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Jonah | Jonah 1:7-16 · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Storms are sometimes used in the Bible as a metaphor for trials.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when you think of a storm, you think of wind, right?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Storms we often assume wind, heavy, violent wind, we often think of that as a metaphor of something that will hurt us, that will have a negative impact on our life.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: But what if some of the storms that we walk through in life, what if some of the storms that we go through in life are ultimately not destructive, but beneficial?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know that when there is wind, heavy, strong wind, against a tree, it doesn't just threaten a tree, once in a while it does, but it often actually strengthens a tree.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: As trees sway in the wind, the mechanical stress triggers adaptive growth and produces thicker trunks and stronger, better anchored root systems.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's a fascinating thing to think through.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Which makes it more resistant to storms in the future.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: In this way, the very force that seems destructive can build greater resilience over time.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: That certainly is true in the life of Jonah.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: As Jonah is about to go through a storm, and when Jonah is going through the storm, the initial viewpoint, the initial perspective is that it's going to be destructive, but it ends up being beneficial.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the great preacher C.S.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Spurgeon wrote on this very truth.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Trials from the enemies of Jesus confirm our faith.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Those who are never tried usually possess a poor or tottering faith.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: But trial, especially persecution, is like the rough March wind which goes howling through the forest.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: While the young oaks are almost torn up by the roots at first, it loosens the soil for them and they send out more rootlets till they get such a firm grip that they can defy the hurricane.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: That which shakes them at first strengthen them, strengthens them, part of me afterwards.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Romans chapter 5, verses 3 through 5 teach us, where the author of Romans says, not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the thing that we think is shaking our life when we look back in retrospect strengthened our life.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because God can work good even in the midst of the hardest situations.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: We don't understand that in the midst of the storm.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: We just feel shook.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But when we're out of the storm, we look back and we say, I'm stronger.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've developed a root system that I didn't quite have before, that wasn't as deeply rooted before.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'd like to talk to you this morning about lessons from a storm.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Lessons from a storm.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah chapter 1, verses 4 through 16.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're just going to go verse by verse, and then I'm going to share lessons from the storm.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 4.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew term is the Lord hurled the wind, which caused the storm.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And such a violent storm arose that the ship that Jonah had got on in Joppa, remember the same Joppa that Acts chapter 10 talks about?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah is called to go to the nations, to the Gentiles, and preach repentance.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the same city that he got on the boat is the same city that Peter had this vision to go to to share the gospel with the Gentiles.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not circumstantial.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Providential.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sovereignty of God.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Jonah gets on the ship, pays the fare, and a violent storm arose on the ship, threatening to break it up.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord hurled, sent the wind that caused the storm to arise as Jonah was on the boat, heading the opposite direction that God called him to go.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah's like, I'm not going to Nineveh.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Nineveh's this way, I'm going this way.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a faithless prophet.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a prophet that has never done good and spoken the word of the Lord.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah had been a faithful prophet up until this point.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: When God called him to do a hard thing.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And God hurls the wind that causes the storm.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these Psalms.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Psalms 89, verse 9, you rule over the surging sea.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: When its waves mount up, you still them.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 135, verse 7, he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: He sends lightning with the rains and brings out the wind from its storehouses.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: God is sovereign over the physical universe.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's not to say that every storm is from God, but that is to say that when God wants to hurl the winds and cause a storm, he certainly can.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: All the sailors were afraid, and each cried to his own God, and they threw cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just pause with me.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: These sailors do this all the time.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is just a normal day.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: They get on their boat, they navigate through the seas, but for some reason this particular storm was alarming to the sailors.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: These were seasoned sailors used to navigating storms, but this was obviously not the normal storm.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the sailors, they were very religious.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: They were polytheistic, they believed in many gods, they called on their gods, they threw cargo out of the ship.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I was studying this.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sailors in the ancient world used to call on deities before and during their route.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I read this.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sailors in the ancient Near East often performed religious rituals in harbor temples before and after a voyage to ask and celebrate safe passage.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: In a storm on the sea?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: The only time I've ever gone on a cruise, 15 years old.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Mom's like, let's go on a cruise in Mexico.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we're on this cruise.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was the second night.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden there's a storm, and the boat is rocking all over the place.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the whole night I'm just vomiting.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: I will never go on a cruise again.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's my la my first and only cruise on the ocean.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ended with a storm and lots of vomiting.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Not that you wanted to hear that this morning, but that's just the true story.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the sailors, they're like, this is a crazy storm.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take the cargo that is loaded on the ship and throw it out to lighten the load so hopefully we can navigate through this storm.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Notice.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Notice.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: But Jonah had gone below the deck where he laid down and fell into a deep sleep.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody is fearing for their life.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody is anxious and stressed, thinking they're gonna die.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, they're taking the luggage and they're throwing it out of the boat just to survive.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Jonah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's not just sleeping, he's in N3 sleep.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's the deepest sleep.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: That is the sleep where your body literally is repairing tissue, consolidating memories, clearing metabolic waste.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's in the deepest sleep.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I don't care if I die.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to Nineveh.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is how stubborn he was.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I am, he's like, this is the best sleep of my life.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: As long as I'm not heading that way, I'm good.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: This boat can go under, I'm good.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So he's in deep sleep.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: There was another one in the New Testament that also was in deep sleep in the midst of a storm.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Except his name wasn't Jonah, his name was Jesus.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 8, verse 23.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Suddenly, a furious storm came up on the lake, the Sea of Galilee, so that the waves swept over the boat.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, these were great waves for surfing, bad waves for being in a boat.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus was sleeping.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples went and woke him, saying, Lord, save us, we're gonna drown.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: He replied, You of little faith, why are you so afraid?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the waves, and it was completely gone.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: One writer said, When Jesus was in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, so so sound was his sleep that his disciples had awakened him during a storm.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus could sleep through the storm in peace, knowing that his father was in control.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: This was not the case with Jonah.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was asleep not because he was at peace with God, but because he was rebelling against God.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever been so weighed down by sin that you just wanted to pull the blankets over your head and fall asleep, hoping everything would somehow be okay when you woke up, you know how Jonah felt.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: He was sleeping to evade what he was choosing to do.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus was sleeping at peace because he knew that God was in control because he was God.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So Jonah is sleeping.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then notice verse 6.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: As Jonah is sleeping, verse 6, the captain went to him and said, How can you sleep?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Get up, call on your God.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't think, he was just trying to figure out if there's anybody who worshipped a God that could calm this storm.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7, 6, 7, that's a terrible thing.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Seven.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: When the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: All the sailors had gods to call on.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: They noticed that Jonah was sleeping and not had not called on his god.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: None of their gods worked.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Polytheistic, worship many gods.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: There was a god for this and a god for that and a god for everything.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't work.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: So they were trying to figure out who was responsible for the storm, recognizing that this was not normal.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in their religious interpretation of the events that were happening, they went to the only person who was sleeping on the boat, and it was Jonah, and they were like, maybe his God can calm this storm.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe somehow he's connected to this.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then the sailors said to each other, Come let us cast lots.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, what is a lot?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was in the ancient world, it was a way of making decisions.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the term lot is used 77 times in the Bible, 70 times in the Old Testament, seven times in the New Testament.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: We don't quite know what a lot was, but we know that they used it as a way of making decisions.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they could have been sticks of various lengths, they could have been flat stones like coins or some kind of dice.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine that?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, get out the dice, let's see what, you know, let's see who the lot falls on.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Roll the dice, and you're like, it's you, Jonah.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 8.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: So they asked him, Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of work do you do?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you come from?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: What is your country?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: From what people are you?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: They just a barrage of questions.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: They pepper him with questions.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, You must be the person.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: So they asked him all these questions.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: He answered, I'm a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: This terrified them.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: We'll just stop there.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah acknowledges God, but he's running from God.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's worshiping God in words, but not in deeds.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know how easy it is for us to do that as Christians?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: We can come to church on a Sunday morning, we can sing the songs, we can say the right things, we can worship God in our words, but not our deeds.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: We can say all the right theological terms, we can have all the right biblical phrases, we can know all the Christian knee sayings.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we can be like Jonah rebelling against God.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah had his theology right here that God was the God of heaven, that God was the creator of the earth.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: But God was calling Jonah to go preach repentance to Nineveh that God would give them a chance to be rescued and saved, even though they were a brutal and wicked culture.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he was running away from God.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to notice in verse 10 the question they ask him, What have you done?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: He already confessed, I'm running from God.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And they said, What have you done, Jonah?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're a parent, right?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Your kid walks in and they're in big trouble, and you're like, What have you done?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is a question of shock rather than honest inquiry.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're shocked that he was the one that worshipped the God of heaven and the God of earth, and he was running from God.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe in word, you worship the Lord of heaven and earth, but you're running from God, and there's something about this storm that I know is gonna speak to your life today.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And notice the story continues, it gets worse.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 11 the sea was getting rougher and rougher.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: So they asked him, What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Pick me up.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Here's his idea: pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I love about Jonah here?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: That he takes responsibility for his actions.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, just toss me overboard.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like the great theologian, I'm the problem, it's me.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Some people, some of you did not get that.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: A few of you did.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Great job, pop culture reference.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Some people blame everyone else for their actions.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're rebelling against God, it's somebody else's fault.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're making bad decisions, it's somebody else's fault.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're in a relational conflict, it's always the other person's fault.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Some people blame everyone else for their actions.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just encourage you?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot grow and become who God designed you to be while doing that.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then some people take responsibility for their actions.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: They realize that it's okay to say, I'm wrong, I'm sorry, I failed, because you can grow and become all that you are meant and designed to be by God by having an honest, healthy, spiritual self-awareness of you.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you run from God, when you make decisions in your life that are contrary to what God wants for you, it doesn't just affect you, it affects the people around you.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah could have thought, I'm just getting on this ship, I'm paying the fare, I'm going in the opposite direction, and whatever bad is gonna happen, it's gonna happen to me.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: But no, it's happening to everyone on the ship.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Did you catch that?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone is affected by Jonah's decision.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah was suffering.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: The people on the ship were suffering, and Nineveh was suffering because they were missing the message of God's redemptive grace.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: This was a big spiritual failure in the life of Jonah, God's prophet.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: But let me encourage all of us in here.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Failure is normal.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: We are all imperfect human beings in the process of changing.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're the prophet of God preaching to cities or just a brand new Christian, failure is normal for all of us.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to have a different perspective of failure in your life.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us need to have a reorientation of how we view failure because some of you view failure as fatalistic.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like you failed, now you're bad, you failed, now God doesn't love you, you failed, nothing good is gonna happen in your life again because of a bad decision you make.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: That is not how followers of Jesus should ever view failure.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're in ministry or not in ministry, whether you're just following Jesus brand new or you've been following Jesus for a long time, failure is never fatalistic.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Failure is a catalyst.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to grow?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: You learn from your failures.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to change?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: You learn from your failures.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to develop as a follower of Jesus?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: You have a reflective, humble, learning perspective around failure.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Failure is Is not fatalistic.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Failure is a catalyst for change.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone fails.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Would you please just give me this opportunity to do a poll in here this morning?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Please raise your hand if you have never failed in life.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is amazing.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Please raise your hand if you're a leader and you've never made a leadership mistake in life.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you're a boss and you've never left work on a day and said, man, I was not at my best leading my team today.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Did you see anybody raise their hand?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're all a bunch of failures.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: But the good news is that failure is not fatalistic, failure is a catalyst to change you.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have been in ministry for over twenty years.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I started ministry in Hawaii.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hawaii.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maui, Hawaii.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a full head of hair, blonde, long, locks, surfer, Wesley.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then I planted two churches and it was over.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I look back and I'm like, I have had so many failures.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: I planted church at 25 years old.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I knew nothing.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you're 25, you're like, I know everything.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like trying to tell, you know, trying to tell everybody else how to live, how to lead, how to do.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: I knew nothing.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I knew a few things.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: I knew about Jesus.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: I had two master's degrees.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: I studied Hebrew and Greek and counseling.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew a few things.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the application of all of that onto life and leadership, no, didn't know much.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I look back and I'm like, oh man, I wish I had a do-over because I would do so many things different in retrospect because you live and you fail and you succeed and you learn.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that's all a part of life.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then to the next generation, you share with them what you wish you would have known then so they don't have to make the same mistakes.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I try to tell stories all the time with all the people that I'm pouring into so that they can learn from my mistakes.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, wisdom says I don't have to make the mistake.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: I can learn from other people's mistakes, so I don't have to make it.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to encourage you.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah had great days ahead.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: You have great days ahead, even if you failed.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the gospel tells us this story too.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: That God is a God of second chances, and third, and fourth, and fifth, and sixth, and seventh, and eighth, and ninth, and tenth, and multiply that over and over and over again.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: You are sitting here today, and you might feel like the weight of failure is on your soul, but God is reminding you today that He already paid the price for that failure.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have great days ahead.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: But check this out.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm just getting started here.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Check this out.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah here says, throw me overboard.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to see this because interwoven throughout the entire Bible is this pointer, this directional theological pointer to the ultimate point of the Bible, which is Jesus.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Check this out.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah here offers his life as the guilty party to spare the lives of the innocent.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus offered his life as the innocent party to forgive the sins of the guilty.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Did you catch that?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah's like, throw me overboard.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm guilty.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want to save the innocent.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I'm innocent.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Put me on the cross to forgive the guilty.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the better Jonah.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, the men did not, uh the men did their best to row back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 11, it grew rougher and rougher.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 13, it grew wilder.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting wild out there.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Then they cried out to the Lord, please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh goodness, we don't want to throw this guy.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: You usually don't throw overboard a paying passenger.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to be responsible for this.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, but the storm is getting worse.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was rougher and rougher, now it's just wild.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And verse 15, and the raging sea grew calm.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't want to be responsible for taking this man's life.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: They've never seen a storm this bad.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to make a connection here that you might not see in your English Bibles.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: The same Hebrew word used in verse 4 for the hurling of the wind is the same Hebrew you same Hebrew verb used again in verse 15 for the hurling of Jonah overboard.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the sea became calm the minute Jonah got out the boat.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then verse 16.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: At this the men grew, the men greatly feared the Lord.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: All the sailors who worshipped all these other gods who could not do anything, they greatly feared the Lord and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is sometimes the case that people, when they're in the great storms of life, call out to God.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's you today.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're in a storm of life.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're going through a really rough season of life and you're here because you're just crying out to God.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: God is present and wants to be a part of your life.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I also want to speak to the people that aren't yet in the storms of life.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Don't wait to cry out to God till you get to the storms.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Seek God before you get to the storms.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's some lessons from this storm that all of us can learn.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some lessons that we see interwoven throughout this narrative, this story, this real example of a prophet of God running from a hard calling that God gave him.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want to bring to light a few things that I think are quite valuable.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, and you can write this down, they're going to be on the screen as well.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's some losses that Jonah had from his decision.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, Jonah lost the voice of God.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: God was now speaking to him through his works, not his words.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: He had to send a storm to get his attention again.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: He was a prophet.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: A prophet receives the word directly from God.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's not receiving any words from God.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: God had to hurl the winds to get his attention.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we make decisions that bring us losses spiritually.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he lost the voice of God.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Second, Jonah lost his spiritual motivation.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: He was sleeping instead of praying.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: He was sleeping instead of prophesying.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're in a spiritual slumber and you're trying to figure out why you're in a spiritual slumber.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're in a spiritual slumber.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're not praying, you're not prophesying, you're not sharing your faith, you're not going to DCF or Bible study or community group or whatever.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: You are in a spiritual slumber.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe this is an indication this morning that God is speaking to you.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Say, wake up and seek my face again.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, Jonah lost his prophetic voice.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of speaking what God was speaking, which he had always done, he was now asking to be tossed overboard.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: He should have been the person, listen, if he were in line with the Lord at this time, he should have been the person in the boat giving direction and hope to everybody else.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: But he's actually the cause of the storm.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: He should have been like, hey, I know the God of heaven and earth, the one who made the sea.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna speak hope.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody calm down, like Jesus on the boat brought calm, Jonah on the boat brought chaos.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's a contrast.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: He lost his prophetic voice as he was running away from the presence of the Lord.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, sometimes a storm brings correction.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Think about this storm.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: God hurls the wind.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love that Hebrew term, that idea.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: But this was God in his loving grace and mercy trying to get Jonah's attention.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a storm brings correction because Jonah was going in the opposite direction.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: So God's like, I need to bring correction because you're going in the opposite direction.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: But when a storm brings correction, it is God's love and mercy toward us.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we don't receive the correction for redirection, then we keep going in the opposite direction, which will lead to all kinds of problems and negative repercussions.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: So God in his love sends this storm to redirect Jonah.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful thing.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the storm brings correction, and sometimes the storm brings, number five, redirection.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: So God was using the storm to bring Jonah back into the right direction, back to his calling, back to drawing near to God, back to hearing the voice of God.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: He lost the voice of God, he lost his spiritual motivation, he lost his prophetic voice, but he will regain all of those things again when he goes in the right direction.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe this morning there's a person or two that has been going in the wrong direction, and you know it.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know that God's trying to get your attention.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want you to ruin your life.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you're here today because God wants to redirect you.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because he cares about you.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: What will cause joy and happiness and flourishing in your soul, and he is trying to get your attention to bring you back in the right direction.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, sometimes a storm brings revelation.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah would realize through this storm that you cannot run from God.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah would realize that God is all present, that God is all pursuing, and that God still loves Jonah even when he was running from him.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to know in your life today that God is all present, that God is all pursuing, and that God still loves you even as you've been running from him.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: And God will show Jonah so much about himself, his grace, his redemption, his power to change even the worst, most evil city and people.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah needed a more robust theology of God, not just in understanding, but in the way that he lived out his ministry in his life.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: A storm can do so much as far as revelation in our life.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: A storm can reveal more of who God is.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: You go through a storm, you're tossed on the seas of life, and then you're like, wow, God, I've been pursuing you, I've been seeking you, I've been getting to know you through the storm, and now I know you better than I've ever known you before.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: A storm can reveal how close God is.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: You think that God's detached, and then he shows up in the midst of the storm, as we're gonna see next week in a miraculous way, and you're like, wow, God, you were actually near the entire time.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: I thought you were detached.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: I thought you were through with me, but you actually were right there the entire time.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then a storm can reveal how important God is in our life when we're going through the storm and we're like, all this other stuff that I've been doing and pursuing really doesn't matter.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: It says the book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes says, meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Except for God.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: All the things you were chasing, the cars and the big houses and the, you know, the status in the workplace, and that everybody would honor you, and that you would have this huge bank account and all.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then you realize as you go through a storm, you're like, none of that actually, I mean, it has some meaning, but none of that actually really matters when all is stripped away.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: What matters is God in your life, in my life.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then number seven, not every storm in our life is a result of rebellion.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: I just, this is Jonah's story.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes our story, but we also need to make a distinction that not every storm in our life is a result of rebellion.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the storm comes along because we are humans living in a broken, fallen, imperfect world.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: And storms are just a part of the makeup of a broken, fallen, imperfect world.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: We all face suffering, and I want you to hear this, this is really important, that is unrelated to our own actions.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to remember that God is first and foremost relating to us based on love and grace.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Stick that in your spiritual memory bank.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: That God is first and foremost relating to you in his love and grace.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: And treat people like that as well.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: There might be some people in your life that you are bitter, angry, you want revenge, you want their life to go bad because of something related to you.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's how Jonah thought about Nineveh.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to do the same that the Lord does to you.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: Relate as a follower of Jesus, relate to people based on love and grace.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Release that bitterness, release that unforgiveness, release that hatred, release that unchecked anger in your heart, and begin to relate to people the way the Lord first and foremost relates to you and me.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to remember, don't I want you to remember this.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think God is trying to always judge you for your failures.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is really, really important spiritually.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus already paid for those failures on the cross.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why would God judge you over and over for your failures when he already paid for those himself?
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's not how God relates to us.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: We believe that sometimes.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just share something really personal?
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: One of my greatest struggles is shame.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a perfectionist.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: I hate failure.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: I hate failing people, I hate disappointing people.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I carry this burden in my soul.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: I actually have had to go to therapy for it.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: I carry this burden in my soul that I just beat myself up.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: I overanalyze myself for failure or perceive failure.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: My therapist had to tell me, she said, Wesley, you treat everyone else with love and grace and kindness, and you treat yourself like a Pharisee.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to remind myself over and over and over again that Jesus already paid for all of those things, and I will never be perfect.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: You are forgiven, God is transforming your life, and God is gracious and loving towards you.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: And these are lessons from Jonah's storms that we can all learn from in our life.