Sleeping Through the Storm: When Rebellion Masquerades as Peace (Jonah 1:3–6)

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. Hello friends, Pastor

Logan Merrick here. And just before we get going

with this sermon, I just want to give you a heads

up. The audio is not great. And I apologize.

I forgot to bring my little microphone that I

attached to my lapel to record the audio. So

my son had to record it with my phone. So it

doesn't sound great. It's not it's not terrible,

but it's not, you know, quality that I would

love to have. But so I just wanted to apologize

for that. But still, I hope that you get something

out of this message. And as I've said before,

don't let this be, you should be involved in

a local congregation. Don't let this be your

church. If you are not physically a part of our

congregation, for me to be able to shepherd you,

you should have a shepherd over you and someone

who is loving you, pointing you to Christ, helping

you grow in discipleship. And we need the church.

We need each other because life gets difficult.

And so we are not meant to walk this alone. And

so I would encourage you to not let this be your

church, but it's only supplemental. as you grow.

With that said, I hope you enjoy this sermon

as we continue our walk through the book of Jonah.

This is Jonah chapter one, verses three through

six. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled

program, back to Jonah. So what did we talk about

last week? What do we know about Jonah? Everybody

goes back to their notes, and the people that

weren't here look down, hoping that Pastor Logan

won't notice them. Yes, he is a patriot. He's

very much, he loves his country, right? He was

a prophet to the king. He was the only prophet

during that time. We talked about Hosea and Amos

spoke against the crown, right? And different

things that Jeroboam. He was like, those two

prophets in particular were like, hey, Israel

is a sin. But Jonah was like, hey, you're great,

things are great, you know, all those things.

And then Jonah, because of that, Jonah hated

who? The Ninevites, right? And he had good reason

for it, right? What do we know about the Ninevites?

Bad dudes. Definitely bad dudes. What makes them

mad? You guys remember? They were cannibals,

yeah. They weren't just slapping people with

fish like they say in Veggie Tales, right? Yeah,

they would cut off legs and arms so that way

as the other enemies, right? Yeah, they would

high five them in mockery. What else? It would

make family members parade decapitated heads

of their loved ones, right? And they were brutal

people, and they were also pagan, right? They

worship false gods. And so Jonah feels this sense

of self -righteousness, and he doesn't want to

have to do what? What does God tell him to do?

Go preach to him, right? Go preach repentance.

And he's like, nah. Right and so We're going

to because we only got through the first three

and a half verses I'm gonna start at the top

and then we're gonna go through six and I want

you to just highlight or underline things that

stick out to you and I'll tell you the things

that I think you should pay attention to but

I told you last week that I Identified a lot

with Jonah especially with his life When we're

talking about the will of God and Him feeling

like God owes me, right? I do all of these things.

And as I was riding in the car of my wife last

night, I said, you know what? I said, I've never

in all my years, I've preached through this text

many times, I've never noticed that the word

get up, arise, okay, we're gonna see it some

more, is in the text. But that's the very word

that word coo Okay in Hebrew that word coo means

to get up stand up arise go persevere That is

what is tattooed on my forearm. So you guys have

asked before Never noticed it before And my wife's

like in this it's usually so tell me about what

you're gonna be preaching on tomorrow I'm telling

her she's like Wow in so many ways you are like

Jonah. They're like, yeah, thanks for the reminder

All right, here we go. The word of the Lord came

to Jonah, son of Amittai, get up, go to the great

city of Nineveh and preach against it because

their evil has come up before me. So Jonah got

up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord's presence.

He went down to Joppa and found a ship going

to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into

it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord's

presence Why do you think it? says where he's

going multiple times What do we say where Tarshish

was Whenever we when I showed you guys the map

last time last week It's the opposite direction

for them. It was like literally the end of the

map So this is Jonah's way of saying I was literally

going the opposite direction But the Lord threw

a great wind onto the sea and such a great storm

arose, there's that word again, on the sea that

the ship threatened to break apart. And the sailors

were afraid and each cried out to his God. They

threw the ship's cargo into the sea to lighten

the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the

lowest part of the vessel and stretched out.

and fallen into a deep sleep. The captain approached

him and said, what are you doing? Sound asleep?

Get up! He's hearing. Arise, go, right? Call

to your God. Maybe this God will consider us

and we won't perish. All right. What do you see?

What are things that you think that we should

be looking at? What are the things that we should

be taking note of? What is, let's start here.

What is Jonah's attitude? Yeah, he doesn't want

to go, right? What else? Huh? He's rebelling.

He's rebelling, yeah. He took action and went

the other way. He didn't just think about it,

he went. Yeah, yeah. I want you to hone in on,

for just a moment, hone in on the fact that he's

in a deep sleep and the others are doing what?

Raining to their God. Are these sailors new?

Are they new to sailing? No! They're terrified.

They're scared out of their minds. So this isn't

just a normal storm. They feel... that this is

a God -ordained storm. Now, granted, they're

God -ordained storm. They're thinking of all

these different gods that they worship, right?

But Jonah is fast asleep in the boat. What, like,

what? Let me, I'll just go ahead and say it.

There's a selfish attitude that's happening here,

right? Jonah is not affected. in the least he

doesn't care about what's going on in his mind

he is going as far as he can from the lord's

presence now we talked about last week is this

possible no right our verse of the week last

week was showing he he and jonah knew that song

doesn't matter where i go i can make my bed and

shield and you are there so Jonah, is Jonah unaware

that God isn't there? No, he totally knows he's

there. He knows he's everywhere, but he's lying

to himself. And so there's many times in our

own rebellion, we will lie to ourselves about

the truth of God, just so you know. But here's

something I want you to note. We can lie to ourselves

too. And think that we are at peace when we are

in rebellion. Here's what I mean. We can be like

Nacho Libre, my life is good. Really good. And

really our life is miserable. Jonah's in a deep

sleep. And we can think, oh man, I sleep fine

at night. And there's chaos going on, but just

because you sleep fine at night and there may

be some things. That you find peace in but you

know that you're in rebellion to God just because

you have that peace does not mean that you are

not in sin Does that does that make sense Thank

you, please thank God What else do we see here

what else should we be picking up Look at verse

1 and then look at verse 4 Here's something that

Warren Rears me when I was reading a book that

he wrote on Jonah that I did not pick up myself

and he pointed it out and I thought it was really

good. Verse one says, what came to Jonah? The

word of the Lord. In verse four, what comes to

Jonah? A storm. Is the Lord speaking? Kind of,

but not actually out of his mouth, right? He's

speaking through his acts and his ability to

control creation. And so one of the things that

that Warren Rearsby points out that I think is

really really good is he said whenever we walk

in rebellion Whenever we walk in rebellion God

stops speaking He gets your attention, but he

stops speaking And we're gonna see in just a

second Why because I asked my wife I said you

ever thought about the fact that when when? The

captain comes out. He says pray to your God why

Jonah doesn't pray to his doesn't pray to God

She's like I can't remember what what exactly

she said, but I said Warner Rees me points out

again Jonah knows the songs He says It's from

the fact that whenever we are in rebellion, God

does not hear, says that he shuts us off in our

prayers. And Jonah knows that. And so he's like,

yeah, I'm in rebellion. So even if I did pray,

it wouldn't matter. And so there are those things

in here that I'm like, man, that's really, really

good to point out that God speaks, then he stops

speaking, but he's not. He doesn't stop speaking

in the way that he's just like shut Jonah off.

He's like, oh no, you're going to do what I've

called you to do, but I'm done asking or telling.

I'm going to just make you do it. Another thing

that's important to point out too is that God,

as he is moving and doing these things with the

storm, these others are crying out to their gods

and nothing's happening, right? This is God also

flexing. He's flexing the false gods and he's

going you know, I am in creation. I am in control

of creation I spoke all of these things into

existence. I'm the one So that's important to

also know anything else that you guys see That

maybe should be considered Yes Dude! You wanna

come up here and preach? That's really good,

yes. I was actually, this past Friday, I was

at lunch with Dustin and Chap, who they had speak

at their family discipleship conference that

they had. And Jamie, I got to meet Jamie, very

nice guy. And we were just talking about how

God, different ways God speaks and different

things that I said. What I find interesting is

that God can still speak through donkeys. They're

like, what do you mean? I'm like, God speaks

all the time through pagans, he speaks through

rebellious, gross pastors, right? Like he still

speaks, like he will speak. And even, as you

just pointed out, he speaks to Jonah, right?

He's not physically speaking, but he's using

a pagan to get his attention, to say the exact

thing he already had said, right? Good word.

Anything else? Nope? All right. Let's go ahead

and start hitting it. You ready? So if you're

taking notes, my first note is this. Sin brings

its own storm. As we're looking at storms, we're

gonna look at sin and how sin brings its own

storms. But I wanna be clear, there's many times

that we can think that we've done something and

sometimes it's not our disobedience, sometimes

it's just the enemy. We see that with Joe, right?

Joe didn't do anything wrong. But there's times

that we can blame the devil or blame the enemy

for our storms, but we need to look internally

and go examine ourselves, as Paul would say,

and go, oh, I did that, right? So not every storm

is from the devil. Some are from our own disobedience.

I want to give you guys a quick story. When Tracy

and I were newly married, and I told you guys

we were super, super, super broke, we found out

that we were pregnant with Noah, and I was working

five different jobs. And I worked one of the

jobs is I worked part -time for Frida Lay, the

chip company, stocking chips. and they offered

me a job full time, but I had to move two and

a half hours away from where we're from. And

they were gonna offer me, you know, I would have

insurance then, insurance, just all these different

things. And I would actually get paid a regular

salary as opposed to just this small hourly wage.

And so, but to move two and a half hours south,

then it's gonna cost a lot more money to live.

And so where that area was, it's called Cape

Coral, which is Fort Myers, if you know. So it's

essentially like, think of the beach south. And

so I go home, I'm like, yes, like I didn't think

about it. I told him, yes, I would do it. And

my parents were like, yeah, this is the only

logical thing. You've got a kid on the way, you

need to be thinking this way. So you need to

do this. So I go home and I tell Tracy, and Tracy's

like, are you sure? And I'm like, yes, like it

just makes sense. and she's like okay and i will

never forget we got our house all packed up and

i laid in bed the night before we moved and i

will never forget the lord waking me up and very

clearly he was like you are not to go like you

you need to trust me and remember like what i

told you guys last week sometimes god will speak

and he will tell you to do things that are not,

that feels not logical, right? It doesn't feel

like common sense. Because anybody else in this

room, you would tell your kid, or if it was you,

yes, you got a kid on the way, you don't have

insurance, you're barely scraping by, this is

a good salary, go, right? Well, I'm like, God,

there's no way that this is you. Speaking to

me, we're going. So we load everybody up. We

drive two and a half hours there Tracy is really

big pregnant and We show up to our rental house

and The doors are locked. There's no one there

to give us a key. The rental company is already

closed for the day and I'm like Wonderful, and

it was a friend was a Friday by the way So I'm

like, what do we do now? So my father -in -law

says well, I'll pay for you guys to get a hotel.

So we go in we stay in this hotel i'm trying

to get on the phone these people like we're supposed

to have keys just have all these things and they

were like well we never got a deposit check for

anyone yes you did there's just all this big

thing well then finally i ended up just like

literally i broke into the house from the back

door and uh and i'm like we're just doing this

like our animals all in there and everything

and we're all in this house and the people show

up on the sunday because i was not expecting

them like what are you guys doing here how did

you even get in here you're trespassing and i'm

like well i technically signed a lease yeah but

you know there's like this whole thing anyway

we finally get that worked out i try to go to

work for the next few months i don't have enough

money literally one time uh our vehicle ran out

of gas uh we had zero zero dollars i was so we

were so we were more broke than we were back

home I was miserable. Miserable. My wife, thank

God there was a grace on her, because it was

like, she was like, yeah, it was just, I mean,

we couldn't, we didn't have cable, we didn't

have anything, so it was just her and our two

dogs. And she's like, I spent so much time with

Jesus. But it was like, it was a miserable time.

And the entire time, I'm driving in the middle

of the night, because that's what you do for

free to lay, you wake up at like two in the morning.

I'm driving to all these like gas stations in

Walmart, and I'm like, I hate my life. And I

can feel the word going, I told you not to go.

And so it did not matter that I had a regular

salary that was better and all these things.

We were more broke than we were before. The only

good thing was, is we now had insurance and so

when they readily brought us back home, we ended

up having no other. and those things end up working

out. But I learned then that when the Lord tells

you, don't do something or do something and you

don't do it, you end up doing it in the end.

That make sense? And so Jonah didn't stumble

into a storm, he sailed straight into it. When

we run from God, we row against his will. And

here's the other thing I want you to know. Don't

curse the waves you've created. The entire time

I was in Cape Coral, I was absolutely cursing

everything. Like I was like, I hate the rental

company. I hate our vehicles. I hate the job

that I had. I hate my boss. I hate all these

things. And the Lord was just like, I don't know

why you're hating all these things. You did this

to yourself. But how many of you have done that?

How many of you have rebelled, looked around,

and then go, oh, like the great theologian Taylor

Swift, I'm the problem, it's me. You guys know

that song? No? All right. I'm just joking, she's

not a theologian. She's a cyclist, anyway. So

what are some other ways that we see this play

out? Let's consider the life of King David. Who,

despite being a man after God's own heart, fell

into sin by committing adultery with Bathsheba.

This act of disobedience spiraled into deception

and ultimately murdered. The storm of consequences

that followed was immense, affecting his entire

family. Hear David's story. We learn how sin

can provoke chaos in our lives. Do you see it?

Do you see how sin affects? In just one moment

of David looking down too longingly at another

woman, he commits adultery and so he commits

an act against his wife and his children and

the kingdom and of course God. And then he ultimately

murders, right? From one moment of sin. Willful

disobedience can lead to bodily hurt, relational

hurt. and spiritual work. So, if we think about

all the lives that were affected by David and

his decision. Let's go to point number two. I'm

trying something different here. I didn't write

out my sermon completely. I'm trying to do it

in a way that I like. Point number two. Running

from God always costs you something. So, if we

look back, it says that Jonah Jonah paid a fair

to go right? He was like One ticket to the farthest

place on earth, please. He's like, oh really?

That's how much I got exactly that amount of

money So sin always has a fair and you'll always

pay more than you've planned David paid a great

price for what he did Jonah as well Jonah paid

to get on a ship, as we see in verse three. And

sin looks like freedom, but it always takes more

than it gives. Andy Griffith, you guys know Andy

Griffith? I'm like addicted right now to watching

the old episodes on crime. And Andy has, there

was this episode where Andy gets this person

and ultimately, I don't mean to give you the

whole episode, but there's always this great

moral story with value to the episode, right?

But he says, if you think you're just gonna play

around with breaking the law, you'll end up essentially

biting off more than you can chew. I totally

jacked up what he said, because it was really

good and accurate to play. But, Sid will keep

you longer than you ever wanted to stay, is essentially

what he would say, in prison. You think you're

just doing a small thing and you end up way farther

down the road than you ever did. Let me put it

to you like this. Have you ever known somebody

to try a drug and they're just gonna try it recreationally

and then you see them years down the road and

their life is wrecked? Do you know what I'm talking

about? When I talk about body hurt and what sin

can do, I have seen pictures of women who are

very attractive and they get addicted to meth

and then they look 30 years older than they actually

are. They've lost all their teeth, right? They

have dog face. Sin will take you a lot harder

than you ever wanted to go. It always costs you

something. Rebellion always cost you something.

Disobedience doesn't just affect you, it endangers

everyone in your boat. So if I go back to the

drug addict, I've seen drug addicts, because

we were foster parents, who cannot get their

lives together for the sake of their children,

so their children just stay stuck in the system

forever, and their lives will put them in a row

too. Here's a picture, or here's a story that

I found again about... running from God always

cost you something. In the midst of the French

Revolution, many believers faced persecution

for their faith. One such individual, a pastor,

chose to hide rather than face the violence against

Christians. However, as the revolution intensified,

he learned that his silence cost him his congregation

and his influence. Ultimately, he realized that

standing firm in his faith no matter the cost

was the only path to obedience and impact for

God's kingdom. a lesson still relevant for today.

So essentially the point of that being this.

He needed to speak up. His sin was rebellion

of not speaking up and caring for his congregation

and ultimately he lost it and they lost his influence.

How many key figures, how many key figures of

scripture experience the price of sin? All of

them? Yeah. Let's just name a few. Abraham. Abraham.

Abraham. I have Abraham. Who else? Come on. Moses.

What'd you say? Moses. Come on. You guys didn't

know there was going to be a test today, did

you? I'm sorry. Adam and Eve. Yes, I started

with Adam and Eve. So I got Adam and Eve, Moses,

we got... Abraham. There's one really obvious

one that you guys are missing. Judas. Judas is

a great one. Saul. Saul's a good one. Samson!

Yes! I think Samson is a great example of what

we're talking about. What did Samson do? Who

was Samson? Samson came to, an angel came to

a woman who could not have children. Ultimately

this angel says you're gonna have a child but

you got to make sure that he follows this vow,

that vow being he cannot drink alcohol, right?

He cannot cut his hair or his beard. There are

other pieces to that, don't touch dead things,

a lot of that kind of stuff, right? And so you

cannot do those things, right? He's ultimately

born, but he has this super strength, he becomes

a leader. Something, by the way, total side note,

something that I think is important, because

when I was a kid, there was these video series

that these kids would go back in time and they

would go through Bible stories. and I will never

forget the one on Samson and Samson was just

absolutely stacked ripped. Like I'm talking front

page of whatever workout magazine because I know

so many of them I don't know I don't know what

the title but um but just absolutely just decked

out I just stacked and I'm like wow I mean Did

he really I remember as a kid thinking today

did Samson really need the power of the Holy

Spirit if he was that absolutely stacked and

Then I wasn't so seminary that one of my professors

was like hey more than likely Samson was very

skinny Take one for the skinny guys. You know

what I mean? That's how we knew it was the power

of the Holy Spirit you can do all these things

anyway He defeats a thousand Philistines and

all these things and he keeps falling in love

with women who are not Israelites. But the first

one that he falls in love with, actually God

says to do. Anyway, it doesn't matter. But he

ultimately falls in love with a prostitute. The

prostitute has been paid off by the enemy. And

she says, what does it take to ultimately, like

what's the secret to your strength? And what

does he say? He says, my hair, my beautiful locks,

right? Just run your fingers through my hair,

my sweet beard. And so when he falls asleep,

which by the way, man, you gotta be in a deep

sleep if you don't feel like cutting your hair,

brother. And so he cuts his hair, ultimately

becomes enslaved, right? They gouge his eyes

out. What's the price that he paid? His strength,

right? His ability to lead. His ability to...

absolutely uh break the back of the enemy right

the spirit no longer rested upon him and then

one as his hair began to grow back what does

he say just give me one more chance right and

he dies right but the philistines three thousand

philistines died that day that's a incredible

picture of running from God always cost you something.

Of course David, as we've already pointed out,

I think of ministries and churches that have

been ruined because of the sin of pastors, elders,

and deacons. We've seen it all over the news

for the last however many years. Famous pastors,

authors, who have all this influence. and they

think in their own haughtiness and pridefulness

that they'll never be caught of their secret

sins always get found out. And is it just them

they get hurt? No. Ministries are ruined, churches

are hurt, a lot of people in the church are hurt,

leadership is hurt, and of course, wives, spouses

are hurt. Families split because of affairs committed,

lies told, and bitterness harbored, or addictions

chosen. Sin will always seem like a little thing

But it will always take you farther than you

ever wanted to go. Point number three. God sends

storms to save, not to destroy. This is important,

okay? We can look at the storm that Jonah is

going through and think that God is only meaning

this in a way that could destroy him. But is

that God's intention? We know the end of the

story. Is that God's intention? No, absolutely

not. What is God trying to do? Correction. Correction.

So, is the correction just for Jonah? No. Who's

it for? Nineveh. Yes, it's for Jonah, but ultimately

it's for God's heart. As we talked about, what

is Jonah about? It's not about Jonah, it's about

God and God's heart. So God's heart is always

to save. The only one he seeks to destroy is

who? The one who seeks to destroy you, right?

And so when God sends a storm or a storm comes

your way through your own sin, do not see it

as not, it's not just about punishment. And that's

what I have here. The storm was punishment, but

it was also pursuit. It's God pursuing Jonah

saying, stop. I have your best interest in mind.

Stop being scared. Stop being prideful. Stop

being self -righteous and just go. But Jonah

takes the long way around because, by the way,

to get from Joppa, And where he's from in Gath,

to go to Joppa, it's 50 miles. Remember, he's

walking. So that's going to take him some time.

Then he's going to get on a boat, and it's going

to take him time. And then he's got to float,

go back, right? And then how far did I say Tarsha

or Nineveh was from Gath? 500 miles. So think

about all the time that John has lost in the

entire time God is going, man, if you would just

listen, you took the hard way around. Brothers

and sisters, I have done that so many times.

I have taken a long way around. You guys have

heard me say it a thousand times. As a matter

of fact, Micah, as we were pulling in, he goes,

dad, can you believe it's almost been a year

since you preached here the first time that you

and I came? And I go, no. And he goes, and to

think, God finally got me here. Tell me, man,

me and Jonah got a lot in common. But God kept

pursuing me. I took the long way around, but

I finally got here. God wasn't trying to sink

Jonah. He was trying to save him and save men.

Sometimes God's mercy feels like chaos before

it feels like the call. And God will rock the

boat to rescue your soul. Consider a gardener

who prunes trees, not to destroy them, but to

foster new growth. In a similar sense, God's

storms in our lives serve as a necessary pruning,

cutting away at distractions and sinful habits

so that we can blossom in ways previously thought

impossible. His chaos can lead to profound fondness

for the beauty of his design. During World War

II, many cities experienced bombing raids that,

while destructive, led to eventual what? Liberation.

Right? The bombings of cities in World War II

brought destruction, but ultimately brought liberation.

Liberation of the occupants, God's storms may

feel like an assault on our lives, but they often

serve a greater purpose. Just as those cities

rebuild stronger after the chaos, we too can

emerge from God's storms more resilient and closer

to him. I want to give you an example of this

in the life of my cousin. My cousin's name is

Garrett. And Garrett is in my entire life, Garrett.

I looked up to him. He was a ladies man and as

someone, as his cousin four years younger, he

was a great athlete, but I was enamored by the

girls that liked him. And I was like, dang, man,

how do I get to be so smooth like Garrett? And

Garrett would always be like, the never -loving

man. I'm just too man. But Garrett was also heavily

influenced by others, and he early in high school

got into, in with the wrong crowd. became a drug

addict. He was, Tommy was a sophomore. We had

this store that's kind of like Dillard's, but

it's a local store in Florida called Birdeins.

And he stole a bunch of Tommy Hilfiger stuff,

very expensive clothing, and he was ultimately

banned from Birdeins for life. Well, Birdeins,

ultimately, Garrett got the last laugh because

Birdeins went out of business about five years

ago. Anyway, so he gets really caught up. He's

been to jail many times, goes to prison many

times. His life is an absolute wreck. And one

day, I went and visited him with my mother while

he was in prison, and I just shared the gospel

with him and felt led to do that. He knew the

gospel. He grew up in church just like I did.

But ultimately, he surrendered that day. He finally

got to a place where God had rattled his cage

enough where he could stop running. And sometimes

we have to get to that place where God is more

than willing to let us get to a place where we

just stop running. We tire ourselves out. And

Garrett did. And so Garrett begins to read the

Bible while he's in prison. And he comes up for

parole and ultimately they let him move to Teen

Challenge. If you guys know what Teen Challenge

is, it is a, I don't know that they have one

like this anymore, but back then in North Florida

they had one, they were like a boot camp. And

so he goes to that and gets clean. And now he

has a family. He's got kids. He has a very successful

construction business in Florida. He loves the

Lord, but it took. Him continually making terrible

decisions after terrible decisions everybody

going here This isn't the life that has for you

and you just continue to make dumb decisions

dumb decisions like a dumb decision But finally

he gets to a place where he stops running because

he's in prison And he can finally hear the the

love that God has for him and says it's time

to stop running Last last point There's always

mercy in the storm. God uses storms to change

us. We talked about Abraham, right? Abraham experienced

years of wandering to prepare him to become the

father of a nation. Joseph experienced slavery

and prison to break him of his own arrogance

to prepare him to save a nation. Storms are a

kind of mercy for us and for others. The saving

of Nineveh. So you need to hear that the storm

is not just about the storm. It's not just about

the chaos. You should see the mercy within the

chaos. Yes, you have chosen this. And yes, you

are reaping your own harvest because of the sin

you've committed. And God is allowing these storms

to happen, but ultimately there is mercy in that.

The story of Job is one of the most profound

examples of mercy and storms. Job faced unimaginable

loss and suffering, yet through it all he gained

a deeper understanding of God's nature. Now again,

not all storms are because of our own disobedience,

but I'm still speaking from a big... 30 ,000

foot view of storms. His trials seen through

human eyes were storms, yet they were also God's

merciful hand guiding Joe to a greater relationship

with him in our storms. We can find a similar

mercy inviting us to trust him now. So I wanna

ask you, if there is a storm that either you

have created or a storm you're just walking through

that is not of your own creation, But it's a

storm, nonetheless. It feels chaotic. It feels

like things are out of control. I would ask you

to do one of two things. If it is for your own

creation, then you would stop. Then you would

repent. Then you would see Jesus standing there.

I want you to think of it like this. I heard

a pastor years ago say, many times, many times,

We're wondering where God is in everything. In

the midst of a storm and he's like, if you would

just stop and turn around, you'd see that he's

standing right there. He's been pursuing the

entire time. Much the way a father does to a

child who's running out into the street. And

so I would ask you to just stop and turn around

and see that maybe the storm that has been created

Is the mercy of God trying to get your attention

because you're running out in the traffic If

it's not from your own creation, but it's just

because of we live in a fallen world and therefore

It just happened storms happen I would ask you

to look for the mercy of God in that Just like

Joe you should seek and ask the lord the psalm

is said over and over how long you can ask that

charles virgin said this i'm closing the lord's

mercy is a sea which cannot be filled though

mountains of sin be cast into its midst it is

like noah's flood which covers all and drowns

even the mountaintops of heaven defying sins

I'm going to say that one more time because you

have to get what Charles was going to say. The

Lord's mercy is a sea which cannot be filled,

though mountains of sin be cast into its midst.

It is like Noah's flood which covers all and

drowns even the mountaintops of heaven -defying

sins. That's the mercy of God. You can't out

-send it. I'm not saying go try. But the mercy

of God fills even that. So why do I share that?

Because if you're in this room this morning and

you're running from God, he's been tracking you

down like the hound of heaven that he is. And

he has brought you to this place for this moment

right now. This is his mercy. This is his call.

This is the moment that he sang. It's time to

stop. If you're here and in the midst of a storm

that has been difficult, but it's not sin caused,

I would say again, look for the mercy of Christ.

Get your eyes off of yourself and off the moment

and just look up to Jesus. The other thing I

would like to say in closing is this. If you

have, like Jonah, are rebelling against God,

quit living a selfish life and see that you are

affecting others around you. and those who you

have affected in your own sin, you should repent

too.