When The Call Pushes You Away Jonah 1-1-3

I was. And I always say the word comes to

me first. I thank God for that. That way I'm

not delivering something that I don't know about or don't understand.

I'm not just reading from a text. I've studied the text. Amen.

I've spent some time with the Lord. I've labored as

we say before the Lord. It comes with prayer. I

pray that any man or woman that stands before God's

people make sure that they do that. Because y'all are

not mine. Y'all belong to God. Amen. Amen. And so

if we could go ahead and stand for the reading

of the word at this time. And I'm doing something

I normally don't do. I am reading out of the

NLT on today. Amen. Our scripture is coming from Jonah 1.

The word of the Lord says, The Lord gave this

message to Jonah, son of Amithiah. Get up and go

to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against

it because I have seen how wicked its people are. But,

and how many of us know that's a contrast word?

Jonah was not for it. Jonah got up and went

in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.

He went down to the port of Joppa where he

found a ship leaving for Tarsus. He bought a ticket

and went on board hoping to escape from the Lord

by sailing to Tarsus. And I have again read to

you Jonah 1 through 3. Jonah 1, 1 through 3.

May God add a blessing to the reading here and

the understanding of his words. You may be seated at

this time. The Lord gave me the theme for this.

And it is when the cow pushes you away. And

I thought. Okay, Jonah. And I've read Jonah, I think,

like three, four times now. It's only a four-chapter book.

But you really have to get into it to get

what God is saying. And so I thought whenever somebody

explains the story of Jonah, they always think about the

big fish or the whale, as they call it. And

he got swallowed up, and that's all the enthusiasm about

that story. Jonah the prophet was called to preach Jonah.

And then he ran from it, and while running, he

ended up getting pushed overboard, and then he ends up

in the fish's mouth, and then later on, the fish

spews him out. You know, that's even one of the

bedtime stories for the kids, the story of Jonah, because

it's just a little fun story. But it's not. Jonah

was a prophet, and he is the only prophet out

of all the prophets that was sent to the Gentiles.

the only prophet that was ever sent to the Gentiles,

and he was the only prophet that Jesus compares himself to.

Jonah is more important than that fish. The story of

Jonah is more important than Jonah being swallowed up by

that fish. Jonah's life can truly be an example to

some of our lives and some of the others in

the Bible. We again know this story of Jonah the

prophet who was called to preach to Nineveh. A nation

filled with wickedness. And Nineveh was also an enemy to Jonah.

So they're filled with wickedness and they're his enemy. And

Abba father says you. I need you to go. So God.

wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh so that God could

have mercy on them. And for many of us who've

read that story, we know that's what the storyline was.

Jonah knew what God was going to do. Why? Because

Jonah knew God. And so even though Jonah knew God,

Jonah chooses to run from God. And I think that's

the part that got me in everything. And so then

I understood why God said the car will sometimes push

you away. Because the call that God has on our life,

my life, your life, his life, don't have anything to

do with us. It's God's call. And so many times

when we come to God, we might have been here

for a little while. Again, I've been saved for 20-something

years now. There's still some things that I try to

hold on to. How many of y'all still trying to

hold on to some things? You know, I know God

don't want me to do this, but like Jonah, we

have that big contrast word. I shouldn't be doing this

and why I shouldn't be doing it because I know

the word tells me I shouldn't. But so we have

that big contrast there. That's because we hadn't crucified this

flesh completely yet. That's exactly why we've been called to

daily crucify the flesh. He don't say crucify the flesh

one time and then get up and keep going. No,

the word of God says daily we have to crucify

this flesh. Again, we're living in a world that's filled

with sin. Because of what happened with Adam and Eve,

the Bible says now we were born in sin and

shaped in iniquity. You born not wanting to do what

God called you to do. Like the baby that keep

trying to touch the hot stove and mama keep saying

no and the baby keep trying to touch it and

mama will pop his hand and the baby will keep

trying to touch it. I just don't get that mama.

I want to touch that hot stove. Let me see

what's going to happen. And that's like many of us.

Even though God is saying no or God is saying

go we're saying but let me see but wait a minute.

And so with that being said Jonah causes himself to

end up in a place of disobedience. After he disobeyed God,

then he tried to run. And he tried to run

from calling another group of people to repentance. See, that

was my thing. Because you know God and you know

what God is going to do, but because you're so

upset about somebody else or something else, you would be

okay without them not getting what they needed or that

situation not being worked out just because of you. Sound

like a spirit of self-righteousness to me. And so in

reading this text again, I read this text three times,

and I'm just saying, man, how could someone be so selfish?

But he had a great calling, and not just a

great calling, but there's a great reason for them putting

him in this text. And it's because none of us

call ourselves into what we're doing. And I thought how

a lot of people think calling and standing behind this podium...

Calling is going to the highways and the byways. You're

the big evangelist. You're the big prayer warrior. You're the

one to do the big conferences. But God is just

calling some people to be nice on today. Amen. God

is just calling some people to go the extra mile. Amen?

God is just calling you to feed that homeless man.

Give what you've been holding in your hand to somebody

that's in need for it. So the call ain't always

a big call. Jonah's call was a big call. But

the call that God has on all of us is

not the same. And again, it's not always a big call.

So with the call pushing you away from God, it

means that you're walking in a place where you don't

want to let go of you it's all about you

i remember uh how people would say it's me my

two and no more my fault or however many it

is but you just count everybody else out because all

you're worried about is them and once we come into

the fold because we know god we have to know

that this is not just about us amen So to

preach repentance, Jonah ends up on a ship that he

is eventually cast overboard. Then he's swallowed up by a

big fish. He was inside this fish for three days

and three nights, only to be delivered out of the

sea and to go and do what he had been

asked to do from the beginning. So Jonah ends up

in a whirlwind of trouble. Not only do he end

up in trouble, but he have others in trouble. But

even with that, go back to the text. And again,

I only used those three verses, but I read the

entire book. I noticed that God starts using Jonah before

he starts using Jonah. Because the men on the boat say, hey,

we done prayed and sacrificed our God. It ain't us.

It must be you. You're the only one on here

that ain't like us. Why don't you call your God

and see if your God can stop all of this?

Because there was a big storm. And so we see

storms as, oh, you know, woe is me. They seen

this storm and it's, oh, woe is us. And if

we don't get some help, this ship is going to

be shipwrecked. We might not even make it out of this.

So you need to call your God and talk to

your God. While Jonah is trying to run, God is

trying to keep him from running. And I thought, I

always tell people, I'm not going to force you to

do nothing because God ain't going to force you. God

don't force no man to do nothing. He may not

have physically held Jonah by the hand and walked him

down to Nineveh. But God disrupted what Jonah had decided

to do so Jonah could do what God had called

him to do. How many of us feel uncomfortable when

we feel like we're not doing what God has called

us to do? You know God told you to pray

and you wouldn't pray. You know God told you to

help them and you wouldn't help them. And now you're

starting to feel uncomfortable. That's because God would do what

needs to be done for God's purpose to be fulfilled. Amen?

Jonah did all that running and caused all that turmoil

and trouble for the others just because he did not

want to accept the call that God had placed on him.

It was not just a call, but it was a command.

You go back to verse 1. It says, now the

word of the Lord came to him. That's a command.

Whenever God gives us the word, that's a command. Don't

take it lightly. If you hear the word of God,

whether you hear it from me or you hear it

from somebody else, if God has given you a word,

that's a command. A command is something for us to do.

The book about Jonah, again, is not just about the fish.

The book of Jonah is a mirror reflecting human hearts

and rebellion against the merciful God. Because God is a

merciful God. The same long suffering that God has with us,

he has with others. And not even just with other people, situations.

I mean, we see these storms that are taking place

in the world today. Our world looks wild. And I

can't say it look bad because it looks like a

fulfillment of Christ coming. But there's a lot of things

that's going on. And a lot of things that are

happening are purposefully happening. We may not know it, but

they're purposefully happening. We know in Matthew 24, Jesus said

that when you see these things, know that the beginning

of sorrow is at hand. What does Jesus talk about?

He talks about the weather that we have, and he

talks about the earthquakes. He talks about the wars. He

talks about the rumors of wars. See how God works?

But it's not as if God couldn't come right now

and just finish everything out. For God said he's long-suffering

with us. So he's still giving men time to repent,

turn from their sin, and then turn back to God.

But in the midst of God doing what he's doing,

God has still called all of us to do something.

How many of us are running from that call? Amen?

Whatever that call may be. Jonah was a successful prophet

in Israel, but his comfort was completely disrupted as your

comfort has been disrupted because of the call God put

on your life. How many of y'all been uncomfortable? I

heard what Minister Gamble said a while ago about a

lot of people having sickness and illness in their bodies. Sickness,

all of those things are not always from the enemy.

I heard Brother Tim over there saying, don't give him

no credit. Don't give him no credit. Sometimes we need

to be mindful and not give him no credit. Amen.

I know for some situations where the Lord had already said,

y'all start covering your bodies. Pray for yourself. Whether he

knew it was coming or whether he was going to

allow it, he knew it was there. So because of

who God is and how God divinely works, if we're

not behind the scenes or God is not openly telling us,

we don't always know. The first point that we want

to get from this is that there's always a divine commission.

You cannot call yourself. I can't call you. Overseer can't

call you. Elder can't call you. There has to be

a divine commission. Now, sometimes what I do realize is

there can be a call on you and you not

accept that call. Whether it be for standing behind this

pool pit or like I say, you the one in

the grocery store and the lady in front of you,

she don't have enough money and you feel that unction

in your spirit. Pay for her food. Help her out.

That's a call. And whether you answer that call or not,

that's God calling you to that call. You know if

it was you, you wouldn't do it. Amen. I'm just

saying we have to be honest with ourselves on today.

Because the whole thing is how our calling will sometimes

push us away. Instead of you doing what the Lord

has asked you to do, what you done sensed in

your spirit, you do something different. Matter of fact, you

back up, you get out the line like you forgot something.

I'll be back in a minute. But you know that

God done asked you to do that. God never asked

us to do anything for no reason. Amen? Amen. Amen.

So because there's a divine commission, we must say yes

to that commission. To say no is to be disobedient

like Jonah. Jonah said no. That meant Jonah disobeyed God.

God speaks specifically to Jonah. He didn't send anyone to

tell Jonah. He didn't ask Jonah, but God himself, God

told Jonah himself, this is your assignment. Jonah chose to

not accept that assignment. We like choosing what we want

to do instead of what God has asked us to do.

If he put all five fingers out there and he

tell you to choose one of them five, you probably

go to your other hand and choose one of them.

I hear people say all the time, if God would

have told you, you'd have said no. He didn't tell Jonah,

but Jonah knew. So there's some things we know that

if we do, we know what's going to happen in

that effect. And so we choose not to do them.

That's still walking in disobedience. How many times has God

called you to do something that you ran from? How

much stuff you still running from? See, well, I stopped

by here today to tell you to look behind your

back because you being chased. Amen. Amen. And the thing

about being chased by God is you can't never get

away from him. You can't outrun him. You can't hide

from him. If God has called you to do something

until you do what God has called you to do,

just know he's still going to be messing with you.

And the thing I like about Jonah is Jonah had

a relationship with God like I have because I talk

to God like me and God like he right there.

Because Lord, you know, and you know that'd be making

me mad. And I really didn't want to say that now.

I got to apologize. But the Lord deal with me

like that. Like he my father. I can go to

God in prayer and he'll remind me of something I

did that wasn't right. That's the conviction that we get

from his spirit. So God is not going to leave

you alone when he done called you to do something. Again,

everything that God calls us to do, there's a purpose

and a reason for it. God called Jonah for his use.

He didn't call Jonah for Jonah's use. He called Jonah

so that he could use Jonah. With God's purpose in mind,

not Jonah's purpose in mind. As a prophet, Jonah's entire

identity is built on hearing and obeying God. And look

at him now. Because that's what the prophet did. The

prophet heard from God and then went and told the people.

Isn't it ironic that when the prophet heard from God

something about him, he said no? Now, the book of

Jonah don't get much about Jonah's prophecy, but it does

acknowledge that he's a prophet. So then we won't look

at Jonah, so we'll look at Elijah. When God told

Elijah to go to the woman in Seraphath, he went

to her. When he told him what to say to

the woman, he said it. That's how the prophets worked. Elijah,

same thing. When Elijah had to call out all those

other gods, he didn't go and stand before them mumbling. No,

he said what God said. So that's how the prophet worked. Well,

this prophet who knows how God is, knows he has

this intimate relationship with God because otherwise he would not

be a prophet. You can't be a prophet and don't

have an intimate relationship with God. Because he talks to you.

And so he still says no though. Even after the

Lord has told him what to do. God wants to

do through us what God needs to do for somebody else.

2 Corinthians 5 and 20 says that we are ambassadors

for Christ. Meaning we do not represent ourself. We do

not represent ourself. We are a representation of Christ. I

heard someone the other day on TV talking about these kids,

these teenagers that keep having these gangs and they're going

out and fighting. And somebody said something about one of

the parents, how they need to do something with the parents.

And another lady came in the comments and she said, well,

I do the best I can with mine. She said,

so I know my kids know right, but if they

was out there, they would be doing something that they

wanted to do, not representing me in a good way.

So that would be like us. We know what to

do right, and if we don't, outside of these walls,

outside of your house, do what God has called you

to do, then you're not a good representation of Christ,

even though you're called to be an ambassador, right? It's

because of us, the Bible says, that many would see

our light and they would see our good works and

it would cause them to glorify God. Not glorify us.

God is not looking for us to be glorified. He

wasn't looking for Jonah to be glorified. God's looking to

be glorified. Amen? And so when it comes to the assignment,

we have to make sure that we're walking in what

God has called us to walk in, whatever that calling

is again. It's on you. You know it. As I

was studying, I thought when I first got saved, I

kept saying, Lord, I don't know what I've been called

to do. And I think many of us may be

confused in that way. But some of us already walk

in what God has called us to do. We just

don't know that it's a calling. I was telling, I

think my daughter on the other day, we was talking

about prayer. And I say, I knew I was always

called to be a prayer warrior. And I say, the

reason I knew that is because as soon as I

got saved, God had me praying for people. Well, I

wasn't raised up in a church. I didn't know nothing

about praying except for talking to God. I say, but

for God to show himself, though, God would send people

to me, and they would ask me to pray for them,

and then God himself would answer those prayers. Whether it

would be for healing, whether it would be for finances,

I had people coming back and telling me different things.

So what they called me was, if you want a

prayer to get to God, go to Johnny. And this

was at a nursing home, y'all. This wasn't a church.

I didn't get saved at church. I got saved on

the back porch of a nursing home. And so it

would be normal people like me. Not no hasa didi,

all spiritual people. People who wanted and had a need

from God and wanted a prayer to get through. So

even though I didn't see that as my calling because

I didn't understand calling, when I first come to the church,

my late first lady pushed me in prayer. Me and

my husband was talking about this on the day. Every

time we get on the prayer line and they say, okay, well,

who going to pray? She say, Sister Johnny going to pray.

I'd be so nervous. We'd be on the phone and

I was nervous. Everywhere we go, who going to pray?

Sister Johnny going to pray. And I said, I couldn't

understand why she do that. And I used to ask her,

why do you keep doing that? Quit doing that. I

don't want to pray all the time. But there was

a call on my life to be an intercessor. And

so that was something that I might not have seen

if she hadn't introduced that to me. But it was

there from the beginning. So there's some of you that

already do things that you know feel close to your heart.

They're dear at heart. Whether you're praying for somebody, whether

you're the one with the helping hand. Whether you're the

one that always wants to clean up the church or

you're the one that always wants to go to the

hospital to visit people. You're the one that has this

heavy grief when somebody loses somebody. Your call is already there.

You just have to walk in that calling and understand

that that's an assignment from God. The believers have a

full-time calling, not a job. The calling that God puts

on our life is not just for a moment. It's

not just while you're at church. It's not just while

you're at home. It's not just while you're at work.

It is a full-time position. Your calling does not come

off of you because you do something. Even when Jonah ran,

his calling did not stop. If his calling had stopped

because he ran, then God wouldn't have did what God

had to do to get him out of the ocean.

The fish was prepared for Jonah. We think Jonah just

got swallowed up. When you study that text, God prepared

that fish for Jonah. You know why? Because in his running,

that ocean would have killed him. He wouldn't have made

it down there. Jonah said the seaweed was wrapping him up.

All these different things was happening to him as long

as he was outside of that fish's belly. God used

that fish to save Jonah. Sometimes when we start running

from God, we run into a whole bunch of trouble

that we can't even deal with. You just don't even

know how God is keeping you. God been telling you

to do this and you ain't done that yet and

you steady going and these different things are happening and

you possibly blaming it on Satan. It ain't on Satan.

It's on your disobedience because you running. Because you won't

stand up and do what God done called you to

do regardless of what that calling is. But God still

saved him because he had a purpose for him. So

now I see why when people say if you still here,

it's because God ain't through with you yet. He ain't

going to let nothing happen to you if he ain't

finished with you yet. So he'll use a whole fish

to swallow you up just to keep you until he

can get you to walk in the calling that he

has placed on your life. Jonah was called to get

up and go to Nineveh. That was his assignment. Again,

Nineveh was a part of Syria that had been coming

against the Israelites. So they had been killing them. They

had had some rough times for them. And God say

he noticed. We know that God is considered to be

El Roy, the God that sees. God had seen all

this wickedness. And it was as if the earth itself

was crying out for these people. Wasn't none of them

people because them people wasn't saved. But God heard it

and decided to send someone to give them an opportunity

to be saved. And so if you read the text,

then you know that this was one of the largest salvations,

the largest amount of people that had repented and got saved.

It was so large that they call it the great revival.

I think of when they talk about the Azusa revival

that happened in California. This was the first. Because everybody

there got saved. Everybody repented. The king was so astounded

by God coming to them that it says he told him,

we're not just going to fast, but all the animals

are going to fast. We're not just going to put

on sackcloth, but all the animals are going to put

on sackcloth. Dog, cat, cow, all of them. It said

all the people and all the animals. That's what made

this be one of the greatest revivals. I ain't just

saving myself. I'm saving everybody else. I told God when

I got saved, don't save me and you don't save

my babies. Two down, two to go. That's how we

have to be about the call that God put on

our life. Whatever it is you calling me to do, God,

I know it's for a good purpose. I know it's

for a good plan. Even if it is the woman

in the grocery store that don't have enough money to

pay her groceries. Because I'm feeding her kids. You give

food to the hungry, hope to the hopeless. How does

he do that? He do that through our hands, y'all.

And we're running from cows? Give her $ 5. Uh-uh, that's

my last $ 5. You know you don't wear that dress

no more. You can give it to her. No, not

that dress. I'm going to lose weight and get back

in that dress. That's them butts like what Jonah had.

Contrasting what God is asking us to do. But anytime

we go against what God is asking us to do,

we're walking in disobedience. God literally gave Jonah a direct

and active command. Get up and go. How many of

y'all done heard that? I know I have. Get up. Go. Lord,

where am I going? Wherever he leads you. Or just

get up. Or just give. Or stop. It's an active command.

That means you have to do something God is not

going to do it. God's call will always call you

to be active. How can you do what God called

you to do if you're not active and moving? And

now we have churches that have people that come into

the church and they want to sit down. Nobody wants

to do nothing. I'm not picking up that piece of paper.

I didn't put that piece of paper there. I'm not

moving that chair back because I didn't move that chair. Again,

calls are not just for people that may have on

a collar. Call is not just for the usher. Call

is not just for the one that's driving the van.

God has called all of us. You know how I

know he called all of us? Because the first time

he called us was when he called us out of

our darkness into his marvelous light. That was the first call.

These and even that call caused us to be active.

Because when he called me out of darkness into his

marvelous light, I had to do something. I had to

believe and I had to start making that change. What

was the change? The change was now I believe in God.

So I don't believe in what I used to believe

in no more. So the active call is always the

call from God. You will always have to do something.

Calling means invitation and appointment by God for a person

to know and to serve his person, his purpose. That's

what a calling is. It's an invitation. Again, he never

strong-armed anybody. He didn't strong-arm Jonah. He didn't strong-arm Elijah.

He didn't strong-arm Moses. Never. He just called. Now, what

they said after the call was on them. Just as

Jonah was called for Nineveh, you are not just being

called for yourself, but you're being called for someone else.

God often calls a person with somebody else's deliverance in mind.

God called Moses to deliver the Israelites. God called Joseph

to preserve his people, but not only his people and

his family, but those on the outside. Remember, everybody had

to come to Joseph. But God called Joseph for this.

Joseph had to be thrown in a pit, had to

get sold by his brothers, had to be the black

sheep just for him to walk in the calling that

was on his life. He didn't understand that calling when

he was bragging about that coat. But he understood it

once he was walking in it. God called Esther to

save the Jewish people from a plot that Haman was

going to kill them. God called Nehemiah to build a

whole wall, a new wall for Jerusalem to help them

to be restored and to not feel so broken. God

called Peter. Peter was the first door that was open

to the Gentiles. God called Peter to do that. And

even when Peter was going through, Jesus said, I prayed

for you because Satan wishes to sift you as wheat.

None of these callings were perfect callings. He didn't call

them out, take them by the hand, and walk them

through his plan. But he called them, and they said

yes to the call. God called Paul, who wrote 13

books in the New Testament. He was an ex-Christian killer.

But he was called. He was not only called to

write them 13 books, but he wrote them 13 books

because he was the apostle for the Gentiles. I'm a Gentile.

Thank you, Jesus, for Paul. So I'm just saying my

calling ain't always for me. But what I have to

realize is there's a calling. And once I've been called,

I got to answer that call. That's like your phone ringing.

You know, we don't have them old modern phones anymore.

Used to be you could just let them ring, ring, ring.

Me and my husband went to watch a movie yesterday

and they had them old phones. The movie was from

the 60s. And the people had just been calling him

and calling him. And I guess they had been hanging

up in their face talking crazy to him. He was

for the blacks starting to vote. The new movie just

come out. I can't remember the name of it. But

he had said that he would pay for all the

blacks that couldn't pay their tax to vote. people to

stop calling and hang it up. Next time, the phone

start ringing, he go pick it up and then snatch

it out the wild. Well, we can't do that no more.

You got a cell phone. And then even God will

get past your cell phone. Amen. Amen. Your phone won't

even be ringing and you'll hear ring, ring and him

talking to you. So you can't hang up on what

God has called you to do. What God has called

for not just you to do, but for us to

do as a body of Christ. There's a call and

follow us. There's a dying world out there. There are

a whole lot of unsaved people, people that need to

know Christ and the pardon of all their sins. We've

been called to them. Like Jonah was called to a

whole nation, at least Jonah, I mean, Jonah would by himself,

at least we have some help. We can do group walks.

And we got the Holy Spirit, but I mean, I'm

saying Jonah was one man to go to a nation.

I think they said it was like 16,000. people and

that wasn't counting the kids he said one preacher to

preach repentance to some wicked people and some of us

won't say something to somebody about them stealing we've been

called the question that we must ask ourselves today is

whether you're a prophet a teacher a lay member usher

or wherever you fit in in the body of Christ

that's your calling Has God spoken to you about something

that you've been called to do? All of us have

a calling. And so because we know that all of

us have a calling, we need to be seeking God

for that calling. My third point is that God pushes

Jonah away. The cow pushes Jonah away, but it didn't

let him go. Again, even though Jonah was trying to run,

as hard as Jonah was running, Jonah couldn't get away

from God. Jonah got up and went the opposite direction

to get away from the Lord. He went down to

the port of Joppa where he found a ship that

was leaving for Tarsus. And it says that he bought

a ticket. He bought the ticket hoping that he would

escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarsus. Again, this

is a prophet that knows God. How could he even

imagine that he'd be able to get away from God

just by getting on a ship and sailing to another place?

In my studies, it says that Jonah went the opposite direction.

Where God commanded him was like 600 miles east. That's

where he was supposed to go from where he was at.

Jonah ended up being 1,200 miles west of where he

was supposed to go. That's how hard he was running. Yeah.

And so it does not matter how hard you run

or how far you run. If your car pushes you

to run, just know that you can't run far. You

won't be able to get away from God. The calling

that God has on your life may not look like

what you want it to, and it's not supposed to.

It's not your calling. It's God's calling. We don't call ourselves.

In Luke 9 and 23, Jesus said that the cost

of discipleship was to deny self. Jonah wasn't denying himself.

As many of us don't deny self. Because to deny

yourself means that you have no say so about what

you're going through or about what God is going to

do with you. To deny yourself means that it's not

about your desire, but it's about his desire. I think

sometimes we get misconstrued with what deny myself mean. People think, okay,

that's when I'm fast and I'm pushing back the plate.

I'm going to take myself off Facebook. I'm denying. No,

to deny yourself really means to deny yourself. I'm going

to do my best to pronounce this word. But I

looked up denying Greek, and it's called arnemonia, meaning to disown.

to renounce or to completely break a connection. I got

to disown myself when I get saved. You got to

disown yourself when you get saved. Tell yourself, I got

to disown me. Yeah, you no longer belong to you anymore.

And I don't care how many times we heard that

scripture to say we've been paid for with a price.

I don't think we really getting that in our spirits.

Because I don't own me, I have no say so,

neither do I have rights over me. That's why we

daily have to crucify this flesh. But I'm going to

be honest with you, because I always say, me first.

It's hard to push the plate back, Tony. Yeah, I

need to fast. That's the first thing that Jesus talks

about when it comes to fasting. Fasting tells my body,

I'm telling my body, I'm putting you under subjection. You

don't tell me when you hungry, I tell you when

you eat. So a whole bunch of us need to, Lord,

help us. We need to fast. Help us to crucify

this flesh daily. Because until the flesh is crucified, the

spirit can't even rise up. We feed the flesh more

than we feed the spirit. Three meals a day, but

don't nobody want to read the Bible three times a day.

And I'm just saying. We living in the last and

evil days. I've been hearing that before I got saved.

But because I know the Bible now, I know it

to be true. I can read the Bible and watch

TV and see the same thing. And the Bible was

written over thousands of years ago. So that means I

need to get in place. I can't be like Jonah.

I can't let my car push me away. So I

need to fast. You need to fast. We all need

to fast. How about that? Maybe we can get together

and do a group fast. And I'm just saying, it's

going to take crucifying this flesh in order for us

to walk according to the way which God has called

us to walk to. We got to renounce ourself. We

have to deny ourself. The Bible says I have to

completely disconnect from me. And that's something I know sometimes

that's hard. So it's going to take the power of

the Holy Spirit. It's going to take the Spirit of

God helping me to do that. It's hard for me

sometimes to admit that I'm wrong. I'm getting a little

bit better with that. I promise you I am. I

was in my prayer time the other morning, and me

and little Zay had had some, well, I think I

had more than Zay did, but whatever, and the Lord

got on to me. I hurry up and call that

baby and gave her apologies and now I'm finna do

better see that's what God need us to do hurry

up and admit that I'm wrong I don't know this

I don't have it all together even though it don't

feel right God I'm going cause you said go That

way we won't be running away from the call. Because

if I understand this don't have nothing to do with me,

then if God called me to the uttermost, if he

called me to go stand on water, I'm going to

believe I can stand on water. Why? Because God called

me to do it. Yeah, so we have to get

to that place. We can't be like Jonah and keep

disobeying God when God calls us to do something. Jonah

not only did not deny himself of his feelings and

his emotions, and we know that because he wouldn't go.

Why wouldn't he go? Because he didn't like them. Sometimes

we get caught up in our feelings and emotions. Does

it matter what you think? God don't care about how

you feel. So when God say do something, it's for

us to do it. Whether it's an apology, whether it's

go and preach to somebody, whether it's to go and

help somebody, I don't care that you say you don't

have enough money. I know what you got in your pocket.

Give her 20. Because if I'm asking you to do it,

I got you. Remember Jonah was almost killed by the ocean. Yeah.

But because God had a purpose for Jonah in that calling,

he saved him by that fish. So God ain't calling

us to nothing that he can't get us to and

get us through. If he done called you to go

through this storm for this season, baby, stay in the storm.

While you in the storm, just hold on to his

unchanging hand. Don't let go. Amen. Amen. Because he'll call

you to go through a storm. Now, that storm he

didn't call for Jonah. Jonah chose that one on his own.

But while he was in it, he still had God.

The three Hebrew boys called. They fired you. Did they not?

Because they said, we're not going to worship you. Whatever

you say, do. We're not going to do what you say, do.

We're going to throw you in the pit. Go on

and throw us in there. We know even if he

don't bring us out, he's able to. And then they

get in the pit. And lo and behold, there go

three more. I mean, another more. So there's four of them.

What happened? It was just only three. Why is there four?

Because now God in there with you. God ain't going

to never leave you, neither will he forsake you. But

he is going to be with you to the end,

even through what you don't want to go through. If

he's called us to do something, he got our back.

How they say it? Ten toes down. Can't even see him,

but throw his ten toes down. He got you. He

called you to preach. He got you. I remember how

I felt so unqualified. Felt like it ain't nowhere in

the world that this is what you done called me

to do, Lord. I got you. Called me to pray. God,

I don't pray like she do. I don't even sound

like she do when I pray. I got you. Pray.

I'm telling you those little bitty what I thought was

simple prayers. God was saving people. One woman I prayed for,

she said, they don't know what's wrong with my son.

His temp is 103. She said, but they sent us

back home. She said, I know you prayed for what's-her-name

and her brother is okay. Pray for my son. We

prayed for her son in that room, went down. We

were barely at the nurse's station before her mama was

calling saying his temp just broke. It don't matter how

you sound, how you look, where you at. If God

call you, let him use you. Amen? Amen. Amen. Quit

from comparing ourselves to other people. Just go do what

God called you to do. He got you. Hallelujah. Jonah

did not realize that him disobeying God, how many times

have you disobeyed God? Because Jonah didn't see it as

him disobeying God. How many times have you disobeyed God

and really didn't see it as you disobeying God? You thought, okay,

not right now. Or maybe that wasn't him talking to me.

Even though you know it was a confirmation. I mean,

you heard that before from somebody else. It wasn't a person.

You were sleeping. You heard it. And then the individual

comes up to you and, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay.

That ain't for me. I don't know who that's for,

but that ain't for me. I remember when the Lord

told me he had called me to preach. And again,

that was hard for me. I don't know church, and

when I first come to church, they were more against

women then than they are now. So I've been here

20-something years. It's enlightened up a little. And I remember

telling God, when I go up to the altar, then

have her to tell me. And somebody would come, one

of the big people from out of town, have her

to tell me. Or a preacher would come, and he'd

call people up. God would tell him, and he never

would say nothing to none of them people. And when

he finally dealt with me and told me to go

say something to oversee him, he was Pastor Moore. And

this was before I was a minister. The sensation that

I felt on the inside, I was reminded of when

I went and watched The Passion of Christ. When I

went to watch The Passion of Christ, I felt as

if somebody was sitting on my chest, like I couldn't

breathe in all seriousness. And I was waiting on my

husband to save me because he was sitting next to me.

But the theater was so full. I don't know how

many of y'all went to watch The Passion of Christ

when it first come out. The theaters were packed. So

we was like way down at the front. Like the

screen was like slapping me in my face. And man,

the heaviness on my heart. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

But it was a heaviness for what Christ had came

and done. He came. And gave his own life for me.

It was me at that time. And so when the

Lord had finally dealt with me and got me to

where I was tough enough to go and let pastor

know that God had called me to preach. And I'm

one of them people that explain everything. God working with

me on that one too. But you too. Yeah, I

went in there and there was the same heaviness. And

the heaviness for me was the to preach would be

able to go out and continue to witness of God.

And so there was a heaviness for that. There was

a burden to make sure, even if did nobody want

to hear me, that I went out and I preached

the word of God. He didn't tell me to go teach.

He didn't tell me to go stand on the corners.

I heard him say preach. And so when I went

to the pastor to tell him that, he said, oh,

it was nothing to him. I'm like, so I knew that.

And I'm saying that because some people, man, I don't

know what I should do. I don't know what I'm

supposed to do. I don't know what's going on. God

has already dealt with you about what he's called you

to do. He's just waiting on you to do it.

And sometimes because we think in our own infinite wisdom,

we put ourselves in a place where I can't do that.

That's too much for me. I know I wouldn't be

able to do that. We limit ourself where this big

God has already qualified us to do whatever it is

he called us to do. Just like I said, it

may not be standing behind this podium. It may just

be you standing in the line at that store to

bless that individual to just pray and say, God, I

ain't got enough money to feed my kids, Lord. Would

you hear my prayer? And God send you in there

to stand right behind that woman in the line and

then he would spin your ear and say, pay for

her groceries. that's where he needs you at that's where

he's calling you to and so when we can get

that in our spirits we won't be so quick to

run away from what God the assignment that he has

placed on our lives but just as Jonah discovered you

can leave the place of your assignment without losing the

call on your life go where you want to go

I still call you yeah He left his assignment. He

left the place of his assignment, but he was still called.

That was why God saved him. God needed Jonah to

do it. He didn't need Larry. He didn't need many.

He didn't need Mo. He needed Jonah to do it.

Jonah ran from the call, but the call followed him.

What do you do when the very thing that God

has called you to makes you want to go the

other way? What do you do when the call pushes

you away? Jonah ran, but God loved Jonah too much

and cared about Nineveh too much to let him keep running.

And so what that tells me is there's somebody that's

assigned to you. There's somebody you're assigned to because that's

your assignment. And a lot of times that person is

waiting on us. And because we won't do what God

has called us to do, that person is still waiting

on us. And so that's why it's so important for

us to understand our callings. And for us to take

heed to the calling. Maybe you don't even understand it.

I don't understand why you want me to give this

woman money and I don't have money. I don't understand

why we gave three cars away. And that ain't nothing

to brag about. They wasn't no real fancy cars, but

they was cars. And I never in my life imagined

that I would be able to give a car away.

And it wasn't my business why the Lord wanted me

to do it. It was just to do what God

wanted us to do. For me, I don't know my husband,

but I felt like that was God opening us up

to give us better. Because we was willing to sign

titles over and say, here, here, the car. I never

in my life imagined I could drive a brand new car.

It ain't like we done got rich and came into

a whole bunch of money, but I believe that has

allowed God to bless us. Sometimes you holding on to

what you got while God telling you to let it

go and because you won't let it go, he can't

give you what he got for you. That's a cow.

People don't see stuff like that as a cow. But

somebody got to do it. The song says my God

is big, my God is strong, my God is mighty,

but my God can't be seen. ambassadors so because he

can't be seen he uses us he uses your hands

he uses your feet he was using Jonah's mouth to

get the people to repent he used Jesus he put

his own self in the flesh it has to be

somebody he put his self in flesh for us to

have salvation so he needs a body that body is

your body We can count that as an honor that

God would choose to use these bodies to bid his

work in this earth. That's why the angels say, who

are they that you are mindful of them? We up

here all day long praising you and worshiping you. We

don't disobey you. The ones that did disobey him got

cast out with Satan. But they still disobey you and

you mindful of them? We are to be called and

to be used of God. Don't let your calling push

you away. And in closing, Jonah reveals the universal concern

of God for all men. According to 2 Peter 3

and 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise,

as some men count slackness. But it's long suffering towards us.

Not willing that any should perish, but all should come

to repentance. You just don't know. You helping that individual. Again,

I'm getting out of the church part of it because

I don't want everybody to think, well, if I ain't

a pastor, if I ain't a preacher, if I ain't

an usher, God can't use me. God can use whoever

he want to use. You could be the one to

go mow that yard. And you mowing that yard, they

see God. You could be the one in the store

helping out. You could be the one when you see

the woman that got all the kids, hey, can I

help you? You could be the one that volunteers to go.

I was looking at Bishop Avery again, the lady that

her car had ran into her house. They've been getting

the people together, I think, like every week. I think

for like maybe the last two, three weeks. You could

be that helping hand that somebody see and that causes

that somebody to come to God. God's whole universal thing

is that all men find repentance. Hell was not created

for man. Hell was created for Satan and his imps.

And so the more that we allow God to call

us and then we go out and do what God

has called us to do, that's an opportunity for many

to repent and to come to God. Jonas, uh, God

was sending Jonah to a people who needed to repent

so that they could be saved. If Jonah has been

allowed to continue to run, if he'd have been allowed

to continue to run from Nineveh, would have been a

forever lost people. Nineveh would have never got saved. There

would have never been a revival in Nineveh. We can't

afford to run from what God has called us to do.

And so even on today, As I close this message out,

I want all of us to remember that there's something

that God has called us to do. If you are

a part of the kingdom, there's something for you to

do in the kingdom. And I think so many times,

like I said, people get caught up on the big things,

the things that they see. Maybe you're not one of

those people that want to be seen. It could be, again,

you've been called to clean. You've been called to pick up.

You've been called to offer rides. You've been called to

go to your neighbor's house and check on them. You

live around some elderly people, whatever the case may be.

That's what God has called you for. And so with

that being said, I for sure want to make sure,

because we're a church that inspires, encourages, And lift up people.

I want to make sure that before we leave today.

If somebody. God has called you to do something. And

you felt like I couldn't do it. Or you felt

like maybe that ain't my place. That's somebody else's place.

But you know that that was God that called you

to do it. I want you to come for prayer today.

So that we can encourage one another. The Bible says

that we are helpers one to another. We should always

be encouraging one another. I'm not saying to force anybody

to do anything. But. It's me. If I see something

on you and the Lord says, hey, yeah, I'm going

to tell you. You can get mad. I'm not going

to tell you what you got to do, but I'm

going to tell you. Because like I say, I remember

the voices that used to speak to me. No, you

can't do that. Or just, again, hearing the people. I

know for this house, we're open to women pastors, women speakers.

Because we have a lot of men here. But that

don't mean the world is open to them. There's still

people that are highly against women preaching, teaching, standing up.

These collars will probably get some of us pushed down.

But I thank God that our leader sees what God sees.

And I understand scripture. I do. I understand scripture. And

I'm saying, go back, research your text. Research and study

your text. There are many women that have been used

in the Bible from... Genesis, even with Eve messing up,

to the book of Revelations when it's talking about the

Jezebel spirit. But in every place and every area, God

puts them in their place. And so if God has

called you to be the one to go forth as

a woman minister, don't be scared. Don't allow the people

to keep you because if God called you, God got you. Again,

I don't, I mean... If someone is calling somebody to repentance,

I just don't see God being against that if that's

God's whole purpose. His whole universal purpose. So, but again,

if anybody wants prayer on the day, they feel like, hey,

God calling you to open up a store. And I

need to be encouraged. God is calling me to start

my own business. God is calling me to go back

to school. Those are things that God does too. Because

he knows where you're at. He can position you even

in those places. So again, the altar is open. If

we can get our prayer warriors to come up, anybody

wants someone to be in agreement with them, as long

as it's about the Lord and what God is doing

in their lives, the altar is open. Again, maybe you

don't need to be encouraged. Maybe you've been called and

you already started moving and you wanted them to kind

of like ran away from it. I know this is

what God called me to do. But even in God

calling me to do this, I've been running. Amen.