People of the Third Day: Finding Hope and Direction

Sometimes we fear the very thing that will help us live and here Jonah is in the belly of the fish. It reminds me of this guy that I met this morning, the very thing that's going to warm his soul. Church is the very thing that he doesn't want to come to. There's a sense in the belly of the fish maybe that there's no hope. There's a sense that maybe there's a resolve to die but in the belly of the fish death hasn't come and in three days Jonah finally wakes up to the realization that he hasn't died. [00:52:36] (44 seconds)  #AdmitBelieveCommit

We've got to find ourselves getting back to being plugged in. We have to be purposeful about where we're going. I have access to Siri pretty much all the time. There's a plug in my car. It's really hard for my phone to die while I'm driving. It's not going to die. So I have access to Siri all the time and it's in the belly of the fish that Jonah finally surrenders and gets his navigation for life right again. His soul becomes reconnected. [00:55:05] (32 seconds)  #ThirdDayHope

He does these three things and I want to share them with you real quickly. First thing is he admits that he was wrong. He just does. He finally says, you know what? I did something wrong. I went the wrong way. I was disobedient. Or maybe a better way to say this is you admit that you're off the path. Second thing that he does is he believes that God is the way. Friends, there's a lot of paths you could choose to go in this life. But there's one that will help you get, have you guys guys ever tried Waze? [00:55:38] (41 seconds)  #VictoryInJesus

This home in life is wherever God is. It's the safest place. You can be in the heart of the most dangerous places in the world, but when you're with the Lord and you are walking with Him, it does not matter because He is with you. God is the way. And so Jonah, he believes that God is the way. Finally, he commits to live for Him and I think this is profound that Jonah not only says that he is going to believe that God can get him out, but he is going to actively pursue the way that God has for him. [00:57:01] (45 seconds)  #PeopleOfTheThirdDay

But with God, he's never wrong. His timing is always right. And so when he commits to live for Him, he commits to listen to the direction of God. It takes Jonah three days to do it. Three days to come to his senses in the belly of the well. It's on the third day that Jonah finally gets it right and tells God he's going to follow him. Have you ever thought about the third day? Does it sound familiar to you? Do we know anything else that happens on the third day? [00:58:26] (40 seconds)

And after three days he finds himself believing again that perhaps, just perhaps, just maybe, if he plugs back into God his life won't be over and he will find his way back. It's here after three days that he remembers there's a best way from here. And friends, no matter where you are or how you got there, there is a best way from here. And the only way to know that path is to plug back into the one who knows the way, who has a 30,000 foot view of your life, who knows not time, but sees the whole. [01:01:18] (45 seconds)

``And Jesus, who on the third day after death has claimed its victory, after all hope has been lost, after the enemy had unveiled its death blow, rose again and conquered death forever and always, he is the life, he is the truth, he is the way, he is the master of the third day. And here's the thing, friend, when you're on yourself in the heart of the seas, when you've found yourself in the realm of the dead, there is a way. [01:02:04] (49 seconds)

So don't give up on day one, don't give up on day two, don't give up in the middle of the night, don't give up at 4 a.m. and the darkest hour seems to have one. The enemy may be screaming out to you that it's all over, he may be saying he may be saying to you, it's been 24 hours, it's been 48 hours, he may try to convince you that this is the end. He may even have his moment, it may be the darkest hour of your life, but you have the third day. [01:02:53] (38 seconds)

The third day says that Jesus will not be defined by death, but death will be defined by Jesus. And you, my friends, you are people of the third day, so are you ready to plug back in? Because it's the third day. It's been the third day. Jesus has already risen. We don't live waiting for this to happen. We don't have to wait. He's living, we're living in third day times. Are you ready to admit that you're going the wrong way or that you're off the path? [01:04:05] (37 seconds)

But here's the thing for third day people. The battle is already won. The war is over. So we say things like death. Where is your sting? Where is it? There's life after death when there's eternity with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. When there's hope. When all hope is lost. You're in the middle of the sea, part of the sea. or when you find yourself wandering. There's a fish. There's a way. There's a hope. Sometimes it might look like vomit. I don't know. It might smell. It might be in the belly. But you're not dead yet. [01:06:19] (76 seconds)