Activating The Ministry Within: Called To Obey, Challenged To Forgive | Pastor Ken Wise

See, this is true revival, y'all. See, true revival can happen in the most unexpected places and to the most unexpected people when they believe God. And Nineveh doesn't just listen. They respond and they take action. And their obedience changes the destiny of an entire city from that point forward. From that point forward. [00:28:22] (32 seconds)  #UnexpectedRevival

This is the question we should ask ourselves if we find ourselves angry with God. Is it right for me to be angry at God? And, you know, if I had time, I'd take you to Job. Because Job answered this question very well, but I don't have time. But spend some time in Job. But that's the question we should all ask ourselves. Should I be angry with God? Because I've seen him bless others? Because I've seen him relent? [00:35:49] (39 seconds)  #QuestionYourAnger

But see, going through the motions doesn't mean that your heart is changed. We call it being religious. Oh, I came, I came to church. Check. Oh yeah. I, I, I opened my Bible this morning because the pastor told me to. Check. I pray when they told me to pray. Check. We're being religious, but that's not what God calls us to. [00:15:15] (34 seconds)  #MoreThanReligion

Now this is the King y'all, the most powerful man in the most ruthless and cruelest cities in the world at that time. In history, as a matter of fact, but watch the steps that he takes because he says he rose from his throne, which represents his authority and his power. And it says he took off his world road, which represents his grandeur and the pride of who he is. And he covered himself in sackcloth, which is rough and ugly and humbling. And it says he sat down in the dust where we all came from. [00:20:00] (45 seconds)  #KingHumblesHimself

The king says, I don't know much about God. I don't know if he's going to turn away, but we're going to repent. And we're going to have hope in that repentance, that God will have mercy and that God will have love on us. See, he hopes that God will relent and that God will not let the people of Nineveh perish. He doesn't know God, but he has hope and who God is. [00:23:32] (36 seconds)  #HopeInRepentance

What's the action? Choose one step of obedience this week. Whether, whether it's to send that message you've been holding off sending. Whether it's to make that apology you've been holding off. Or whether it's to begin the assignment, you know, God told you to do months, sometimes years ago. This week, let it be different. Let it be different. Let us keep moving. We're pulling up anchor. We've got to keep rolling. [00:16:50] (42 seconds)  #OneStepObedience

Let's drop anchor right here. Hallelujah. My anchor point is this. Repentance can transform a whole environment. Repentance can transform a whole environment. Think about this for a second. The city of Nineveh repents from the king all the way down to the animals. The king said, nobody's eating or drinking until we get this right. They put sackcloth on the animals and see God's mercy extends to Israel's greatest enemies. [00:27:31] (51 seconds)  #RepentanceTransforms

So what's our activation point? Reflect on this. What sin, habit, or pattern if you say, Lord, I know I need to change this. Lord, I know I need to change this. Lord, you told me to change it before. Could shift the atmosphere in your home. Shift the atmosphere in your workplace. Shift the atmosphere amongst your friends and those friendships because it's going to bring you closer to God. Write that down. Let that sink in. [00:28:54] (47 seconds)  #ShiftTheAtmosphere

Option B is this. Choose one person you trust and tell them the area you're repenting in. And then ask them to check in with you one time this week to see if you've done it. Ask them to check in with you. Because you're not going to want to do it. But that's called accountability. If you're serious about it, that's called accountability. And who did I tell you your life group was? [00:30:56] (35 seconds)  #ChooseAccountability

Let's drop anchor right here. My first anchor point is this. God's mercy moves faster than our obedience. God's mercy moves faster than our obedience. See, Jonah finally obeys the second call. God's mercy had already ran ahead of Jonah, preparing the hearts of the Ninevites before Jonah even spoke a word. Jonah finally goes to Nineveh, but we can see he has some reluctancy. And he had minimal effort because you can see by his message, he gave the most minimal effort he could. But he delivers God's message. But in that message, you don't hear any compassion. You don't hear any hope. He's almost like some of us do. Going through the motions. [00:14:09] (65 seconds)  #MercyRunsAhead

Repentance means turning from your evil way. And from violence that is in our hands. The things that we do that displease God. Repentance also means to change your mind and turn from our previous sinful actions. The things we know that displease God. See, in the Christian life, repentance does not describe what you must do to turn to God. It describes the very process of turning to God. It's an action. It's an action. And when we truly turn to him, we turn away from the things that displease him. [00:22:36] (45 seconds)  #RepentanceIsAction

And what's our action? I want you to declare one concrete habit you will repent of this week and replace it with that godly action. Declare it. Which means I'm going to speak it before the Lord. This habit I've been doing, I know I don't need to be doing, is definitely taking my time away from the Lord. Because I could be spending time with God. But I continue to spend more and more time doing this thing and replace it with a godly action. [00:29:45] (47 seconds)  #DeclareAndReplace

We fail to realize that bitterness is not what they did bitterness is what you kept because see I'm still holding on to this and yeah I show up at church and I say you know I'm going to praise the Lord I'm going to praise the Lord oh I can't even get my hands out and yes they hurt you and that's real hurt they betrayed you and that's real betrayal but the feeling you got from that betrayal they did not do they did not do you kept that you let that seep in and it's continued to grow in you it continues to grow in you [00:42:14] (58 seconds)  #YouKeptBitterness

We love mercy for ourselves, but do you struggle with God's mercy for others? Do you struggle with God's mercy for others? The place that the enemy attacks is the most, usually, most of the time the place where you think you have the most power. That's usually the place he likes to attack. Because God does it the other way. God blesses you in the place where you are weakest. But the enemy attacks you in the place you think you have the most power. The place you think you have it under control. [00:36:34] (47 seconds)  #ExtendMercyToOthers

But it displeased God. I'm sorry, not God. It displeased who? It displeased Jonah exceedingly. And so he became angry. And so I was thinking about this. You know, this is very strange because think about this. You know, as a preacher, as you go preach to a congregation, if the whole congregation repents, a preacher will be pleased. Because that means everybody got it. Everybody's going to repent and the atmosphere in this whole place will change. But Jonah wasn't pleased. He wasn't pleased. [00:32:08] (46 seconds)  #MercyCanAnger

So once again, the heart of the story is the word of God. And you heard me say last week that the word gives us direction and correction. We need both. Because this shows the amazing love of God to his wayward people. You know, some of us get lost along the way sometimes. And through Jonah, although this is the second time, he did everything he could to resist the call of the Lord the first time through. And after Jonah repented, God called him again. Praise God for the call again. See, although God was under no obligation to do so, God's love went before him and he did it out of his mercy and grace. Thank God. [00:10:00] (50 seconds)  #GodsWordLeads

But when you tell God that, Lord, this is who I am. This is who I'm going to be. It's almost like you're telling God, God, you got to deal with this. Because this is who I am. Can you change? Can you change? We have to be careful with that. But the good news is, is people do change. The word of God makes us new. And through the gospel, we are born again. And the word says, it says it's not a perishable seed, but of what? Imperishable seed. That means it's a good seed. It's a good seed. [00:01:36] (48 seconds)  #PeopleCanChange

See one can have a repentant heart without actually saying the word itself. Cause you can say the word, Oh Lord, I come to you and just repent before you. And you do nothing because repentance is really about what you do. And as we believe in God and his word, we have the power to transform our lives as he wills it. When we believe him. So you can do many other things associated to repentance, but if they do not begin with believing on and trusting in God, they're all useless works of the flesh. It starts with God starts with believing who he is. [00:18:16] (47 seconds)  #RepentThroughBelief

See for any sinner, this is the greatest picture of what the King just did. This is picture perfect. As I like to say, because look at what he did. He heard the word of God. He believes God. And we see when God says you got it wrong. He repented. He repented. And that speaks to us too. Cause sometimes we need to get off our throne and get off taking rule of our own life. And, and act in such a way that we stop putting on this front. Stop hiding, stop covering that when we come amongst others, we feel like we got to put on this front. [00:20:46] (55 seconds)  #StepDownFromThrone

But when I call on the Lord Hervey come here when I call on the Lord see there's one more knot there there's one more knot so that when I call on the Lord and I begin to get rid of this bitterness this anger this unforgiveness see the Lord can take that knot and I say God work in me I say God free me and see it's an action that I have to take I say God I can't handle this anymore and he and God just keeps setting me free he just keeps moving all this bitterness out of my life he keeps taking those things away that are not meant for me to carry [00:47:56] (55 seconds)  #UntieTheKnots