The Ministry Within: Jonah and the God Who Meets Us

See, this gives us the very foundation of what we're going to be dealing with. This tells us that the story is all about God's word. And to know it, you have to read it. And I hear from people all the time that say, you know, I try to get into the word of God. And I just don't have time or I lose pace or I lose track. [01:09:28] (20 seconds)  #MakeTimeForTheWord

So, we're going to deal with the word of God because it's going to give us truth and direction for our life. But not just only direction, but it's also going to give us correction and show us how to live. It's going to get us off the wrong path and on to the right path. And that's what we want because God's word reveals his character and his nature. You can't know who he is if you're not reading it. [01:10:46] (27 seconds)  #WordGuidesLife

So, he says, God wanted Jonah to go because God saw their wickedness. See, none of man's wickedness is hidden before God. So, you might think you're hiding what you do because you did it under darkness. But none of man's wickedness is hidden before God. He sees it all. And it may come to a point to where what you're doing or what others are doing demands a specific warning or judgment to come to you. [01:13:59] (40 seconds)  #NothingHiddenFromGod

Put yourself in Jonah's shoes for a minute. Would you want to go to the one of the most dangerous cities in the world and preach to them because they're known for being, for their treatment as being a sadistic nation, especially to how they treat outsiders? But Jonah has to go there. Now, put yourself in that. Would you want to go to the most dangerous city in the world? Now, what if God told you to go? Well, in Jonah's case, God did. God did. [01:14:39] (50 seconds)  #GoWhereGodSends

So, we have to understand that every believer, if you're a believer in here today, that we all have an assignment. And that's the ministry within. That's the ministry within. But guess what? You don't get to pick the assignment. The assignment picks you. See, we're all going to fall into one of three camps where you hear God's voice and you don't necessarily know it. [01:15:56] (36 seconds)  #AssignmentFindsYou

There's another camp where you hear his voice and obey it and you follow it. That's a good camp to be in. But then there's another camp, which unfortunately a lot of us fall in, where we hear his voice and we ignore it. Or like John, we even run from it. That shouldn't be the case for any of them. [01:16:53] (29 seconds)  #HearAndObey

What good does it know to know the whole Bible and not do what it says? God's call often exposes the places we don't want him to touch. That's why he's calling you. See, disobedience, although we might think it is, disobedience is not, I'm just being neutral. Disobedience is a direction. You're heading somewhere when you're being disobedient. And see, we often run from God's calling when it conflicts with our comfort zone. [01:23:21] (38 seconds)  #ActionOverKnowledge

And see, now, mind you, these are professional sailors. They do this all the time, but they are scared for their life. And see, I think God still uses storms to show us a few things in our own life today. See, sometimes he has to put our faith to the test, and he'll see you through a storm to see who you're going to call on. And that shows you where you really put your faith. [01:28:03] (32 seconds)  #StormsTestFaith

But then look at Jonah. It says that he was fast asleep. See, there was a storm raging outside, and Jonah was sleeping. Perhaps he was trying to sleep at all because he knew that there was a storm raging inside of him, and he really didn't know how to deal with it. Any of you ever been there when there's a storm inside of you, and you just don't know what to do? You're trying to handle it on your own. And maybe the storm that Jonah was dealing with was from his resistance to God. [01:28:35] (40 seconds)  #WakeUpFromTheStorm

See, Jonah knew the truth about God. That wasn't the problem. Even though he claimed to fear the Lord, it doesn't seem quite true when he was running from the Lord. See, even a believer who is in a state of rebellion can give God glory if he would only tell the truth about who God is. But you got to know who he is. [01:31:00] (30 seconds)  #TruthPlusObedience

See, even an unbeliever who knows some truth about God, I mean, even a little bit of truth, can rebuke a Christian who's resisting God. And if you've ever been in a position where somebody says, Why have you done this? Or somebody's asked you, What are you doing here? Because they know you don't belong there. You pull up to the bar sitting with your buddies and they're looking at you like, Man, you don't belong here. And they send you on. They send you on because they know you don't belong. [01:31:37] (33 seconds)  #CalledOutToReturn

See, God sent the storm not to destroy Jonah, but to restore him. He had to get his attention. See, the storm was not meant for punishment. It was really meant for intervention. Running from God always leads down. We see that as we read the story that Jonah goes down to Joppa, the Bible says. He went down into the ship. And he went down into sleep. The Bible was very clear by pointing out how many times he went down. But we have to remember God's discipline is always an act of love. [01:32:35] (42 seconds)  #StormsRestore

We have to remember God's discipline is always an act of love. Always an act of love. We have to remember that. Because often the world around us can see the danger of our disobedience even sometime before we do. And when an unbeliever, and God will send an unbeliever sometime to call you out just to help you snap back to your senses. But sometimes that's what it takes. [01:33:11] (29 seconds)  #DisciplineIsLove

So Jonah says, pick me up and throw me into the sea. Jonah was willing to sacrifice his own life to save everyone else on the ship. We may consider what was his motive at that time. Perhaps he had compassion for the sailors or was was feeling some kind of way about how he was running from God. Who knows what he was thinking in that moment? But he was still willing to sacrifice his own life so that the sailors might be saved. [01:35:09] (29 seconds)  #SacrificeForOthers

See, now this is where people have a problem with the book of Jonah. He says, no way somebody could live in a fish for three days. Well, we're talking about the God who created the heavens and the earth. We're talking about the God that created a fish from nothing and into something. We're talking about the God who breathed life into dirt, created man. So you say, well, this must be some kind of miracle. And I say, I agree with you. It is a miracle. It is a miracle. [01:38:20] (44 seconds)  #BelieveTheMiracle

When Jonah trades rebellion for surrender, everything changed. Everything changed. But he had to surrender. He had to surrender. See, Jonah's disobedience actually affected innocent people. The sailors that were around him, they were affected by his disobedience. But even in rebellion, God pursues us. But sometimes his pursuit involves both consequences and his mercy. See, Jonah had to be thrown overboard, which means he had to face the consequences of his running. But once he surrendered, the sea became still. And then God appointed this great fish. [01:40:01] (62 seconds)  #SurrenderTransforms

God don't always do it like you think he's going to do it. I can almost tell you almost every time he ain't going to do it like you think he's going to do it. Because that's who he is. Because if he did it like you think he's going to do it, you're going to think you did it. And you ain't had nothing to do with it. [01:41:14] (23 seconds)  #NotYourPlan

When God says, that's enough. When God says, that's enough running. When God says, I got an assignment for you. And I can't, I'm not going to use somebody else. God knows some of us think like, God, I'm not worthy of that. You can use somebody else to do that. But God says, no, this is your assignment. This assignment belongs to you. And whatever I got to do to make sure you have what you need, once you trust me, once you begin this, take a step of obedience. That doesn't mean going that way. That means obedience is this way. I'm going to meet you right there. [01:45:49] (44 seconds)  #StepIntoObedience

No matter how far you think you've fallen, God can still reach you. Even if he got to prepare something to scoop you up, he can still reach you. See, God saves us even when we created the mess. Jonah prays from inside the fish and the grace of God meets him in the belly of his consequences and drives Jonah to an authentic prayer. See, his prayer got real. [01:46:48] (34 seconds)  #GraceFindsYou

See, God doesn't abandon us in spite of our failures, in spite of our rebellion. Redemption is possible even after we've made terrible choices. And trust me, we all do. Last application question. Y'all gave me five minutes. I'm right on time. Our lowest moments often become God's launching pad for a comeback story. The questioning. Where in your life do you feel most distant? How might he want to use you? Say me. Put me in that place. How does he want to use you in that exact place for your restoration? How does he want to use me? Does that help anybody? [01:49:03] (80 seconds)  #GodsLaunchingPad