Swallowed By Grace

All right.

Good morning, Church at the Grove.

It is awesome to see all of you here.

I want to say welcome to everybody.

And I and I always want to acknowledge, you know, we've got some of you are just part of our family here on a regular basis.

Good morning to you.

But I want to say a special welcome to those of you might that might be here for the first time, second time.

There's a chance I may not have met you yet.

And I would look forward to meeting with you and talking to you personally.

If you stop me in the lobby on the way out, I'd love to love to speak with you personally.

And so we're we're in the book of Jonah.

We started last week with this new series on the story of Jonah, which is which is really one of my favorite stories in all the Bible.

It's in the Old Testament.

It's right between Obadiah and Micah.

Page 773 in my Bible, which probably means nothing to your Bible.

You can look on electronically if you've got your phone or tablet.

And so we'll dive in.

This is part two of Jonah's story.

We're kind of a uh the the you know we're talking about this relentless grace.

Um and and last week we we we emphasized this idea that that sin, sin, disobedience is running from God.

It's running away from God.

And so all of the story of Jonah is all of our stories.

I mean, we we all at points in our life have probably decided, you know, we're we're gonna, you know, God's speaking to us, God's uh leading us to do something, but but I'm just I'm gonna go I'm gonna go the other way.

Um and so uh so last week we looked at that where Jonah, God called Jonah to go to a place called Nineveh.

Now, uh, if if you learned a little bit about uh the ancient history, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire.

And the Assyrians were not friendly to the Jewish people, to the Hebrew people.

As a matter of fact, uh 722 BC, uh they came in and conquered the northern kingdom and uh and marched a lot of people off back to uh to Nineveh.

They were evil, horrible.

The Ninevites were just known for being ruthless.

And I shared a couple of things uh I won't I won't I won't repeat, they're pretty gruesome, but they um they they were they were just awful to people.

They they they they they would, you know, uh one of the things they did, and I I will share this, I shared it last week, they would um they they would decapitate um uh Jewish people, they uh people they'd captured, and they would take their heads and and put them on a pole, and they would march them and have a parade through through the capital city of Nineveh.

And so so God tells Jonah, you go back to chapter 1, God tells Jonah, you are called to go to be a prophet to the Ninevites.

What I mean that that would be like God calling me, so Russ, I want, you know, uh, or maybe even thinking about different parts of history, but God calling me uh to go um to Syria.

I want you to go to Syria right now, where where Christian persecution is continuing to rise, and I want you to stand in the middle of a large city, and I want you to preach the gospel.

Um uh I shared last week and I misquoted, I I said Nigeria, but it was actually the Congo.

It was in the Congo a couple of weeks ago where where uh some terrorists came in and and there were 70 worshipers in this small church and they beheaded every one of them.

And that's just a couple of weeks ago.

And so imagine being called by God.

Hey, Russ, you you go, you're gonna go to this place and you're gonna preach the gospel to these people, which is which um, man, I I I think I would struggle like Jonah, right?

Thank you, God, for Walton County.

I mean, I'm so you get you guys are um sometimes you know, sometimes you know, church people can be mean, but I'm thankful for a church that's not mean.

Y'all are so y'all are such a sweet church, and and and and for the most part, um y'all, it's been uh 18 and a half years of of just uh a blessing.

And so I know uh you know, this story of John, it's a wild story, it's a crazy story.

So there's this young college girl that was involved in ministry, and and so one of the things that she and some of her friends, they would go out onto the campus and they would just try to get in conversations with people that would lead to hopefully talking about Jesus.

And so she she's out talking about you know about Jesus, and this older gentleman walks up and and he was he was an atheist and he had a he had he had a bad attitude and and and he was a skeptic, and so he he starts just hammering her with questions.

He seemed to be pretty intelligent, you know, and he thought, well, I'm gonna take advantage of this young lady.

And and he says, I he said, so that that Bible you're holding, that Bible you're I do you believe, do you believe in what that Bible says?

She said, every word.

I believe in every word.

He says, I bet you believe in all the miracles that are in the Bible.

She said, Absolutely.

And so he asked her a few more questions, and then he said, Hey, I do you believe, have you ever heard of the story Jonah?

You read the story Jonah?

And she she said, yes.

She said, I bet you believe in that story of Jonah.

I bet you believe he was actually swallowed by a fish.

And she said, Yes, I believe it because the word teaches it.

And he said, How do you explain that?

And she says, Well, I don't know that I can explain it that well.

And and she says, you know, I one of my things I'm gonna do is when I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask Jonah to explain how all this happened.

And so the man said, Well, what if Jonah is in hell?

And and and she said, Well, why don't you ask him?

And how many of you heard that before?

I mean, be honest.

That that's an old one.

So I apologize, uh, but I I don't know that I've ever shared that with this church.

Um uh and so so listen, a lot of times we assume when we're going through tough times that that God is mad at us or disappointed at us, and very often when we go through difficult times, it is actually the grace of God working in our life.

Maybe you've lost a job, maybe, maybe uh a marriage has ended, maybe um that there's there's some issues in your family that haven't that need to be resolved and there needs to be reconciliation.

Maybe you faced financial struggle, um, uh a terrible diagnosis, anxiety, all types of things.

And and here's the big idea for this morning.

I like to give you, I like to give you one big idea that if you forget everything else I say that you might remember this, and it's gonna be on the screen here, is that sometimes God's grace feels like a storm, but it's always meant to bring you home.

Sometimes grace feels like a storm.

And we're talking about Jonah, but it's always meant to bring you home.

And so this morning we're continuing in this series, and and I gave you a little bit of idea of how Jonah was called to the Ninevites.

Um, and and last week I showed you a map.

I like, I like maps.

I like I like maps, but it gave you an idea of how far Jonah had decided.

He he was supposed to be, uh he was called to Nineveh, which was was he was meant to travel um to the east uh with in a very long distance, uh, but he got on a boat in Joppa, which is was in the Palestine area, and he went as far as he could go, um uh uh according to what they knew about the world at that time.

And it was called a place called Tarshus, uh, which is which is in the area of Spain.

And and so he wanted to get as far away.

And so uh, you know, we we talked about the story.

He's on he's on a boat, uh storm comes, and and and and and all the all the all the sailors are thinking, man, what are they doing?

And so they start praying to all their different gods.

When I say gods, little g um, you know, false gods.

And they're they're they're all of a sudden they they're people of prayer, and they're praying, and they're they're and then they then and Jonah, where is Jonah?

He's down on the lower deck sleeping.

He he is down sleeping.

He's decided I'm gonna go take a nap while they're dealing with with the storm, uh, which may have been a bit of God's wrath being poured out for Jonah's disobedience.

And so um Jonah tells them, he said, Hey, uh what you need to do is you need to throw me overboard.

And of course, they don't want to throw him overboard.

They're afraid they're gonna offend his God.

And so finally, he tells them who his God is, and they start praying.

And I explained this in detail based on some Hebrew words, Elohim and Yahweh.

And so they start praying, not just to their God, they begin to pray to Yahweh, who is the covenant God of the Old Testament.

It would be the equivalent of us saying, yeah, there's a God out there, but we don't know who it is.

And then all of a sudden we realize Jesus.

Jesus is our God.

Jesus is who we have a covenant relationship with.

And so, and so I said, Hey, when you are watching an award show and somebody says, Hey, I want to thank God, you know, that that sounds great, but but who's who is who's the God they're talking about?

But when they stand up and they say, I want to thank Jesus, man, I I perk up.

I'm like, hey, this is somebody who knows what they're talking about.

This is somebody who really does love Jesus.

And so the beautiful and the powerful truth that we saw last week is that God's grace is pursuing Jonah.

And let me tell you this: God's grace is pursuing you.

You may not realize it, but he's pursuing you.

He pursues you through the good experiences, he pursues you very often through difficult circumstances.

And we we think sometimes, God must be mad at me.

No, God, out of his love for you, is allowing you to go through a difficult experience, so you, by his grace, will reach out to him to depend on him.

Now, have you ever done anything that was bad?

And you prayed, God, do not let me get caught.

I have.

Matter of fact, I got caught.

I got caught, and that caught, being caught, led me to more trouble, but but but all of a sudden I was very interested in going to church for my brother after I, you know, spent a night in in at a jail.

Um I'm, you know, y'all know that story.

Y'all know I'm a jailbird.

Um and so uh and uh I I don't uh I don't have anything to hide.

So um that was the grace of God that I got caught.

You know why?

Because I ended up, I said, I my brothers had both, two brothers been invited me to church, and I said yes.

Uh I got in the car, and my brother Eddie and my mom picked me up at the Conyers jail, and we got in the car.

I said, Eddie, I think I want to go to church with you Sunday.

And I and I was, I mean, I was serious, and so on that that was the uh the the end of 1983, so on New Year's Eve of 1983, I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ.

And so I got caught by the grace of God, and and and I and I found myself being drawn into a relationship with him.

And so, so so so let's let's just dive in.

Verse 17.

We're in Jonah chapter 1, verse 17.

Jonah 1:17

We'll we'll get to chapter 2 here.

Some uh this will be a four or five-week series.

And so, verse 17, it says, the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

And so Jonah has officially hit rock bottom.

And by the way, by the way, let me let me let me make a very important point.

If you don't believe literally in this story, you're not going to hell.

Okay?

I know a lot of Christians, I know a lot of believers who believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, who struggle with the reality of this story.

I understand it.

It is a wild and crazy story, um, but but either today or the next couple weeks, I'm gonna share with you something that Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 that leads me to believe that this story actually happened the way it is presented in Scripture.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

And so Jonah has hit rock bottom.

I mean, he's through he's been thrown overboard.

The storm has calmed down for the sailors, but now Jonah is sinking beneath the waves.

Darkness surrounds him.

Um his imagine uh you know, sinking in the water, your lungs beginning to fill with water, no, you're your longing, wanting oxygen, wanting to take a breath.

And he is convinced he is at the end of his life, but instead of drowning, he found himself swallowed by a great fish.

Now, this this is I mean, imagine he would have never thought in a million years that this is where he would find himself in the belly of a fish.

And you say, Well, this is crazy.

This is crazy.

Well, what watch this clip.

This is just recently.

This is a recent clip.

This is today's society, right?

Everybody's got a phone.

And so this is a couple kayakers on the water.

Watch this short clip.

I mean, this is pretty amazing.

Now, for the mother of all whale tails.

I mean, this is pretty amazing, and you gotta see it to believe it.

Fortunately, there's video.

Yes, there is a young man swallowed by a humpback whale and quickly spit out.

Thankfully.

So here he is on the kayak.

This is on the Strait of Magellan in Chile.

Right?

Twenty-four years old, kayaking with his dad when this happened.

His father was recording the video.

The wave comes up, takes a big gulp with the sun, just for a few moments, and then releases him.

Wow.

The sun said he thought he was gonna die.

It was his life vest, he believes it pulled him up, kept him buoyant enough, you know.

The uh he asked if he'd kayak again.

They said, of course.

Of course we would.

Now, let's watch it again, too.

I tell you this.

Humpback whales, by the way, they typically feed on krill and small fish, not not people.

So this is just kind of one of those wrong plays, wrong time kind of.

I wonder how old he was.

I mean, because he looks uh like the size of an adult.

I mean, he doesn't look small.

Well, the guy 24.

Oh, we said 24, 24.

24, yeah.

Wow.

So presumably the old man's my age or older, I guess.

Yeah, wow.

Yeah, it's pretty amazing.

I mean, you know, I'm sure he was scared, but what a tail you got.

I mean, how many people could say I was swallowed by a whale?

Yeah.

Is that not crazy?

Now, now he obviously he didn't spend three days and three nights in the belly of that whale.

Uh maybe uh he didn't have the right seasoning.

Play, I mean, he he he didn't taste good, or uh whatever it is, but but it that that shows me, you know what, this this this what we're talking about is possible.

And and you know, there are other accounts, there are actually a couple of accounts where men and women have actually been swallowed like that, and and they did actually stay longer in the belly uh of the well.

Um and then later, later they were spit out, and and so you could probably um uh find those online pretty easily.

And so um and so we we we we we see that.

And so, but here's what I want you to, you know, I I'm not trying to convince you the reality of the story, I'm trying to teach you the principles that I think God wants us to understand from uh this book, from this story.

God's grace doesn't always feel like God's grace.

God's grace doesn't always feel like God's grace.

And I say that.

I say that to some of you because you are right in the middle of something that is difficult.

You you are you are you're here and you're putting on a happy face and you're smiling, um, or or or maybe you're not.

Maybe you're you're willing to just admit.

I you know, sometimes people as they as they come in or come out, they you know, they'll they'll start talking and they'll tear up and they'll start telling me what's got what's happening in their life, or I get phone calls, or I meet with people, I do counseling.

And so I sometimes I have to encourage people these words.

God's grace doesn't always feel like God's grace, but what you're going through, what you're going through, God is going to reveal himself to you in a deeper, more intimate way.

And that is God's grace.

God shows himself, he reveals himself.

And so it could be all types of things that you're that you're going through.

God's grace doesn't always feel like God's grace.

And so God's grace can feel like disappointment, it can feel like a closed door, it can feel like an unanswered prayer for your specific situation.

And and so you pray, you can pray for for for for God to step in, you can pray for new doors to be opened, you can pray for opportunities, you ask God to remove a burden, but but instead, sometimes the burden gets more intense.

Um but but listen to this.

Here's a question.

What if the closed door was actually God's way of protecting you from something you couldn't see?

What if he was redirecting you to something better?

See, God's grace can sometimes feel like a delay.

It can be a season of waiting.

You you're praying and you're you're you're you're saying, you know what, if I sh if I go to church every Sunday, man, certainly God will love me more.

That's not true, by the way.

You can skip next Sunday, God will love you the same.

I will just be disappointed.

And so we we think, you know, there's these delays, but there's no breakthrough.

It seems like God has forgotten you.

It seems like that that He He's he He's not interested maybe in your situation or circumstances, but you know what He's doing, God is often, He is building our character, He is, He is forming us.

Uh Romans uh 12, 1 says, we are um uh somebody help me out.

We we are renewed, our minds are renewed through Scripture.

Somebody give me a somebody's some of you should have listened to Jonah preach on scripture memory.

I and I have lost that that scripture.

It's just escaped me.

We um who's got it?

12 1, Romans 12, 1 and 2.

We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

How are our minds renewed, Leslie?

How are minds renewed, Brandon?

How are our minds renewed?

I'm gonna give you a hint.

Yeah, be it in the scripture.

So, so so we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, and and and it's it's in scripture that that God begins to do that work, and so and so um God hasn't forgotten us.

He's developing us, he is forming us into the image of his son, and so God's grace can feel like a loss.

God's grace can feel like isolation at times.

God's grace can feel like discipline.

As a matter of fact, the the scripture teaches us that God disciplines those he loves.

It goes back.

If you are doing something you shouldn't be doing, and you're involved in sin, you're running away from God, and you get caught, that's God's grace.

God disciplines those he loves.

My concern, this is what we taught our kids: hey, if you're out there and you're doing something you're not supposed to be doing and you keep doing it and you never get caught, that's when you should be concerned.

And so God's grace doesn't always feel like God's grace in the moment, but but we have a good Father that promises.

Romans 8.28 says we we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God and that are called according to his purpose.

Do we really believe that promise?

Do we believe it?

Do we believe it?

If we believe that, then our worry will lower, our worry issues, our worry levels will lower, our anxiety levels will lower.

And so we we believe that promise.

And so for Jonah, the fish felt like a grave, but it was actually God's grace.

So a grave can be grace.

A grave can be grace.

We just lost one of our saints.

There's a couple in our church, the oldest couple, you know, uh in our church, Lynn and Joanne Martin.

Lynn is the husband, he's 94 years old, and and just a couple weeks ago lost his his wonderful wife, Joanne, um, at the age of 89.

Uh she had a terrible fall, had to have surgery, never came out of the surgery, and passed away.

And and um and and and and so um I I know that Lynn is is is um is is hurting.

He's hurting, understandably hurting.

But you know, in the midst of his pain, Lynn will, as you talk to him, there's there's this unmistakable joy in the midst of his pain.

And you know where that joy is?

It's because he knows that that what feels like putting his wife, what feels painful, putting her into a grave, it is actually the grace of God.

Because what is she experiencing now?

She is experiencing the person and the presence in an up close, intimate way of her Savior Jesus.

And so I don't I don't know how long Lynn has.

I mean, he's 94, but I can tell you he's he he is longing for that day to be reunited with her.

I I look forward to be reunited with my with my older brother.

I look forward to be uh to being reunited with with so many members of my family.

And so so what can feel like a grave is actually the grace of God.

Um and so Jonah chapter 2, verses 1 and 2.

Jonah 2:1

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish.

I think I would pray too.

Do you think that kayaker, I mean, and that it was a short, short deal.

He and I he I would be offended that I was spit out so quickly.

But do you think he probably offered up a prayer?

I I would I don't they may not have had the sound on.

There's no telling, you know, what what was what was said on both ends, you know, between those two kayakers.

Probably not something we could repeat in church.

Um and so uh and so he called, he says, he he calls to the Lord from the belly of the fish.

He said, I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me.

I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol, which would be his understanding of hell, um, separation from God.

He he f I mean he he probably felt I I am, you know, he he knew he'd disobeyed God.

He had not said yes to God.

So he is, I'm experiencing the wrath of God because of my disobedience.

And then he says, You heard my voice.

You heard my voice, and so God's discipline is an act of grace.

God's discipline is an act of grace.

And so if you've got somebody in your family and they've gone through some trouble, they are in trouble, um, or maybe it will be something that happens in the future.

And sometimes we can't control that.

I've learned I can't control everything about my kids.

I just I can I pray, God, would you just would you show yourself?

Would you reveal yourself?

And I and I've, you know, we we've uh uh we've got three kids, and one one one of our our my oldest, uh, and I think he would be fine with me.

Sharon, he he walked away from God.

He he was he's he he got it he got involved with some some friends and some things that he shouldn't have been involved in.

But he will tell you now, years later, he he is he is redeemed, he's repented, he's he's right with the Lord, he's growing, he's he's got a job.

And so, I mean, he's in a good place in life.

Um, and and so and and so he he'll tell you, he'll tell you, it it was by God's grace that that I got caught right here.

It was God's grace that y'all, and listen, you you think you're gonna slip something by my wife Jill?

She has the gift of discernment.

She knows, listen, she knows, she, I can't get away with anything.

And and so she just is aware of things, she's tuned in uh to the Holy Spirit.

And so think about how awful it would have been in the belly of the fish, total darkness, over, think of the stench and the smell and the the think of the digestive fluids.

As a matter of fact, Charles Swindah, in his uh work of biography on the life of Jonah, he says the gastric juices would have begun to bleach Jonah's skin, leaving him pale, raw, and burning.

Every breath would have been labored in this rancid, sulfuric air of the fish's stomach.

Now, can you imagine the first people that saw him after he was spit out?

Bleached, bleached skin?

Some of you have been in a well, right?

I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

We joke about my wife, my wife has olive-colored skin, and and and I'm I'm I'm a white boy, you know, and then and our kids, you know, we get they got a little bit of both of that.

Um and so so uh just think of the emotional toil.

Tim Keller, um one of my heroes, passed away, went, went, went to be with the Lord a few years ago, but he wrote a book called The Prodigal Prophet on Jonah.

And here's what he says about about Jonah.

He says, um, he says, for Jonah, the belly of the fish was more than a physical prison, it was a place of spiritual reckoning.

Listen to this.

This morning, this morning is less about a story about a fish swallowing a man, and it's more about a spiritual reckoning for you.

Where are you spiritually?

And so, stripped of control, stripped of pride, I'm quoting quoting Keller, stripped of control, stripped of pride, and stripped of all escape routes, Jonah was left face to face with God, with the God that he had been running from.

And see, I'm telling you, God, God will do that.

He'll strip everything away where it's just you and God face to face.

Some of you have already been there.

Some of you are there right now.

He had no other options.

He can't go anywhere.

God has put Jonah in time out.

And so Sheol was this realm of the dead.

It was their idea of the realm of the dead, and we uh it's often interpreted as being separated from God, a place where you don't have access to God.

So that would be that would be hell to us.

That's translated in some areas of scripture as hell.

And so Jonah felt like he's literally being buried alive.

He's suffocated by his own rebellion.

So where do you go when you hit rock bottom?

When you're dealing with something difficult, do you see it as God's grace?

You see, what if we what if what if we shifted our thinking, which is really what the life of being a follower of Jesus is?

And I, if you'll notice, I don't use the word Christian as much as I used to, because the word Christian doesn't really mean what it used to mean.

Everybody's a Christian.

Everybody, I mean, if you survey people, yeah, I believe in God.

But but the diff, there's a big difference between intellectual belief and turning and beginning to walk with Jesus.

And so Hebrews 12 11 says this no discipline seems enjoyable at the time.

Amen?

But painful.

Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

So our discipline is meant to train us.

And so God is his and in his grace will bring us to the bottom.

He will allow us to hit rock bottom, and at that place, he can get our attention.

And so God heard Jonah's prayer.

He listened to Jonah's prayer.

He heard Jonah cry out.

Jonah had run from God.

He had rejected God's plan.

He had disobeyed God.

God had a mission for him, and what a daunting mission it was to go to Nineveh of all places.

And then Jonah cries out, and God responds.

Listen, God's discipline is not designed to destroy you.

It's designed to deliver you.

Listen, listen, let me say, can I say that again?

God's discipline is not designed to destroy you.

It's designed to deliver you, to bring you back to Him.

Verses 3 through 5.

Jonah 2, 3 through 5.

When you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, the current overcame me.

All your breakers and your billows, they swept over me.

And I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more towards your holy temple.

The water engulfed me up to the neck, and the watery depths overcame me.

Seaweed was wrapped around my head.

And so sometimes God has to break us down before he can build us back up.

Verse 6.

He says, I sank to the foundations of the mountains.

The earth's gates shut behind me forever.

And this is actually a bit of a poem that is written by Jonah as he's recounting what he had been through.

And it says, as my life was fading away, verse 7.

Alright, first, end of verse 6.

He said, Then you raise my life from the pit, Lord my God.

And then as my life was fading away, I remember the Lord, and my prayer came to you to your holy temple.

Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love.

But as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving.

I will fulfill what I have vowed.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Then the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah out onto dry land.

Now, there's something about being in the belly.

I I wonder if I wonder like if the guy in the kayak offered a quick prayer.

God, if you can get me out of this situation, I'll give my life to you.

You know, which we we've probably all we've all prayed that prayer, probably somehow.

At whatever age.

And and probably didn't follow through all the way like we should have.

But but um and so Jonah, do you see the change in his heart?

I mean, he is he is moving from rebellion all of a sudden.

God, I need you.

I need you.

So the work of grace is is happening in his life.

And so God's grace, listen to this.

God's grace doesn't just save you from something, it saves you for something.

Now, we're gonna talk about that more in detail over the next few weeks, two or three weeks.

God doesn't just save you from something.

Now, he does.

He wants to save us from eternity separated from him.

He wants to save us from eternal torment.

He wants to save us from being away, separated from him in a place called hell.

He wants to save us from that.

But God doesn't just want to save us from something.

He wants to save us for something.

He's called Jonah for a mission.

He's called us to a mission.

He's called our church to a mission.

That's why when you look around this room and there's a few empty seats, you see that we know that God is not finished with this church.

God wants us to continue to invest in this community, which is why we're moving forward to build more space and so we can accommodate the growth and the children and the young people and the young families, all ages.

I want our church to be multi-generational.

You know why?

Because I'm old now.

I was a young man.

18 and a half years ago, I was younger.

Younger.

Maybe I wasn't quite young, but I was younger.

And so God's called us for something.

He's called us to something.

He's not just wanting the, he's not wanting you to just punch your ticket and get to heaven and then just live your life the way you want to live it.

He wants you to experience this transforming grace and work through Christ.

And in such a way that you join Him, that you partner with Him in seeing other people.

One of the worst things in the world is for us to experience the grace of God and keep it to ourselves.

Probably the most selfish thing we could do is to have the hope of eternal life.

And ignore the fact that other people need it.

And so God saves us for something.

God's grace is so amazing.

It's not just about our rescue, it's about our restoration.

His grace empowers us to step into new purpose and step into what he has for us.

Listen, God's put you in the position that you are in for divine purpose.

I'm telling you that.

God has put you in a position that he's put you in for divine purpose.

I'm looking at a couple people specifically, but I could speak to everybody specifically.

God, let me come over here.

These ladies right here need to hear that.

God has put you where you are for a divine purpose.

And he, yeah, thank you, Claudia.

Thank you.

He will, and listen, he's going to walk with you through that.

And so and so some of you will talk to anybody.

You'll you'll strike up a conversation with anybody.

Well, bring Jesus into the conversation somehow.

Who said amen?

Thank you.

Thank you.

I always can't, thank you.

I always count on Michael.

When he says that, it shortens the sermon by three minutes.

All right.

Don't uh for a second there I felt like it was in the belly of a whale.

Paul says this in Ephesians 2.

If you want to read a passage that's just so a set of verses that will just, I mean, you just read them over and over.

Ephesians 2, 1 through 10.

Verse 1 says, You're dead.

You're dead in your sin and your transgressions.

And then verse 4 says, but God made you alive.

I love, there's two words that are found throughout scripture that are so powerful and meaningful.

And those two words are but God.

But God.

And he says, but God made you alive in Christ.

And then he gets down to verse 10.

He says, For we are God's workmanships, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Do good things, which God has prepared ahead of time for us to do.

And so if you've been changed by the grace of God, if you've been changed by encounter with Jesus, he has called you into a greater purpose.

He's called you into his mission.

He's called you and He promises to provide you the power.

He's given us the Holy Spirit.

We are a people that believe in one God, in three personalities: God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and then God the Holy Spirit.

And so Jesus, after Jesus was resurrected, he told the disciples, go to the upper room.

I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit.

So we have the Holy Spirit.

We sing about the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit works through us.

It is, it is, let me share a text.

I got a group of pastors that are all over, literally all over the country, but most of them around Atlanta.

And so my pastor Mike at North Star, he he said this, and he's quoting Octavius Winslow.

He sent this text out to us this morning.

He says, while Jesus is in heaven preparing a place for his people, the Spirit is on earth preparing his people for that place.

Isn't that a good word?

So you just shorten the sermon by three three minutes to a walk.

And I I've talked a lot about grace.

And I and I, you know, there there is you know there are times where I need to talk about the wrath of God or the consequences of disobedience.

But I love talking about grace.

God's riches at Christ's expense.

It's what God provides for us through the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And He will change us.

He will take the listen, He'll take the worst sinner, the worst person.

That's why, that's why I'm gonna be honest with you.

I there's times that I get really frustrated, even to the point of being angry, when people that I know who know better do things that tear apart their own life, but not only their own life, that tear apart a marriage, that tear apart a family.

And I'll tell sometimes I'll I'll be I'll talk to Jill.

I said, Jill, I'm so angry.

I feel like I need to go confront this person.

She said, Oh, it's not time.

Not time.

You're you're not in the right state of mind.

I don't hear, I don't feel, I don't, I don't hear Jesus, I don't hear any Jesus when you're talking about this situation.

I'm like, oh, why do you have to be so close to God?

But God will change people.

One of the songs that probably all of us cherish comes from a story of God's grace in the life of a rebellious man.

His name was John Newton.

John Newton was a British sailor in the 1700s, and he was he he was a he was a major part of the African slave trade.

And he he lived a reckless lifestyle.

Obviously, if he was involved in in uh in any way with with slavery or the slave trade, he he was um a man who who wasn't didn't know the Lord, didn't understand um the value of every person, every ethnicity, every people group, every every every human being being created the image of God on this earth.

He was vulgar, immoral, he openly mocked God.

He even influenced other sailors to walk away from their own faith.

By his own admission, Newton lived a life of arrogance, cruelty, and sin.

But then a storm showed up.

During one voyage, Newton's ship was caught in a brutal storm and he feared for his life.

It's a storm of grace.

And so, in desperation, he cries out to God, begging for mercy.

God will put us in situations and we pray these prayers.

I mean, have you ever prayed it?

God, if you will, I promise to forever.

If you'll solve my situation, I promise to forever love you, follow you, serve you.

You can go down the list.

And so he but he literally had a genuine life change.

And against all odds, the ship survived.

And Newton recognized that it was a work of God's grace that spared him.

And so this was the turning point in his life where he began to turn away from sin.

He repented and he believed and he put his faith in Jesus Christ who had come and lived a perfect life, was a perfect sacrifice who died on the cross for us, who was bodily resurrected three days later.

He spent 40 days preaching the kingdom of God.

He sits at the right hand of the Father and he's praying for you and he's praying for me right now.

And so Newton had an encounter with that Jesus.

And you know what it did?

It changed his life.

It changed his life.

He left the slave trade and he devoted himself to Jesus and he became a powerful voice for the abolition movement.

Later he would become a pastor.

And then he wrote a hymn.

And it's a hymn that is maybe the most well-known, most sung hymn, maybe in history.

It's a hymn that most of you would like for us to sing more.

Here's a few words.

Amazing grace.

How sweet the sound.

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Was blind.

But now I see.

So where are you right now?

Where are you in your walk?

Where are you in your journey?

Are you still running?

Are you in a place of what seems like disappointment, but but maybe a work of God's grace?

And maybe your response needs to be to surrender and realize, hey, you know what?

This storm or this difficult situation that I am, that I'm in, it is God's grace, and I need to have the same response, and I need to repent, and I need to experience this amazing grace of God.

And so if you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ, I just want to encourage you.

There's no magical prayer.

It's simply you saying yes to Jesus, recognizing, acknowledging.

Jesus said it this way in Mark chapter 1, verse 14 and 15.

Mark 1:14

He said, The kingdom of God is here.

The kingdom of God is now.

Repent and believe the good news.

Repent means to turn.

And so John Newton turned away from the slave trade.

He turned away from his immoral life.

He turned away from not valuing people as being created the image of God.

And he said, You know what?

I'm going to turn toward Jesus and I'm going to walk with Jesus.

I'm going to give him my life.

And out of that flow the song that has impacted the church for hundreds of years.

And we're going to sing that song.

But before we sing it, I want to know do you need to know Jesus?

Would you just bow your head just for a second?

Father, I pray for that individual.

I pray for a couple.

I pray for maybe a family.

And they're here, and their response this morning needs to just be to say yes to Jesus.

And if that's you, there's no magical prayer, there's no formula, there's no mantra.

But it might sound something like this, where you just say, I admit I need you, God.

Just like Jonah, just like John Newton, I admit that I need you.

And I believe.

I believe.

I believe that Jesus came, that he died, and he rose and he did so in such a way to prove that he had power over sin and death and the grave.

And I want to give my life to him.

For others of you, you've been walking with the Lord, you just need encouragement.

You need the encouragement to know that even in the disappointment and the difficulty, that God's grace is at work in your life.

And so, Father, thank you for amazing grace.

Thank you for amazing grace.

And so, Father, we thank you for the three baptisms we're going to celebrate at the 11 o'clock gathering.

Thank you for baptisms that are being celebrated this morning in social circle.

And so, God, we we pray for more baptisms that will come out and out of the fruit of this message, out of what we're preaching and teaching.

And so, Father, we come to say thank you for your amazing grace.

How sweet it is, how sweet it is.

And so, Father, we love you and we thank you.

So, in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

Would you stand with me?

Would you stand with me?

And and be, listen, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and his leadership in your life.

And if you need you need somebody to talk to or you want somebody to pray with you, I'm gonna be right over right over here.

I'll be glad to pray with you.

I'd be glad to be honored to pray with you.

I've got some other men and women I know that would be glad to pray with you if that's what your need is this morning.

Let's sing that together.