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Jonah | Jonah 3:5-10 · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so these people, these Ninevehes, these people we've just heard of, there's something going on behind the scenes that we might not know.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: You see, historians say that around this time that Jonah is supposed to be going and preaching to the Ninevehes, the Ninevehite people are actually going through a really difficult time.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's said that the Assyrians right around this historical period are experiencing a lot of plagues, they're experiencing famine, they're experiencing revolts, they're seeing eclipses happen.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And where me and you might say, well, that's just not a natural, that's just a lot of bad luck, right?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of natural consequences.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Those are things that just happen.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: To the Ninevehite people, these are omens.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: You see, people then would always look to the supernatural, not to the natural.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: So they'd always say, Well, look, there's something supernatural happening.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's something horrible that's about to happen.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: These are all bad omens of something worse to come.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then in walks this prophet of the God of the Israelite people.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he smells like death.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: He has decaying fish smell on him from being inside of that whale for three days.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: His skin is probably a little bleached white because of being inside the fish.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: He has this aura and this look about him that just tells them of death.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he starts saying that their city is going to be gone in 40 days.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And for whatever reason, whether it was all the omens or whether it was something that was happening inside of their heart, these people, unbeknownst to Jonah, who was assuredly just knew that he would die when he preached this message, unbeknownst to him, because of the things that were happening in the background, these people have a twist in the story.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: A shocking turn that Jonah could have never seen, that maybe the reader wouldn't have known what's about to happen when he was first reading this book.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in verse 5, and it says this the Ninevehes believed God.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to sit with that for a second.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: This idea, these people that Jonah just assumed, these are guys that'll never accept what I'm saying.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: These people believed God.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: That there was something happening inside their hearts, that maybe there was something happening with all those signs, but something was going on that when they heard the word of God come from Jonah, they believed it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's a saying that goes around in churches and in small groups that I absolutely despise.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: It breaks my heart.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't really happen in times like this, like we're all sitting here and we're all being really good Christians because we got our Bible out and we're all, you know, we're good.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or it doesn't happen in small groups when we're all studying the word.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even happen at worship nights.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: It happens in these casual conversations.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's these conversations that are just kind of that I'm in, and we're just talking about life, right?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're just talking about what's going on at work, what's going on at school, or whatever the case is, and and we'll just be going and someone will be venting about something.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be talking about someone in their life that maybe just isn't doing that great, or maybe they're bothering them, or maybe they're making their work really difficult, or maybe they're they're talking about the back, or maybe they're the biggest partier they've ever seen, and they're telling stories about how the how they're so far from God, and I'll chime in and I'll say something like, Man, you should invite them to church, and it's something that happens like that, just a response that comes out of their mouth, and they say these words, they would never come to church.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: They would never come to church.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you think you've probably said that or thought that about someone in your life right now, and they would never, they would never come to church.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: They would never be here.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it breaks God's heart.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: It breaks God's heart because even though you have faith in a God of miracles, you have faith in a God that that healed the the sick, that made the blind see, that made the lame walk.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: You have faith in a God that split the Red Sea.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: You have a faith in a God that forgave your sins, you have faith in a God that raised from the dead, and yet you have more faith in the no of that person.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that that person would say no.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: You say you believe God.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: God, you can do anything you want, but that guy would never come to church.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: You got more faith in their no than in the God of miracles.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to understand this, guys.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is the first point.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Write this down.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is so crucial.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: That God is working where you cannot see.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: That God is working where you cannot see.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then in the little things that are happening in life, you have no idea what's happening in their heart.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: You've written them off because they'll never come to church, and you got no idea what God's been doing in the background.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah assumed the Ninevites would never believe that he would be killed.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: He did not know what he could not see.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: God is working where you cannot see.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And especially, guys, in our culture today, man, he is working all the time.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was reading and watching uh this guy named Dr.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Arthur Brooks, brilliant guy, Christian guy, awesome.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he was talking about our culture right now, how our culture is so tech-minded that we are uh what he would call left brain focused.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We are focused on complicated problems.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Complicated problems like problems like what's the quickest way for me to get from my house to North Davis Elementary?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: What's the quickest way to do that?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: How do I fix the link, the leak in my sink?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: How do I do that?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I could go to YouTube.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what do I do?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's this culture, and we have it, right?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're defined by tech, we're defined by chat bots right now.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have a problem, so let me just let me just look it up.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's our thing.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: If we want to date somebody, okay, like I don't really want to like go up and meet someone and learn about them.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just put it in the app.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put my algorithm, they'll they'll it'll sort it out for me.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: This will be great.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I'm gonna find love.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm worried about work, well, I don't really have to show up to work and meet my coworkers.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I could just do it on Zoom, I'll just remote work, that'll be the best.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Everything we do now is left brain focused, and we answer all of our questions with complicated solutions.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: But there's the other half of our brain that doesn't deal with complicated problems, it deals with complex problems.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And your brain is designed to ponder things.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like what happens when I die?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: What's true fulfillment look like?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: What's what about love?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: How do how do I have a great marriage?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And what's happening in culture today is we're trying to answer complex problems with complicated solutions.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Throw it in the chat.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh let me look it up on YouTube, let me follow an influencer, maybe they'll help me.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when you try to answer complex problems with complicated solutions, the answers are gonna look like this.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, it's gonna say love things.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then you should just love things, right?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because things help.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Things are great.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Get the new iPhone duo, it'll probably change your life, right?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it'll be so good.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Love things, use people.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, people are cool, but they can break your heart.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just use them for a season to satisfy whatever I need, and then I'll just move on.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna love things, I'm gonna use people, and really, I'm the most important people.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna worship yourself.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Just you.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do whatever it is that your feelings lead you to.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: If it feels right, then it must be right.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Follow that feeling.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: You loved your wife for a certain amount of time, now you really don't feel that way about her.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Just go break up, go find a new wife.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's this whole thing.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is what trying to answer complex problems with culture looks like.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: To love things, to use people, and to worship yourself.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: But scripture, scripture helps us with complex problems, it helps us with these deep things like what happens after I die, what about love, what about marriage?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't, it doesn't give you the well, put one plus one equal two answer.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: It helps you walk through those things.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: It gives you guardrails and guidance to what God has.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, this is what it looks like.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, you're gonna use things.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in scripture that you'll you hear about the missionaries, right?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're using the roads.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's Paul's missionary journey is all done on these roads, these connecting roads that he could go from city to city to city to city.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're using boats to travel, they use things, they love people.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Scripture says to love others.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Love others and worship God.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: You see, culture will tell you all those things, and we've seen every single documentary of someone who loved things, used people, and worshiped themselves, right?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And every famous person who has used that formula to find happiness, we've seen in their doc that at the end they were alone and unhappy.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: But the formula to use things, love people, and worship God, man, that leads to fulfillment that we can only discuss, we can try to describe, but it's indescribable.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you live in a culture right now that is battling those two things.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: How come all my complex problems have complicated solutions?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: How come it's not working?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you inside of your heart have the truth to help them walk through the complex problems of their life, but you're writing them off saying they'll never come to church.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: God is doing a lot of work where we can't see.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And he's just asking you, can you trust me that when I plop a name in your heart or I throw something out like that at you, can you trust that I'm working or you cannot see?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And there's some of you in here today that that is your story right now.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: You walked into this room and you assumed it was by coincidence.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you're starting to think back right now.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I did talk to that guy randomly at that party, and I did that person that sat next to me in class and they just mentioned this service, and and and I'm here, and I thought it was just by chance.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was because I got an extra hour of sleep last night, and I got a little headache today, but it's gonna be okay.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you you have all these, it's just chance.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you there's no way it's chance?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you this that the God of the universe cares so much about you that he was working where you could not see.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: That he designed for you to be in this place right now, to hear this message, to be with this group of people.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because even though you think, well, I'm just one of many, he's thinking, no, you're one of one.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna work in the plans to get you to where I need you because I love you that much.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: God is working where you cannot see.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this message goes out, people start fasting and praying, and then in verse 6, this is a crazy thing that happens.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, the king of all these horrible people, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, like I'm gonna sh, like I'm gonna show you my outfit right now.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, this is the best I could do.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is this is it right here.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you're like, man, you should have worn like a cardigan, like Wesley, and cuffed his pants.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I was that cool.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: I can't, I don't know what I'm doing.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like this, I picked this out last night, okay?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is this is it right here.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: A flannel with a black shirt.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I look like almost every day, right?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do switch up my shoes though.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I like I do like, I want to have at least some clean shoes on, something nice, those kind of things.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and when I get home today, when I get home today, I will take off this flannel, I will put on a sweatshirt, I will put on basketball shorts, and I will put on the ugliest shoes you have ever seen in your life.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: They are called underarmor slip-uns.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: My wife hates these shoes, okay?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I wear these shoes out, I don't even care.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: People make fun of these shoes, I don't mind.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even have laces, it has twisty ties.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's the best thing in the world.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I know, and listen, my back hurts right now because I'm getting old and I'm trying to pretend like I'm not.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Twisty tie shoe laces, that's the bomb right there.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is, I'm working hard for you guys right now.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna go and I'm gonna take off those, I'm gonna take off these shoes, I'm gonna put on those shoes, I'm gonna get so comfortable.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: There is no one more comfortable than the king of Nineveh.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no one more comfortable, nobody messes with his kingdom.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: He takes what he wants, and he is the most comfortable in the whole kingdom because when when everyone else is just trying to put on something, his clothes are tailored.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're made to fit him.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't get the cheap stuff, you know, off the rack like I do when I'm shopping at Marshalls, just looking for something that fits.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's not, no, no, he's going to the finest stores.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's got the silk on, and it feels so good on his body.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like he looks so nice, he feels on the hour so comfortable.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: He sits on his throne.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: There is no one more comfortable than the king.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: But when the word of God reaches him, he takes off those robes, he gets off his throne, and he sits in dust.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he puts on this thing called sackcloth.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And sackcloth is this kind of burlap sack with goat's hair, and it's like the worst Christmas sweater you could ever imagine times a hundred.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's itchy, it's scratchy.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's sitting in dust.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: The dust is in his eyes, in his mouth, it's it's it's over his and where he would be the cleanest person now, he sits in dust in this itchy, in this itchy burlap sack.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because the imagery that he's trying to show is that the sin inside of his heart, the sin inside of his soul bothers him so much that now he's gonna show you in the physical how much it bothers him.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna take what's on the inside and show it on the outside.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna get off his throne and he's gonna sit in sackcloth, in the dust, and he's gonna say, God, I need something.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because of this.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: You need to write this down.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: You will never accept the savior if you still demand to be king.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible to say, I need a savior, but I still want my crown.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: I still want it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I get, listen, I get why you would want to keep your crown, why you want to keep your identity.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I totally get it.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's what's gotten you through a lot in your life.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, your identity and your crown got you through your parents' divorce.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's what you held on to.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, at least I have this.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's what got you through junior high and high school, it's what got you into college, it's what got you your date with your husband or your wife, or got you your boyfriend or your girlfriend.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's everything to you.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why you hold on to it.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that you think, well, it's just got it's it's doing so well, it's got me so far.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know I just want a little bigger crown, it just needs a couple more jewels in it, and I'll finally be satisfied.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: It'll finally be over.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'll finally have everything I wanted.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, there is nothing on earth that can ever do that.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen a cell phone recently?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I was, I'm gonna tell, like, listen, there are some of you older than me, so you think I'm young, and there's some of you younger me that you're like, that dude's old.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm right in the middle.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm right in high school when the first like cell phone came out, like the Nokia, the block, you know, with like 12 buttons, right?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, I remember the one in my car.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember that.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I just remember this one, okay?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: That cell phone.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you had to pay for text.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if you remember, like, they charged you to text somebody.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you would be bankrupt like forever ago, right?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: They used to charge you for text.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we had.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: We had a phone.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't imagine having a phone that someone could call me while I wasn't at home.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's crazy talk, right?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And now we have TVs in our pockets.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you know what I'm talking about?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's do you see how there's nothing earth is designed that you'll never be satisfied?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it is.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: You have what you need, but I just need it to be a little more.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have your crown, but I just need a little more.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love how C.S.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis puts it.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: When he says this, he says, if I find myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: If I find myself in a place where nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: You see, we battle in the Beatitudes, Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's where me and you, our souls, are designed to be citizens of that kingdom.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: But our crowns tell us that if we're the kingdom, if we're kings in the kingdom of earth, then that should be enough.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And some of us we want to go into the kingdom of heaven, but we want to keep our crown.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, but I just, can I just keep this?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then can I just go into heaven?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, no, no, no, you don't understand.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: There are no other kings except the king of kings.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: You don't you don't get to have the savior and still demand to be king.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to lay that crown, that identity, at the feet of Christ.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And what does that mean?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: That means your dreams?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: That means that plan you had.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: That means your 12-step, this is what I'm gonna do.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: That means everything that you thought of, your business, your whatever, that it all goes to the feet of Jesus, and then you just say, Not my will, but yours be done.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes he gives stuff back, sometimes he gives you different stuff.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have no, that's between you and Jesus, but you lay it at the feet of Jesus.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And do you know why you lay it at the feet of Jesus?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you say, Not my will, but yours be done?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus is the king that stepped off of his throne, that walked to the cross, that is in the Garden of Gethsemane, begging his father, Father, if there's any other way for this cup to pass from me, let it be so.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: But not my will, but yours be done.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if there's ever gonna be a king that I'm gonna lay everything at the feet of, it's gonna be the king that did it first.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's difficult, I know that's tough.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of you have like your whole life planned, you have sketched out when you're gonna get married, when you're gonna have kids, when you're gonna do all that stuff, and I'm not saying that it's not bad to have a plan.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think having a plan is a great thing, but can you lay that plan at the feet of Christ and say, Not my will, but yours be done, because you can trust the king that did it first.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: So this sackcloth, dusty king just kind of sits there and he makes this proclamation in verse 7 Do not let people or animals, herds or flock, taste anything.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do not let them eat or drink.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need you to pay attention.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: He says, People and animals, but let people and animals be covered with sackcloth.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I can't imagine getting Bruno in a sackcloth bag like he would be, and not feeding him.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not eating, neither of us are being Christ-like at that point.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so like let everyone, everyone, everyone.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's already talked about people and animals.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: The whole place.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Let everyone call urgently on God, let them give up their evil ways and know their violence, and who knows?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: God may yet relent and with compassion turn with his fierce anger, so that we will not perish.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: He asks for everything.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why would the king make it so clear, why would the author make it so clear that everything in the kingdom, people and animals, all, all wore sackcloth and called out to God.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Write this down.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Repentance, repentance is never halfway.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get to barter with God about the things that you're gonna repent of and the things you get to keep.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get to say, well, I just really, God, like there's like, I know you want me to probably give up some of my business practices, but man, God, I know it's a little bit of cheating, but do you know how much more money I make that I get to tithe on?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you know, like, like you almost like enter the shark tank with God.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: God, I know you want all my life, but are you good with like 75%?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Are you good with just my Sundays?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Are you good with my weekends?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Are you good with this?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: God, I know this sin you want me to give up is important, but this sin that I do keeps me from committing a greater sin.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I think me and you should just have a deal that I get to keep this thing, and no, no, that's not how it works.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Repentance is never halfway.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is from the people through the animals.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: That everything in your life is saying, God, I want something different.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we repent because we're just sorry about what we did.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, God, I'm sorry.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Mark Clark was in our meeting when we're kind of discussing the sermon prep, and I loved like the examples he gave.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he says this worldly sorrow says, I'm sorry this happened.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: God, I'm really sorry that happened like that.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Godly sorrow says, I'm sorry I did this.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Worldly sorrow says, I hate the consequences.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: God, I cannot, oh my bad, I didn't know it was gonna be like that.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: I hate feeling this.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Godly sorrow says I hate the sin.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: I hate that I did this.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: That even if there were no consequences, I still feel that I hate this.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And this one, worldly sorrow wants relief.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: I just want this to be different.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: And godly sorrow wants transformation.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: God, I want to be different.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Man, and transformation is tough.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter loves art.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: They do theater, and and a couple years ago, Soraya, my oldest, uh, wanted to enter an art competition.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yeah, that's great.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: I am not an artist at all, clearly by my outfit.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she is really good.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in fifth grade, I didn't know if she was gonna be or fourth grade, I didn't know if she was gonna be good or not, but she wanted to enter this art competition.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was gonna be this competition between all of the schools in the area.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like 20 schools that were entering this competition.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so she tells me, my wife, I want to do this competition.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, all right.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, so what do you want?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to draw a picture?
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Should you do coloring?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Should you, you know, what do you want to do?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: And she goes, No, I want to do clay.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, clay?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: You want to bring the outside into our house?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's that about?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want dirt in my house.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I'm trying to be supportive.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, baby, clay, let's go.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And she starts to form this clay, and she's she's making this beach zine.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, maybe a beach zine?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, maybe like a sun, maybe something like you can do.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, no, dad, I'm gonna do this.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, all right, baby.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so she she begins to paint it, and I'm looking at it and I'm like, you know, disappointments happen in life.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, my daughter, it's okay, baby.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm working on the, you know, not everybody wins, kind of kind of and she submits it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking absolutely nothing of it.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, this is you know, we'll get the lettership from my hugger, it'll be fine.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we give a letter back.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And as soon as she moved on, like she's part of, like, she was the few selected, and I'm almost bewildered.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh my gosh, it never makes them.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is that?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Did no one else do it?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we go, now we have to go.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: I almost wondered.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is just just so you know me, I'm a horrible person.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: I almost wanted to lose, so I didn't have to go to like the regional art competition because I couldn't imagine anything worse.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I went, um so we go and we find her art and and I looked at the judge's notes, and it said, we were intrigued by the medium that she used, that no one else used clay, but she did.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we loved her details.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I was a little defeated because if my daughter had done what I asked her to do, she would have never won.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: It would have been just one of the art projects in a million.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: But in the hands of the creator, it became more than I ever realized.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: When God wants to transform you, there's gonna be a lot of, but don't not because not that, God, like you don't understand, like that's really important.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't understand how many people look at that part of me, God.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I need to keep that.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: God can that that that transformation's gonna hurt a little bit.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And and there's almost again a trusting of God.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm gonna give you my crown, I'm gonna repent, I'm walking through halfway.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Father, you take the art project, you're gonna be surprised that in the hands of the creator, it's gonna be more than you ever realize.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: That what he takes away and puts back is like, I never knew it could be like that.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: I never knew that's what could happen in my life.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: I never knew I could be that person in the hands of the creator changed everything.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: And these people do.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: From the animals to the people, from the king to the poor, everybody in the sacrament, everybody in the hand of their evil way.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: And in first hand.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: When God saw what they did, and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction and threaten them.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: When my my girls they loved to swim, and they've been swimming since they were like littles.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: We had a pool in our in our little condo complex, and we'd go and they'd love to swim.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: I hate swimming, so like I was trying to be Jesus and be like, I'm gonna suffer for the like the Lord did, and get in this pool.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and they would always, you know, they'd have the floaties on and they'd jump in, and then and then big kids would come and they would do cannonballs and they'd they'd jump in the pool, and so then then they wanted to be like the big kids, right?
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: So they wanted to take off their floaties and they wanted to jump in, and so but but they were scared, and and I was scared because I was like, let's put your floaties back on, but but they were scared because you know that they were jumping into the pool without their floaties, and they and they were afraid of what was gonna happen and where they're gonna sink, and so but they wanted to jump in, so I would get really close, and I'd be like, all right, baby, jump, and they jump into my arms and put them back and they jump again, and then I would I would begin to back up, and they jump further and further, and then I would back up just enough, and they would say, God, daddy, that's too far.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's too far.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd be like, No, baby, I got you.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, Daddy, that's too far.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, No, baby, I got you.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: See, what my daughters didn't realize was that there was absolutely no way, no way, no way I was gonna ever let them go down.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: That if I was right there, I was gonna catch them.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't care who I had to punch in the face, okay?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna catch my baby.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna catch my daughter.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're taking notes, write this down.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: That no one is ever too far from grace.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: That no one is ever too far from grace.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: That you might be in here right now and you're thinking, oh, it's too far.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Man, God's so far.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've got so much work to do till I feel comfortable to jump back in his arms.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, you're not too far.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Your father never lets you fall.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: That you can jump from wherever you are right now.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: You don't gotta come here three times, take communion twice, get prayer for once, and then receive his grace.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: That the Ninevehite people, these horrible scoundrels, sackcloth, turned to God, and immediately said, I'll relent.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want them.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: That all you have to do is jump in his arms.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because no one is ever too far from grace.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And for those of you in here, some of that is the most amazing news.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And for some of you in here, that's really difficult to hear.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because you got people in your life that you know that you wish were too far.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: You wish weren't, that you wish there's no way that God would.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: For me, that was my dad.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when I was 15 to 21, I didn't speak to my father.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: My parents had a pretty bad marriage, me and him did not have a good relationship.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: My dad didn't show up to my high school graduation.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: My dad walked out of my my wedding and then walked back in after my sisters convinced him to.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was rocky.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I did not want to speak to my dad, I didn't want to talk to my dad.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And God convicted me because I would be pastoring people, and I was 19, 20 years old, I was a pastor, and and I would sit in rooms with people that were dealing drugs, and I would sit in, I sat in rooms with people that had killed other people, I sat in rooms with all these people, and I had so much sympathy for them.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: And God convicted me, He said, You have so much sympathy for these people that you barely know, that you know have done all these things, and you can't even talk to your own father.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember I felt that.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: That God loved my dad.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, hey, it was my turn to put down whatever else I had, and I had to love him back.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now it doesn't mean that I took down all the boundaries and the barriers.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, that just means that I began to call my dad every once in a while.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we began to slowly build back a relationship.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I talked to my dad on Saturday, yesterday, Halloween.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's telling me how proud he is of me.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's always telling me, make sure you work hard.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good church try.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be lazy, work hard.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's always telling me that.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it's because I needed to realize that my Nineveh was my father at that point.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I needed to understand that God's grace wasn't too far for anyone.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I need to start building back that relationship.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: So who's your Nineveh?
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Who's the person that you tell yourself they never come to church?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: They'll never be here.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: I want you right now to think about that person.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you can, if you're journaling, I want you to write down their name.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Write down their name.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you got a couple names.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Write their names down.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I need you to this week pray for them.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: You pray for them by name.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if by some godly design they cross your path or you feel the urge to text them or to call them, then you you oblige.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you invite them to visit to the VMC next week.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: You invite them to go to church wherever they live.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you gotta do, that's your challenge.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: That you at least pray for them.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe there's some of you in here that you're like, I always thought I was too far.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I was too far from grace.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I was, I thought it was done.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I'd have to do a whole lot of work to get back to even being okay with God, that maybe He'd love me if I just showed up today.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, He loves you where you are right now.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: There is no other work to do except for the work of repentance, which means turning from whatever you're doing, laying your cross, laying your crown at the cross, and saying, Father, forgive me.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus, for saving me.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be made whole again.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there's not going to be a 16-step class to get there, it's going to be immediate.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Where God wants and desires for you to call him Father.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's just waiting for you to repent and turn around.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just turn around and jump in his arms, and he's ready to catch you.