What About The Worm

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:04.840 Church and. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:05.840 This is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.800 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.960 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:11.360 it gives you. 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.160 Perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.360 the message today. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.479 I want to preach about Jonah. Are you excited about 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.200 the Word of God? Praise the Lord. 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:26.680 I am to Jonah chapter four, verses five through eleven 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:28.480 where I want to pick up today. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:30.760 God help me do this the right way. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.760 It says in Jonah chapter four, verse five, that Jonah 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.800 had gone out and sat down in at a place 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.760 east of the city, and there he made himself a shelter, 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.640 sat in its shade, and waited to see what would 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.440 happen to the city. So he is in a passive position. 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.000 He is not in a proactive position. He is waiting 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.560 to see what would happen. And I guess we could 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.000 just say off of that one verse that that is 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.440 one way to live your life, to wait to see 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:10.240 what's going to happen, or somebody say, or you can 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.680 make it happen. Touch somebody and say you might as well. 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:15.479 Make something happen. 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.880 Then the Lord provided a leafy plant and made it 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.680 grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:29.919 to ease his discomfort. And Jonah was super happy about 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.200 the plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.120 a worm which chewed the plant so that it withered. 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.839 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.480 and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.959 grew faint, and he wanted to die, and he said 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.480 it would be better for me to die than to live. 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.680 But God said to Jonah, is it right for. 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.080 You to be angry about the plant? 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.040 How many of you get upset about stupid stuff sometimes? 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.520 And Jonah said it is and I'm so angry the 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:07.240 wis our dead. But the Lord said, you have been 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.840 concerned about this plant, though you didn't. 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.320 Tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:15.720 and died overnight. 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:20.000 Some of the stuff you're worried about is temporary, and 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:22.280 it'll be over before you can even get good and 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:28.440 mad about it. And should I not have concern for 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.280 the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.680 than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.560 their right hand from their left, and also many animals. 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.560 With that antichlomactic conclusion, the Book of Jonah is over. 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:44.720 But I just want to ask one question of this 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:48.360 text today is also the title of my sermon. I 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:53.880 want to ask the question, what about the worm? 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.679 Amen? What about the worm? You may be seated. 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.079 One of my friends went through something so horrific a 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:11.600 couple of years ago when he lost his daughter. She 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:16.600 was five years old. My daughter Abby is currently five. 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.560 So while it is impossible for me to understand his pain, 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:26.560 I have some frame of reference. And when he lost 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:31.120 his daughter, the knight that I called him, I was 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:35.920 telling him how God was somehow. 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:37.200 Going to get him through it, and all of these words. 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.080 You've struggle to find a way to say something that 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:41.160 hopefully has some meaning to somebody at a time like that, 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.720 and fumbling around to try to find some words to 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:46.960 comfort my friend. 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.000 I told him he was a hero in our generation. 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.640 God would use him. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:57.800 In a great way because he is an exemplar of faith. 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:00.560 That's all I could think of to tell him at 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:00.920 the time. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.440 One of the things that I told him later, because 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.119 we had many conversations and he taught me much more 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:13.680 than I taught him. But with one particular conversation we 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:17.440 were talking about how eventually he would tell his story. 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.279 But one thing we agreed upon, and I said it 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:25.760 to him and it resonated, is make sure you don't 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:30.960 tell the story too soon, because if you tell the 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.960 story too soon, you won't even know what the story 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:39.240 is about. And my friend, he pastors a great church 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.480 in Montana. He has a church of thousands in Montana, 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:46.520 which I didn't even know. Thousands in Montana went in 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.400 the same sentence. But God's used him. He wrote a book. 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.880 He's been here to preach, and his book is all 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.520 about the pain that he experienced. 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:56.760 And the purpose of the pain. 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:02.880 But if you tell your story too soon, sometimes you 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.440 will only see the pain, you won't see the purpose. 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.200 Then you won't have the perseverance that is needed to 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:15.839 accomplish the purpose of God. Now we come to Jonah, 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.479 and it is impossible to do Jonah justice in one 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:24.520 little sermon, this legendary loser of the Bible. 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.719 Boy, we're really hard on Jonah, aren't we. This guy 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:31.000 ran from God. You would too. 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.400 He had to go to a people that were well 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:40.039 we could call them in modern day terminology terrorists to 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:44.120 the capital city of Assyria, to a barbaric people and 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:48.160 preach a message of the potential of repentance. Now, when 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.680 you preach about Jonah, usually you're going to hear something 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:54.360 about how he ran from God. The Bible says that, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.200 I believe it's in verse three. I didn't look it 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.560 up this morning, but I believe this in verse three. 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.200 Is it verse three where it said that Jonah ran 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.560 away from the Lord. So when you're preaching to people, 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.159 you're always preaching to somebody who is running somewhere. I 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.760 realized that everybody in this room is running from something 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:15.240 to something. 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.400 Running from the Lord is how they put it. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.280 I just want to suggest I want you to do 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.080 don't want you to leave the church when I say this. 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:27.440 But Jonah probably didn't see it at the time, like 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:28.919 he was running from God. 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:31.880 Do you know what I'm saying. It's not like how 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:32.320 many of you. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.520 Have ever run from God's purpose for your life before, 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:36.440 even if you just did it for fifteen seconds. I 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.760 know you're really holy, but how many of you have 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:40.680 had a season where you knew God wanted to do something, 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:41.720 you don't want to do it, and you kind of 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.320 did everything possible to do it, not do it, and 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:45.960 sometimes it just be easier to do it. 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.960 Like in the story of Jonah, he goes to a 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:49.799 port called. 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.240 Joppa and he finds a ship, and the Lord. 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.080 Told him to go to Nineveh. Well, Jonah decides to 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:57.640 go to a place called Tarsis. 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.520 Here's what interested me in studying the math of Jonah's journey. 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.400 When I looked and traced where he went, I found 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.240 out where God told him to go was only five 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.520 hundred miles away from where he was. 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.160 Where he went to get away. 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.120 From where God told him to go was twenty five 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.880 hundred miles from where he was. You know, sometimes you 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.800 gotta work harder to disobey God than it would be 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:23.360 to just do what he told you to do in 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:24.160 the first place. 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.080 No, I'm serious. I wish some of us. 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.600 Would apply as much creativity to obeying God as we 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:36.200 do to disobeying him. Some of you are really creative sinners. 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:44.960 You got alibis and allies. You got two phones to 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:45.960 help you sin. 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.360 I'm gonna come to this side. I think I wore 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.360 them out already in as early in the sermon. 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.680 But sometimes it would just be easier to forgive than 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.280 to hold on to the grind. Why is it that 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:03.960 we would rather run twenty five hundred miles away from 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:09.240 God than five hundred miles to our assignment? It's I 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.200 think it's I think it's because when we're in our 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:13.840 story it's not as simple. And I've been preaching this 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:15.480 all year. I hope you're not getting tired of hearing it. 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.960 But I've been understanding the blessing of perspective, and the 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.480 usually perspective only comes with reflection. 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.760 That is, the Bible was not live tweeted. Do you 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:27.080 understand this that. 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.560 The Book of Jonah was not written while Jonah was running. 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:36.880 It wasn't written. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.240 If Jonah had written this when he was running, he 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:44.960 would have said, I'm being logical, I'm being practical. That's 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.120 how he would have said it had he written it 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.120 while he was on the run. Touch somebody and say, 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:55.200 don't tell your story too soon, because it is only 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.880 after Jonah has done the will of God and experienced 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.840 a lot of different things and seeing the results of 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:06.679 his rebellion as well as experiencing the transformative power of 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:11.880 repentance after his resentment, that he is able to say, 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:16.839 I was running from God. I wouldn't have known I 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.880 was running from God until that storm hit. See, because 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.360 we always want to blame every storm that we face 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.040 in our life on the devil, especially however long you've 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:27.800 been in church. Usually you end up talking about the 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.080 devil more after being in church twenty years than you 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.360 talk about God, because everything is the devil. That's one 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.640 advantage that people who don't go to church have over 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:37.840 us and getting their lives together. They don't have a 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.560 devil to blame. We just put everything on him. We 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.720 don't have to deal with ourselves. I am preaching, Lord, 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:50.760 you hear me. So Jonah, the Bible says, can I 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:51.720 preach about Jonah? 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.040 Can I preach about Jonah? 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:57.960 The Bible says that Jonah went to Joppa and he 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:00.880 got on a ship, and he he paid the fare 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.200 because somebody said, when you run from God, it'll always 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:06.040 cost you something. 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.560 I'm not preaching about that today, but I could. And 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:10.880 then the. 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.599 Bible says that he went down from Joppa down to Tarshish, 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.360 and somebody said, when you run from God, you'll always 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:17.880 go down. 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.600 But when he got about I don't know. 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.840 Let's say, let's say he got about halfway there, and 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:28.840 it seemed like he was working. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:30.120 He was asleep under the debt. 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.800 He was sleeping while the storm was happening because God 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.080 sent this storm, because God will allow things to come 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.880 into your life to get your attention, because He's not 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:46.120 going to allow you to be content in your complacency. 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.679 All of a sudden, the sailors realized that the. 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:55.480 Reason that they were experiencing the storm was not because 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:59.520 of something they had done, but something that this prophet, 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:04.120 this rebellious prophet, and he was asleep under the deck. 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.760 And when they woke Jonah up and said, call on 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:08.560 your God, he said, well, I can call on him, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.080 but it won't do any good because if I pray 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.880 while I'm headed in the wrong direction, my prayer is 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:19.120 just a pretense. So what you've got to do is 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.840 throw me off the boat and the storm will stop. 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.719 And so I have thought about that, one thought that 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.520 some of you are going through a storm not because 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.120 of something that you did, but because of who you. 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:34.839 Have on your boat. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.400 In fact, I preached it, I appreciated at a youth 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:41.160 convention one time, at a Pentecostal youth convention one time, 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.079 and my message was called throw Jonah off your boat, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:47.880 and I was preaching it to girls who are dating 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.439 guys that are dragging them down, and so I would 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:52.280 encourage some of you. 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.000 Maybe you don't have Jonah on your boat. 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:55.839 But maybe he's in your phone, and I think some 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.800 of you. The most spiritual thing you could do while I'm. 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.360 Preaching, and I don't eve in mind. 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:01.760 If you do it, you don't even have to listen 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:06.200 to me, is use that swipe feature on your phone. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.320 And you know that red one that says delete. Some 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.080 of y'all got Jonah in your phone. You've been texting Jonah, 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.800 talking to Jonah and wondering why your life's going down, 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:23.440 But today is your day touch somebody say delete. So 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.520 when you preach about Jonah, can you tell I like 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.600 to preach about Jonah because. 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:30.640 I see myself in Jonah. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.240 I've seen myself rebelling against something God has called me 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.560 to do. I've seen myself go twenty five hundred miles 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.079 before I realize. 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:40.559 This is ridiculous. There's no way that. 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:42.040 I'm going to be able to run from the presence 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:43.679 of God. Where can I go from your presence? If 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:45.080 I send the heavens, You're there. If I make my 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:46.880 bed in the depths. You were there, so I know 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:49.280 what it's like to run, and then find out after 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:50.680 you run you can only run so far, for you 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:51.920 hit a roadblock, And. 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:53.120 So I know it's like to run. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.599 And I know it's like the having some relationships that 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.320 probably I don't need anymore, And all of that is 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.680 good as well as preaching on the object of racial reconciliation. 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.360 It is interesting to note that Jonah was effective a 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.839 ministering to people that he didn't even like, for when 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.599 he finally did open up his mouth and preach to 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.040 the Assyrian people in the capital of Nineveh, there was 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.280 great repentance in the land. I don't think that the 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.760 Book of Jonah's about racism, but I think it does 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.720 apply because we see here a guy on the outside 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.439 judging what it's like to be people on the inside, 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.080 and from his own perspective inside of himself. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.720 He comes to all kinds of conclusions. 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.800 About what kind of people God can bless, and what 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.600 kind of people God can't bless, and what kind of 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.679 situations God can work in, and what kind of situations 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.600 God can't work in. Jonah finds out in the midst 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.320 of that that to the ends of the earth, the 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:44.000 compassion of God will reach to anyone who will call 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.600 on the name of the Lord. And so we see 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:54.760 that picture of reconciliation in the Book of Jonah. But 0:13:54.880 --> 0:14:00.480 mostly what we know about Jonah is that he spent 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:07.160 three days in the belly of what the Bible calls 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:12.720 a great fish, which we usually call the whale. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:14.800 Let's get a look at the whale. 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.760 Right about the time that the storm started raging in 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.080 Jonah's life, God sends. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.520 A whale to pick him up. 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:29.600 And I don't know, because I am not privy to 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:30.880 the communication. 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.720 That took place between the whale and God. How God 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:34.920 got the whale in the right. 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.560 Position at the right time to know that this is 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.800 where Jonah's going to be when he's about to drown. 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.760 That the whale, I don't know how God spoke to 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.120 the whale to go get Jonah. If it's anything like 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:52.360 finding Dory, God used echo location and maybe God said 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:52.680 to the. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:15:01.240 Whale, come on, people, come on that section right there, 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:02.600 no love, Come on. 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.440 Did you see the movie? You know certain types of 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:12.320 whales they admit a south. So God said to the whale, 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:17.840 good June, and the whale said to God, Oo. 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.040 Isn't it interesting how the whale had better sense to 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:31.160 do what God said than Jonah did. And the whale 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:36.280 swallowed Jonah up and delivered him. So the Book of 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.520 Jonah is a book about rescue. 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.120 Now I need to know i'm preaching to because there's 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.560 a chance I've got the right sermon, but I'm preaching 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.760 it to the wrong people. Has there been a time 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:49.600 in your life. 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:54.360 I'm just asking where God rescued you. 0:15:55.880 --> 0:16:01.840 From a situation that your own obedience created. 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:07.960 Anybody, anybody, anybody? 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:09.480 Has God ever sent a. 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.680 Whale to pick you up? Now, it's an important thing 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:16.880 to note that God saved Jonah, but the accommodations weren't 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:17.680 that luxurious. 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:20.800 Could have sent a cruise ship. 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:26.320 Royal Caribbean, he could have sent a he could have 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:27.680 sent a freight liner. 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.480 But instead he put him in a deep, dark place. 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:33.840 See, because if God rescues from your trouble and makes 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.640 it too comfortable, you'll be quick to get back into it. 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.720 So God said, I need to put you in a 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:45.720 dark place for a minute so you'll remember what disobedience 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:52.560 feels like. What I've noticed, though, is that sometimes we 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:59.280 miss God's provision because we're so picky, we don't like 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:02.400 what God's says to pick us up with, and we 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:09.320 would rather drown by ourselves. One time, in the first 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.399 year of our marriage, I. 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.520 Got really got really sick. It wasn't serious. 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:18.800 It turned out not to be serious, but it felt 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.240 serious at the time because I couldn't eat. Every time 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.320 I would eat, it would just burn all down in 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.080 my insides, even when I would drink water. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.480 And so this went on for like seven days. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.440 I didn't know what the problem was at the time, 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:36.639 and I was really enjoying putting on fifty pounds in 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:38.960 my first year of marriage, and this interrupted my plan. 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:42.600 That really is true. 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.840 I put on fifty pounds in the first I think 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:50.080 it was eighteen months of our marriage, because Holly is 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:55.280 a fantastic cook and she is also a temptress. 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:01.480 But man, what happened, and I didn't know at the time. 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.359 I took this pill, this antibiotic that went down and 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.360 got stuck in my esophagus, and then it burned into 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.040 my esophagus. So then every time I would try to 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.720 eat drink water, I couldn't. I couldn't do it, and 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:13.560 so it got real bad. And at the time, I 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.120 traveled and preached all the time, and I was always driving, 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.560 you know, up and down the road. It's usually usually 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.240 just driving more than flying. And so I was going 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:22.000 from one place. 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:22.120 To the other. 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:23.479 It had been about a week that I had been 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:24.919 hurting and I didn't know what was wrong. I went 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.040 to see this doctor and kind of said some things, 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.280 and I didn't know what's going on. And so I'm 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:33.159 driving to my next speaking engagement, right and I'm calling 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:37.080 Holly and I bust out my razor phone that's on, 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.439 and I'm like, man, it sucks. I can't I'm still hers. 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:44.159 HER's worse and worse and worse. And she goes, you 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.600 are going to the hospital. You need to drive yourself 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:48.440 to the hospital. I said, I got preach engagement. She said, 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.280 you're going to cancel. They can find another preacher. Something's 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:52.760 really wrong with you. You need to go to the hospital. 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:54.080 You goanna go to the hospital. You're gonna call him 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:55.960 and cancel. And I never called him by cancel before. 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:57.840 I don't think i've done it since. And so I was. 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:58.960 I didn't want to do it, but I did it, 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.199 and I stared during the hospital. I'm drying the hospital, 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:02.760 and I remember I've got a couple of hours still 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:04.200 left to go. Because I'm out of town, I'm driving 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.240 this other town, and so I drive by this hitchhiker 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:09.840 and decided to pick him up, because that's what you 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.000 do when you're driving yourself to the hospital, you pitch 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:16.440 up hitchhikers when you are a Christian like me. I 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:17.760 don't even know why I picked him up. It was 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:19.720 a season in my life when I picked up hitchhikers. 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.800 I don't do it anymore. But this guy gets in 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:25.560 my car and I don't really feel like talking because 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:26.960 I'm driving myself to the hospital because I have a 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.600 hole of my esophagus, says burning my life away. This 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.960 guy's all talkative, I'll chatty and everything. And so we'd 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.760 ride together a couple of minutes and a long gas 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:37.919 and I pull into the gas station and I'm feeling 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.119 like cheerful, not a cheerful giver. But I decide to 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.440 you probably want something to eat, So I said, hey, man, 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:45.439 I said, I'm gonna pump the gas. You go in 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.080 the gas station, get yourself something to eat, whatever you 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.240 want to come in and pay for it afterwards. He goes, well, actually, 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.919 I see a McDonald's over there, and it wasn't like 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:57.760 one of the McDonald's that was right there in the 0:19:57.760 --> 0:19:58.320 gas station. 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:01.200 I'm gonna have to go now. I threw the drive 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.640 through and go to McDonald's. 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:06.479 But I said, all right, you know, Jesus said go 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:11.960 the extra mile and all that. So I'm like, all right, man, 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:13.160 I'm gonna pump the gas. 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:14.119 We'll go to McDonald's. 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.160 We're going through the drive through at McDonald's and I'm 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.600 just gonna order whatever, you know, because I can't eat anything. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.280 And so here I am ordering food for a guy. 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:26.679 He's sitting there. I'n have to smell this food in 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.960 my car, and this delicious McDonald's food. 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:31.480 That's right. I'm not too good for McDonald's. 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:35.080 I said, it was delicious, not that health conscious freak. 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:40.240 And so I'm going to order and he interrupts my 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.160 order and he's like, no, I want a quarter pounder. 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.000 Hold the mayo, hold the onions. 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:49.280 I said, all right, he wants a quarter pound Let 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.400 me get a quarter pounder. Hold the mayo, hold the onions, 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:57.359 he said. And some chicken selects now, listen, this was 0:20:57.480 --> 0:20:59.760 not some skinny hitchhiker. He didn't look like he needed 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:03.520 a me that badge, So my compassion is running out quickly. 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.160 I said, all right, he wants a quarter pounder, hold 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:09.280 the mail, hold the onions, and. 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:10.760 Some chicken selects, he said, and. 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:16.280 Some fries, I said, and some fries please, he said, 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:23.080 in uh biggie size. And I'm thinking I'm not saying 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.280 this because remember I'm a good Christian, I'm a man 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:32.639 of God. I'm thinking, man, you should be grateful to 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:34.800 get a ride. 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.960 Now you want to hold the mail, hold the onions. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:41.199 You got to me spending seventy five dollars in the 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:45.480 drive through at McDonald's and I can't even eat. Then 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.080 he took it way too far. He said, Can I cann' 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.800 make flurry? I said, no, He'll have a water, and 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:52.080 I got I got. 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:52.520 Him a water. 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.199 Isn't an interesting how he can go from I just 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:00.080 need a ride to an I. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:00.840 Needs some chickens. 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.680 Isn't it interesting how you can go from God if 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:06.960 you'll have mercy on me a sinner? Inn't it interesting 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:09.199 how you can go from God if you'll get me 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:11.480 out of this situation God, if you'll. 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:11.919 Just be with me? 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.280 But then Over time, something happens along the journey and 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:17.200 you start thinking, you know, I don't like the way 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:19.200 it smells inside of this whale. 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:20.640 Isn't an interesting how when. 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:24.320 You started serving God, you didn't need people to notice you. 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:26.879 You were just glad to be known by God. But 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.439 over time you start getting real picky. I came to 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:34.480 tell you today that if you'll get grateful, see this 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.120 is what Jolah did. He's in the belly of the fish, 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:41.480 and the Bible says that Jonah chapter two, for several verses, 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:46.399 he's complaining, he's blaming, he's talking about seaweed around his head, 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:49.480 he's talking about the billows that raged over him. He's 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:52.040 describing in detail his distress. 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:54.119 But watch chapter two, verse nine. 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:56.840 I love it because the Bible says that when Jonah 0:22:56.880 --> 0:23:00.720 made this shift, everybody say shift, he said, by eye. 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:06.680 With shouts of grateful. 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:12.480 Praise, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed. 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:14.240 I will make good. 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:19.440 I will say salvation comes from the Lord. And I 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:23.800 don't think it's any coincidence that in the very next verse, 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:29.720 after Jonah got grateful even in a hard situation, when 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.080 Jonah got grateful even in the belly of a fish. 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:37.239 When Jonah got grateful, he got out. I came to 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:41.560 make an announcement. When you get grateful, when you open 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:47.160 your mouth, clap your hands, shift your mindset, lift your eyes, 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:55.160 and give God praise. Come I touch somebody, say I'm 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:59.679 coming out with a shout. I'm coming out with a shout. 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:02.919 You didn't touch your neighbor. Maybe you don't like to shout. 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:05.480 Maybe it's like but that none might think the none 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:05.679 of ten. 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:13.480 No, No, it's not your personality type. 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:15.760 Until you get excited about something. 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:24.720 I found out that gratitude is the gateway. 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:29.040 Into the provision of God. Look is that interesting? Let's 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:29.840 just study this for a moment. 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:35.600 Interesting that the Bible says in Jonah one verse seventeen 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:39.840 that the Lord provided. 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:44.120 A fish. 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:47.480 Do you think Jonah saw it that way when he 0:24:47.600 --> 0:24:56.720 was being swallowed? Probably not, Thank you Lord for this provision. 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:05.359 Didn't feel like provision at the time. At the time, 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:12.400 being in the belly of the fish is a problem. 0:25:12.520 --> 0:25:18.000 So sometimes it takes time before you can see the 0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:23.160 problem as the provision. And this is where I want 0:25:23.160 --> 0:25:26.680 to spend a moment with you today because it unlocks 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:32.639 something for me. Upon reflection, when I saw that in 0:25:32.920 --> 0:25:36.640 the Book of Jonah, which is four chapters long, there's 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:41.000 a Hebrew word that is used four times to describe 0:25:41.119 --> 0:25:45.480 four different events in Jonah's life, and the word is mena. 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:50.320 Hebrew word is mena. Translated into English, it. 0:25:50.320 --> 0:25:54.720 Means to appoint, to prepare, or more accurately, as the 0:25:54.840 --> 0:26:00.680 NIV renders it, to provide. If there there is one 0:26:00.760 --> 0:26:05.000 thing that I have learned about God in walking with 0:26:05.119 --> 0:26:08.800 him and pastoring a church, it is that He can 0:26:08.880 --> 0:26:11.160 be trusted to meet my needs. 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:15.440 I wonder have you learned that in your life yet? 0:26:16.520 --> 0:26:19.120 If you have, I want you to just say out 0:26:19.160 --> 0:26:21.199 loud right now where the devil and everybody in your 0:26:21.240 --> 0:26:23.679 seating section can hear you. Come on, Ashton, say it 0:26:23.680 --> 0:26:28.879 out loud. The Lord is my provider. You said that 0:26:29.000 --> 0:26:32.600 like you believe it. You said that, like you've had 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:37.040 some moments in your life where the money was low. 0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:39.760 You said that, like you've had some moments in your 0:26:39.800 --> 0:26:43.000 life where you saw no way to stay afloat, and 0:26:43.040 --> 0:26:45.640 so God sent something in your life. 0:26:45.320 --> 0:26:48.000 To swallow you up. The Bible says. 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:59.040 That God provided a fish to swallow Jonah Menah mana mana. 0:26:59.359 --> 0:27:00.920 You might have heard me about manna before. 0:27:02.320 --> 0:27:05.000 That's the stuff in the Old Testament that when the 0:27:05.080 --> 0:27:09.200 children of God were wandering in the wilderness because rather 0:27:09.240 --> 0:27:11.200 than go straight into the Promised Land, they wanted to 0:27:11.240 --> 0:27:13.679 go twenty five hundred miles around and around and around 0:27:13.680 --> 0:27:16.560 and around in circles. But God said, I'm gonna feed 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:19.760 you even though you're frustrating me. And he ranged down 0:27:19.800 --> 0:27:23.200 this stuff from heaven, and they called it mana. 0:27:23.600 --> 0:27:25.919 That's what they called it. They were calling it that 0:27:26.000 --> 0:27:27.359 because of this Hebrew. 0:27:27.000 --> 0:27:30.919 Word mana spell a little differently, but that's where they 0:27:30.960 --> 0:27:35.280 got it from. It was God's provision. So do you 0:27:35.320 --> 0:27:38.560 know what they did when God sent the provision? They 0:27:38.600 --> 0:27:44.600 complained because they didn't want mana. They wanted to meet. 0:27:46.840 --> 0:27:51.680 God's provision does not always come wrapped in your preferences. 0:27:55.000 --> 0:27:56.760 I'm gonna preach this today no matter. 0:27:56.600 --> 0:27:59.960 Who says, am, I feel like I'm on something God. 0:28:00.040 --> 0:28:03.240 This provision in your life doesn't always come. Biggie's eye 0:28:05.119 --> 0:28:07.840 doesn't always come. Hold the onions, hold the mayo. 0:28:08.680 --> 0:28:13.359 And they complained about the mana, and Jonah complained about 0:28:13.400 --> 0:28:18.280 the fish. At the time, it was only after the 0:28:18.320 --> 0:28:21.879 story was over most scholars believe that the Book of 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:25.399 Jonah was not written by Jonah himself, but it was 0:28:25.480 --> 0:28:28.879 written based on the report that he gave after he 0:28:28.960 --> 0:28:31.600 got back from doing what he didn't want to do. 0:28:32.160 --> 0:28:34.280 So it could have been months later, could have been 0:28:34.400 --> 0:28:38.160 years later. That Jonah is talking about his experience and 0:28:38.240 --> 0:28:43.200 he calls it mana. At the time, it seemed like misery, 0:28:44.440 --> 0:28:49.800 but later I saw it ass mana. Only through the 0:28:49.920 --> 0:28:56.440 perspective of reflection can I see that today's misery might 0:28:56.520 --> 0:29:01.280 be tomorrow's manna, So that I look back. 0:29:01.160 --> 0:29:04.160 Over my life. Come on, is this good? Is this 0:29:04.240 --> 0:29:04.680 all right? 0:29:06.800 --> 0:29:13.080 And he says, the Lord provided a fish a whale, 0:29:13.680 --> 0:29:17.440 and then check this out. Jonah goes into Ninevah. He preaches, 0:29:17.520 --> 0:29:20.040 forty more days in Ninevah will be destroyed. 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:21.480 God gives the. 0:29:21.440 --> 0:29:25.240 Assyrians a second chance, and Jonah doesn't like that he 0:29:25.280 --> 0:29:27.080 gave the Assyrians a second chance. 0:29:27.480 --> 0:29:29.840 He liked it when God gave him a second chance. 0:29:30.520 --> 0:29:33.800 Sometimes we want God to give us provision and give 0:29:33.840 --> 0:29:35.080 other people punishment. 0:29:35.480 --> 0:29:38.000 But how many know if God gave you a. 0:29:38.040 --> 0:29:41.880 Second chance, you're not too good to extend grace to 0:29:42.000 --> 0:29:43.320 others either. 0:29:44.880 --> 0:29:46.280 Jonah doesn't like it, though. 0:29:47.960 --> 0:29:50.720 He doesn't like the package that God's provision comes in, 0:29:51.360 --> 0:29:55.640 so he preaches, and he preaches with effectiveness to all 0:29:55.640 --> 0:29:56.600 people doesn't even like. 0:29:56.800 --> 0:29:57.760 And God does something he. 0:29:57.760 --> 0:29:59.959 Didn't expect him to do, and the Bible says that 0:30:00.080 --> 0:30:02.240 this did not seem right to Jonah. Do you know 0:30:02.320 --> 0:30:04.600 that That's where a lot of our misery comes from, 0:30:04.920 --> 0:30:08.000 is that we have our own ideal and imagination of 0:30:08.000 --> 0:30:12.280 how things were supposed to go, and when anything contradicts 0:30:12.360 --> 0:30:15.760 our imagination an ideal, we feel like we have a 0:30:15.880 --> 0:30:20.320 right to be angry because it didn't meet my rules. 0:30:21.320 --> 0:30:24.160 Don't you see, God, this is how I was supposed 0:30:24.160 --> 0:30:28.760 to be married at age twenty three and I'm twenty 0:30:28.800 --> 0:30:29.480 three and a half. 0:30:32.520 --> 0:30:36.760 Tina got married and she dresses like and she's not 0:30:36.800 --> 0:30:46.920 even that holy come on. So he goes out and 0:30:46.960 --> 0:30:49.080 he sits down, and. 0:30:49.000 --> 0:30:52.160 The Bible says that he made himself a shelter because 0:30:52.200 --> 0:30:56.520 it was a hot day. Not Charlotte, North Carolina hot, 0:30:57.280 --> 0:30:58.560 certainly not Toronto. 0:30:58.320 --> 0:31:02.400 Canada hot. It was. It was Middle Eastern hot. 0:31:02.520 --> 0:31:05.920 I'm talking about one hundred and ten degrees and he 0:31:05.960 --> 0:31:08.280 needed a shave, so he made a booth for himself. 0:31:08.360 --> 0:31:11.720 Lou shelter. He went outside the city. Now that's significant. 0:31:12.280 --> 0:31:14.600 He went outside the city. God sent him to it 0:31:14.680 --> 0:31:15.760 before God released him. 0:31:16.880 --> 0:31:18.720 No matter what shelter you make. 0:31:18.640 --> 0:31:22.600 For yourself outside of God's assignment for you, it will 0:31:22.640 --> 0:31:31.920 never sustain. And he sits down, and he's mad, and 0:31:31.960 --> 0:31:34.320 he's got a bad attitude. But if you've learned anything 0:31:34.360 --> 0:31:36.400 about God from the story of Jonah, when God sent 0:31:36.440 --> 0:31:39.520 the whale to swallow up a man who was in 0:31:39.600 --> 0:31:42.880 the water because of his own disobedience, it's that God 0:31:42.920 --> 0:31:45.840 doesn't wait for your attitude to get right before he 0:31:45.880 --> 0:31:48.920 gives you his attention and takes care of you. And 0:31:48.960 --> 0:31:51.760 so now Jonah is sitting under the shelter. 0:31:51.560 --> 0:31:54.200 That he made, and God does something interesting. 0:31:54.200 --> 0:31:56.440 It is a second time that the word mana appears 0:31:57.000 --> 0:31:57.800 in the book of Jonah. 0:31:58.000 --> 0:31:58.920 It says in verse. 0:31:58.800 --> 0:32:04.920 Six, chapter four, the Lord provided a leafy plant and 0:32:04.960 --> 0:32:05.320 made it. 0:32:05.280 --> 0:32:07.040 Grow up over Jonah's head. 0:32:07.120 --> 0:32:10.720 Give us bald head, some shade I like to picture Jonah. 0:32:10.760 --> 0:32:13.280 Ball just traumatizes the story a little bit more. 0:32:13.320 --> 0:32:16.520 I think about being bald and how hot his head 0:32:16.520 --> 0:32:16.880 would be. 0:32:16.960 --> 0:32:19.720 And then the Lord covers his head with this plant, 0:32:20.480 --> 0:32:24.560 this castor plant over his head he's sitting there and 0:32:24.680 --> 0:32:28.200 he likes that plant. Boy, he doesn't care very much 0:32:28.240 --> 0:32:29.960 about people, but he likes plants. 0:32:34.120 --> 0:32:36.520 And here's where I see that for everything that Jonah 0:32:36.600 --> 0:32:40.760 has seen God do, he still doesn't get it yet. 0:32:42.680 --> 0:32:46.320 Because he got outside of the fish. That was a miracle, 0:32:47.840 --> 0:32:55.320 but he never got outside of himself. The most miserable 0:32:55.400 --> 0:32:58.760 place in the world to be trapped is not in 0:32:58.800 --> 0:33:05.600 the belly of a whale. It's inside of yourself, inside 0:33:05.600 --> 0:33:11.560 of your selfishness. A lot of believers get delivered from 0:33:11.600 --> 0:33:16.000 their sin, but they never get delivered from themselves. And 0:33:16.040 --> 0:33:18.840 so all of life is spent in the shade of you, 0:33:18.960 --> 0:33:21.640 trying to find your own comfort. And oh Lord, thank 0:33:21.680 --> 0:33:26.800 you for the plant. Isn't this a pretty plant? Yeah? 0:33:26.880 --> 0:33:28.000 How about all those people? 0:33:28.480 --> 0:33:31.360 Oh people are unpredictable. 0:33:33.160 --> 0:33:36.720 I like plants, And the Lord said, I knew you 0:33:36.840 --> 0:33:40.440 like plants. That's why I provided the plant. 0:33:41.840 --> 0:33:45.120 But now that I see that you're more focused on 0:33:45.160 --> 0:33:48.320 the plant than the people, I got to take the 0:33:48.360 --> 0:33:49.840 plant away. 0:33:50.720 --> 0:33:52.920 So look at the third thing that God provides. 0:33:53.800 --> 0:33:57.440 He provides the wail to deliver Jonah, the plant to 0:33:57.520 --> 0:33:58.720 comfort Jonah. 0:33:59.080 --> 0:34:02.600 And here comes the way. Now, if we. 0:34:02.440 --> 0:34:06.080 Were writing the story, we would not use the word 0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:10.799 manna to describe this worm, because watch what the worm does. 0:34:10.960 --> 0:34:14.920 The Bible says, at dawn the next day, God provided 0:34:15.840 --> 0:34:23.320 a worm. God provided a worm. I heard about Jonah 0:34:23.320 --> 0:34:28.360 and the well, But what about the worm? 0:34:28.480 --> 0:34:31.040 Can we see the worm? 0:34:31.080 --> 0:34:37.000 This is that thing in your life that comes along. 0:34:39.360 --> 0:34:40.120 Just when you've. 0:34:39.960 --> 0:34:44.480 Gotten yourself comfortable, just when you figured out how life 0:34:44.520 --> 0:34:47.480 is supposed to be, just when you got your retirement 0:34:47.480 --> 0:34:50.000 account right, he's supposed to be. 0:34:50.239 --> 0:34:51.960 You got your little comfortable situation. 0:34:53.200 --> 0:34:56.480 And Jonah's settling in as a spectator in a situation 0:34:56.520 --> 0:34:59.080 where God has called him to be a participant, and 0:34:59.120 --> 0:35:00.719 he's sitting outside the place of. 0:35:00.680 --> 0:35:02.240 His assignment, and he's got. 0:35:02.040 --> 0:35:06.280 A shade over his head, and here comes the worm. 0:35:08.320 --> 0:35:12.359 And the worm made Jonah furious. Jonah, God's so. 0:35:12.440 --> 0:35:15.080 Mad at God about the worm, because not only did 0:35:15.080 --> 0:35:17.800 God send a worm, but after God send a worm 0:35:18.160 --> 0:35:19.000 to destroy the. 0:35:18.960 --> 0:35:22.399 Plant that was shielding Jonah from the sun. Then God 0:35:22.440 --> 0:35:23.600 provided the fourth thing. 0:35:23.800 --> 0:35:29.400 He provided the whale, he provided the plant, He provided 0:35:29.440 --> 0:35:31.879 the worm, and then the Bible says, in verse eight, 0:35:32.160 --> 0:35:37.759 he provided the wind. It's a sirocco. It's a kind 0:35:37.760 --> 0:35:41.000 of wind that beats on you so hard that you 0:35:41.120 --> 0:35:45.320 have to run for shelter. Now God is making sure 0:35:46.040 --> 0:35:51.240 that Jonah can't stay outside of the city and find shelter. 0:35:52.840 --> 0:35:56.200 And at the time, Jonah is furious, why did you 0:35:56.239 --> 0:36:00.239 take my plant away? Why did you take my boyfriend away? 0:36:00.680 --> 0:36:03.719 Why did you take the mother's life? What did you mean? 0:36:05.120 --> 0:36:08.640 Blue detention? But deduncednt bedumb it. 0:36:08.680 --> 0:36:12.640 Don't tell your story too soon, Jonah, because what you're 0:36:12.680 --> 0:36:17.920 going to see if you if you see it through the. 0:36:17.960 --> 0:36:22.359 Lens of a God who loves. 0:36:22.040 --> 0:36:29.759 You, you're going to see that the whale and the 0:36:29.800 --> 0:36:40.120 worm we're working together to serve a purpose in your life. 0:36:41.120 --> 0:36:46.160 At some point, after Jonah has gone back home, he 0:36:46.239 --> 0:36:50.080 sits down to tell the story of what happened when 0:36:50.120 --> 0:36:51.280 God sent him to Ninevah. 0:36:52.480 --> 0:36:56.000 And by the time he tells the story, he says, you. 0:36:55.920 --> 0:37:00.160 Know, at the time, I thought it was misery, but 0:37:00.280 --> 0:37:06.439 it was actually manna. It was all God's provision. And see, 0:37:06.520 --> 0:37:09.799 I don't know how Jonah finally got this perspective, you know, 0:37:10.200 --> 0:37:12.040 because the Book of Jonah doesn't tell us. When the 0:37:12.080 --> 0:37:15.120 Book of Jonah ends, he's still sitting there with the 0:37:15.200 --> 0:37:16.719 sun beating down on his head. 0:37:17.120 --> 0:37:20.080 He's still sitting there trying to figure out what to do. 0:37:20.360 --> 0:37:22.879 But at some point he sees it. 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:26.600 That the whil that delivered me, and even the worm 0:37:26.880 --> 0:37:29.560 that destroyed the thing that was comforting. 0:37:29.080 --> 0:37:32.200 Me, it all came through the hand. 0:37:32.040 --> 0:37:36.839 Of God, who knows what's best for me. I don't 0:37:36.880 --> 0:37:40.399 know how he got this perspective. I know he didn't 0:37:40.440 --> 0:37:44.520 talk to James because James didn't write his epistle until 0:37:44.560 --> 0:37:47.280 hundreds of years later. If he would have talked to James, 0:37:47.600 --> 0:37:48.400 James could. 0:37:48.160 --> 0:37:51.600 Have told him about joy counted all joy, my brothers. 0:37:52.000 --> 0:37:56.040 When you face trials of many kinds, when you see 0:37:56.400 --> 0:38:00.480 worms crawling up and creeping over your head trying to 0:38:00.480 --> 0:38:03.920 destroy the comfort of your life, God's not trying to 0:38:04.000 --> 0:38:07.640 kill you. He's trying to keep you alive. And nothing 0:38:07.680 --> 0:38:11.280 can grow in your comfort zone. So from time to time, 0:38:11.719 --> 0:38:13.880 God is gonna have to let something come. 0:38:13.719 --> 0:38:16.560 In your life that destroys. 0:38:15.840 --> 0:38:19.799 Your comfort so you can fulfill your calling. And now 0:38:19.920 --> 0:38:23.799 Jonah sees the same God that rescued me with the 0:38:23.880 --> 0:38:27.600 whale sent the worm to deliver me from myself. 0:38:30.360 --> 0:38:31.800 But he didn't talk to James. 0:38:32.480 --> 0:38:35.839 James wasn't around James could have told him every good 0:38:35.880 --> 0:38:40.040 and perfect gift comes from above. Everything that comes into 0:38:40.120 --> 0:38:42.520 your life can be a gift if you know what 0:38:42.680 --> 0:38:45.719 to do with it. My friend didn't know that at 0:38:45.719 --> 0:38:49.640 the time he lost his daughter. Losing his daughter wasn't 0:38:49.640 --> 0:38:52.360 the gift. The difference that he's making now telling others 0:38:52.400 --> 0:38:55.080 they can have hope too, that's the gift. But you 0:38:55.160 --> 0:38:57.920 won't know that. You won't know the purpose of the 0:38:57.960 --> 0:39:00.400 worm if you write your story while you're in it. 0:39:03.600 --> 0:39:06.000 We watched a young lady get baptized in our church 0:39:06.080 --> 0:39:11.799 today who went through some horrible things, but she's got 0:39:11.800 --> 0:39:15.680 some wisdom. She found out that the purpose of the 0:39:15.680 --> 0:39:19.680 worm that took away her shade was to send her 0:39:19.719 --> 0:39:21.640 back into Nineveh to. 0:39:21.640 --> 0:39:24.880 Rescue others who need to be saved. 0:39:25.800 --> 0:39:29.120 I need somebody who this teaching is resonating with to 0:39:29.200 --> 0:39:34.400 begin to praise God for his purpose and provision in 0:39:34.480 --> 0:39:41.239 your life. I know Jonah didn't get a chance to 0:39:41.280 --> 0:39:45.200 talk to Jesus. You know, I was imagining what if 0:39:45.280 --> 0:39:45.960 Jonah could. 0:39:45.840 --> 0:39:46.880 Have talked to Jesus. 0:39:47.520 --> 0:39:50.560 And Jonah is explaining to Jesus, He's like, man, you 0:39:50.600 --> 0:39:53.560 don't know what it feels like to be me, and 0:39:53.640 --> 0:39:57.719 Jesus said, oh, really, try me, and Jonah said, no, man, 0:39:57.760 --> 0:39:59.640 for me, it was easy. You're the son of God. 0:39:59.680 --> 0:40:02.239 But from it wasn't that easy for you. It was 0:40:02.280 --> 0:40:04.759 easy for me. It wasn't easy. See I had to 0:40:04.760 --> 0:40:09.040 go down from my comfort to a place the minister, 0:40:09.120 --> 0:40:15.720 to people that were my enemies. And Jesus said, oh, really, 0:40:15.760 --> 0:40:19.080 tell me more, because I kind of did the same 0:40:19.120 --> 0:40:24.560 thing when I left the comfort and the prestige and 0:40:24.640 --> 0:40:28.680 the pristine environment of heaven to be born of a 0:40:28.800 --> 0:40:32.799 virgin and wrapped in flesh. And I came to my 0:40:33.000 --> 0:40:36.360 own and they received me not, and they nailed me 0:40:36.480 --> 0:40:39.160 to the cross, and from the cross I uttered the 0:40:39.200 --> 0:40:43.439 words of forgiveness that became the redemption of the world. 0:40:45.480 --> 0:40:49.279 And Jesus said, what else, Jonah. Jonah said, well, you 0:40:49.280 --> 0:40:56.640 don't understand. I had to spend three days in a 0:40:56.760 --> 0:41:03.120 dark place. I had to spend three days in a 0:41:03.200 --> 0:41:04.520 place where it looked like. 0:41:04.440 --> 0:41:06.319 There was no hope. 0:41:06.920 --> 0:41:10.839 And Jesus said, really, then what happened? And then Jonah said, well, 0:41:10.880 --> 0:41:14.520 after three days I got spit out. And Jesus said, well, 0:41:14.560 --> 0:41:20.400 I know something about deliverance coming out of dark places. 0:41:21.120 --> 0:41:24.719 After three days I don't just see it. 0:41:25.480 --> 0:41:32.440 Jesus is our greater, Jonah, our deliverer, and all things 0:41:33.040 --> 0:41:36.240 work together for the good. 0:41:40.920 --> 0:41:42.040 The cross. 0:41:43.680 --> 0:41:52.560 And the crowd, the whale and the worm. If you 0:41:52.600 --> 0:42:01.520 never memorizing another Bible verse, do Romans eight twenty eight 0:42:02.480 --> 0:42:08.239 and read it until your eyes cross over. I mean 0:42:08.320 --> 0:42:10.160 read it, read it, read it, read it and read 0:42:10.200 --> 0:42:12.080 every word, and then think about that word, think about 0:42:12.080 --> 0:42:12.680 the next word. 0:42:15.080 --> 0:42:22.919 For we know that all things are good. 0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:35.680 Come on to a frame, you know, good again. Paul's 0:42:35.760 --> 0:42:42.120 not that naive, and neither is God. You know, there's 0:42:42.160 --> 0:42:44.840 nothing beautiful about the worm when it's chewing through your plant. 0:42:45.600 --> 0:42:49.840 That's not what we're saying. That's not my message. My 0:42:49.960 --> 0:42:51.280 message is that. 0:42:52.840 --> 0:42:55.920 The god of the whale that delivered you. 0:42:57.680 --> 0:43:10.359 Is also the god of the worm. The whale, the worm, 0:43:10.400 --> 0:43:11.360 and the will of God. 0:43:12.600 --> 0:43:15.680 You know. The whale and the worm were attack. 0:43:15.400 --> 0:43:20.839 Team assigned to Jonah. And when the whale got done 0:43:20.920 --> 0:43:24.120 dropping Jonah off in Ennevah, he said to the worm, 0:43:24.680 --> 0:43:32.280 do you and the echo location went out hit the worm. 0:43:32.320 --> 0:43:33.920 The worm said, all right, I'm gonna be in position 0:43:35.560 --> 0:43:39.600 because we both have one job to get Jonah back 0:43:39.640 --> 0:43:45.480 to the place of his assignment. Once his shade was gone, 0:43:46.160 --> 0:43:49.000 he had no choice but to go back into the 0:43:49.040 --> 0:43:57.439 place where God wanted him to be. The whale, the worm, and. 0:43:57.360 --> 0:44:02.280 The will of God. And we know that all things, 0:44:03.440 --> 0:44:09.200 all the whales, all the worms, all. 0:44:09.040 --> 0:44:16.120 The big things, all the little things, all of the blessings, 0:44:17.360 --> 0:44:22.760 and yes even the burdens too, all of the things 0:44:22.760 --> 0:44:26.320 that feel good, and all of the things that hurt 0:44:26.440 --> 0:44:29.600 like hell. God said, I'm gonna use. 0:44:29.480 --> 0:44:34.000 All of it, all of it, all of it, all of. 0:44:33.880 --> 0:44:39.319 It, every dark thing, every destructive thing, all of it. 0:44:39.440 --> 0:44:43.800 Somebody shout, all of it, all of it. All things 0:44:44.000 --> 0:44:48.400 work together for the God of them that love the Lord. 0:44:48.760 --> 0:44:52.600 Does anybody love the Lord in this place? Come on, 0:44:52.640 --> 0:44:54.360 I need you gonna jump up on your feet and 0:44:54.400 --> 0:44:55.600 praise him. If you love. 0:44:55.520 --> 0:45:01.160 Him in the belly of the whale, you can praise him. 0:45:01.280 --> 0:45:03.040 All things work together. 0:45:04.160 --> 0:45:09.200 Here comes the worm, Here comes the worm, and all things. 0:45:09.239 --> 0:45:16.600 Somebody said, all things work together for my good because. 0:45:16.200 --> 0:45:20.760 I love him and I've called according to his purpose. 0:45:21.800 --> 0:45:26.680 Come on, Pray said, right where you are. 0:45:25.120 --> 0:45:29.040 Pray said, right where he stand. He pray said, for 0:45:29.200 --> 0:45:32.080 his work. Basid listen, keep your mind. 0:45:33.520 --> 0:45:39.560 It's Nana he's your provider, your keeper. 0:45:41.239 --> 0:45:51.480 You're sustainable. Let your hands. Thank him to me, Thank 0:45:51.520 --> 0:45:52.399 you for joining us. 0:45:52.719 --> 0:45:55.160 Special things to those of you who give generously to 0:45:55.239 --> 0:45:58.719 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:45:59.160 --> 0:46:01.760 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:46:02.280 --> 0:46:06.120 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:46:06.680 --> 0:46:09.239 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:46:09.719 --> 0:46:11.040 You can share it with your friends. 0:46:11.320 --> 0:46:13.600 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:46:13.680 --> 0:46:15.799 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:46:15.800 --> 0:46:16.640 Elevation Church. 0:46:16.719 --> 0:46:18.360 Thanks again for listening. God bless you