfare.

Hello, come on, give me a hard amen.

So we see.

The privilege of income is work, the privilege of knowledge is study.

The privilege of happiness comes from holiness.

Hello.

Society, I wrote this down.

Our society today wants the privilege of sexual pleasure without the responsibility of marriage and children.

Doesn't work, folks.

Doesn't work.

Guilt will never leave until the responsibility of obeying God is fulfilled.

Common faults, vanities.

All roads lead to heaven.

That's not true.

Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh to the Father except by me.

Can I get an amen?

Only one way, Jesus is the way, John 14, 6.

Number two, what you don't know won't hurt you.

Boy, is that a lie right out of the pits of hell?

That is not true.

And then number three, if it feels good, do it.

Yeah, go ahead.

It's gonna feel good, but hey, after you get through with you drunk, how are you gonna feel tomorrow?

When you get rid of, hey, the hangover and the consequences.

Even the Bible says sin is fun for a season.

But you pay.

You can be sure your sins will find you out.

Numbers 3223.

Every time.

Every time.

Well, let's end it up.

Number seven.

The command to disgorge.

You said, what does that mean?

The command to vomit.

That's what it means.

And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Wow.

When watch this, when Jonah declares his obedience, watch.

Don't miss it.

When Jonah declared his obedience, his deliverance took place.

Wow.

Wow.

That's why.

Listen, that's why you can right now, in a few minutes, when we give this invitation, you can walk down this aisle, 1 John 1 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all.

There's that little word again, unrighteousness.

You can make it right that quick.

You can get saved that quick.

You can be delivered just like that.

And then the maturing process begins.

The obedient process begins.

Can I get an amen?

Is that not good, church?

What a gracious, merciful, awesome God we serve.

In summary of this chapter, we're reminded of some insights in serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here they are, and we're through.

Don't miss them.

Boy, these are good.

Good test questions for your small groups this week.

Everybody's really been enjoying this, and I'm so thankful you are.

Here they are.

Number one.

First, God's will is not always glamorous.

Can I get an amen?

God's will is not always glamorous.

Some of you, young preacher boys, see me up here preaching, or when I was at liberty preaching to thousands on TV and students, thinking, oh, I want that.

But you don't realize what it takes to get there sometimes.

Amen.

It's not always glamorous.

You don't know what I've been through all week before I get up here on Sunday.

Sometimes I don't want to get up here.

Because it's been so hard and Satan's been so trying all week.

But then you know what I do?

I go to the rock.

I go to my prayer closement.

And I lift up my eyes into the hills from whence my help's coming.

My help coming from the Lord which made the heavens and the earth.

Psalms 121, verses 1 and 2.

Psalms 121:1

Then I get fired up and I come out of here ready to charge hell with a water pistol.

Amen.

But now they got those machine gun water pistols.

Bless God.

Number two.

By the way, you know what I saw there when I said that?

It's not always glamorous.

Dry land was a difficult place for the old fish.

Old fish have it.

You know, y'all think Jonah had it bad.

What about the big fish?

Bless his heart, he's having a hard time.

It was difficult, painful, unpleasant for him.

But let me remind you, the cross was painful and unpleasant to Jesus.

Amen.

Is that not good?

That's good, preacher.

Secondly, do not let the difficulty of your circumstances keep you from obeying God.

Don't let the difficulty of your circumstances keep you from obeying God.

You say, what?

Jonah was in the big belly of the big fish.

How in the world was he gonna preach to Nineveh?

What his problem?

His problem was all his problem was that that time was, I'm sorry, I didn't go to Nineveh, I'm ready to go.

Can you imagine talking about D-Day with those amphibious landing craft?

What a can you imagine seeing Jonah come up on land and all of a sudden this big whale, big fish, big shark, whatever goes, boop, pam! Hey, Jesus is awesome! I'm gonna ask Jonah when I get to heaven, did he do that?

And you remember they served the fish God.

Hello.

So it's a great tie there.

I mean, if you serve a fish God and a big fish throws out a man preaching, you'll listen.

Hello.

Hello.

That's an attention getter.

Number three.

Don't let things that confuse you discourage you from doing God's will.

Don't let things confuse you and keep you from doing God's will.

In other words, when you're confused, it doesn't matter.

You just keep obeying.

Can I get an amen?

When you don't understand, just keep obeying.

Amen?

And then the last thing, the fourth principle of service is the delight that comes from obeying God.

Woo! If you're willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 1:19 and 20.

Isaiah 1:19

I love Jeremiah 15, 16.

Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I'm called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

And then look at Joshua 1.8.

Look at Joshua 1.8.

The book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night.

Now watch, that thou mayest observe.

Now look to do according to all.

There's that little that little all's been pretty powerful today.

That is written therein, for then shall thy, hey, make thy way.

What does that say, church?

I will make your way what?

And look at the last phrase.

And then you shall have what?

That's a promise from God.

Can God break his promises?

Absolutely not.

So, what's our problem?

Pretty simple, isn't it?

Huh?

Not praying.

Not praying, it's pretty simple.

Here it is.

We're not praying, and we're not obeying.

That's it.

It's that simple.

But why is that simplicity so hard to do?

Call the flesh.

Satan uses our fleshly desires, our carnality to keep us from being obedient.

Because he knows.

If he can keep us from being obedient and from praying, what's this?

There's no joy.

You know why the Lord said, These things have I spoken unto you?

That my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.

You know why he wants you and me to have the fullness of joy?

Church, don't miss this.

Because when you are filled with the joy of the Lord, which is your strength, Nehemiah 10, you are attractive.

You don't want to be around a bitter, complaining, griping person.

In fact, I'm going the opposite direction.

I'm gonna I'm being honest.

Well, I'm always honest.

You know that sometimes I know it a little bit, it hurts a little bit, but it's true.

We need the truth.

Have you ever seen somebody, and this happens in church, but seen somebody and you say, oh no, I hope they don't see me.

Oh get them up.

And you know why?

Because you don't want to hear them start complaining, telling you all the troubles.

Let me ask something.

When you know somebody that you know that every time they see you, they're gonna hug your neck, say I love you, and there's nothing you can do about it, and just encourage you and say, How can I pray for you?

You know what?

When you're down, you know what?

You wanna say, I need to talk to you.

I need to talk to you.

Not you, Tyler, but I know.

Maybe I do.

Amen.

You want to be around them.

Because they know they're gonna encourage you, they're gonna lift you up.

You know they're gonna pray for you.

You ask me to pray.

What do I usually do with you?

Pray right then, don't we?

Right then.

One, I got a short memory.

But you ask me to pray, let's pray.

I mean, if it's if it's on your heart enough to ask me to pray for you, we need to pray.

We don't need to talk.

We need to pray.

And I don't know how many times we've I've seen God answer our prayer within hours or next day or that week that we just prayed about.

Amen.

Where two shall agree, it shall be done.

Matthew 18.

That's what it says.

If you abide in me, my word abiding you shall ask you, it shall be done.

That's what it says.

Never get sweet, sweet, black lady at Open Door Baptist Church.

I'd be preaching my heart out, and I'd just be quoting scripture and I'd say, I'd quote a scripture, and she'd she wouldn't make any kind of distraction, but she'd just say, Pastor Danny, that's what it says.

That's what it says.

Why can't we just be obedient to what it says?

If you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

I want us to eat the good of the land.

Amen.

I want this church, I want you, I want our family to experience the good of the land.

Every head bow and out closer.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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