Um, yeah, you wouldn't know the service.
I want to show who you're talking about.
I have the mic.
She has the mic.
Alright.
So I'll have to get my mic.
So I'm going to go back.
So I'll have to get my mic.
Alright brethren, welcome to church tonight.
If you've got your hymnals, please take them.
And let's turn to hymn number 157.
Hymn number 157, 157.
We'll begin by singing, Come Thou Almighty King.
And if you are able, please stand.
And let's sing it up to the Lord.
157, Come Thou Almighty King.
Alright, sing it up.
Come Thou Almighty King,
Help us Thy name to sing,
Help us to praise,
Father all glorious,
All victorious,
Come and reign over us,
Ancient of this.
Come Thou incarnate Word,
Good on Thy mighty sword,
Our prayer attend.
Come and Thy people bless,
And give Thy word success,
Spirit of holiness on us descend.
Come holy Comforter,
Thy sacred witness bear,
In this glad hour,
Thou who Almighty art,
Now rule in every heart,
And there from us,
Depart, Spirit of power,
To the Great One in free,
Eternal praises be,
Hence evermore,
His sovereign majesty,
May we in glory sing,
And to enter,
Let in love and adore.
Alright, let's go to a word of prayer.
Our Heavenly Father, Lord,
I just thank You, Lord, for being the Almighty King.
Lord, we come to You tonight, Lord,
to be in Your house,
to be amongst our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And Lord, we come to give You worship and praise.
We love You so much, Lord,
for Your sacrifice for the Lord Jesus Christ,
for salvation, the free gift, Lord,
that has been paid for by the blood of Christ.
We thank You, Lord,
for giving us a home in heaven,
for making us Your children.
And I pray that Your Holy Spirit
will work in our hearts and in our minds
and help us not to be distracted tonight, Lord,
as we give You praise
and we learn more things from Your word.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
You may be seated.
Okay, let's turn to hymn number 359.
359, 359.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart.
359.
Thy word have I hid in my heart.
Thy word is a lamp to my feet,
a light to my powerful way,
to guide and to save me from sin
and show me the heavenly way.
Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against Thee,
that I might not sin,
that I might not sin.
Thy word have I hid in my heart.
Forever, O Lord, is Thy word
established and fixed on high.
Thy faithfulness unto all men
abideth forever nigh.
Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against Thee,
that I might not sin,
that I might not sin.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart.
And morning and noon and at night,
I ever will give Thee praise,
for Thou art my portion, O Lord,
and shall be through all my days.
Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against Thee,
that I might not sin,
that I might not sin.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart
through Him whom Thy word hath foretold,
the Saviour and Morning Star.
Salvation and peace have been brought
to those who have strayed afar.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart
that I might not sin against Thee,
that I might not sin,
that I might not sin.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart.
All right, beautiful singing.
All right, let's have one more song
before the Bible reading.
Let's turn to hymn number 312.
312, open my eyes that I may see.
We might do a cappella, actually.
We might not have the music.
I kind of want to just hear your voices.
You know, I haven't seen you guys from Fortnite.
Just want to hear your voices.
Let's sing it up to the Lord.
Let's just try a cappella.
312, open my eyes that I may see.
Okay, ready?
You know what, brother?
Can you just play the...
Just play the music as a...
I can't remember how it starts.
Open my eyes that I may see.
Okay, turn it off, brother.
Open my eyes that I may see.
Glimpses of truth thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall uncast and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee.
Ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine.
Open my ears that I may hear.
Voices of truth thou sendest clear.
And while the wave notes fall on my ear,
everything false shall disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee.
Ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine.
Open my mouth and let me bear
gladly the warm truth every web.
Open my heart and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee.
Ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine.
Beautiful singing.
Okay, please take your Bibles now
and turn to the book of Jonah.
Jonah chapter one, please.
Jonah chapter one and brother Tim
is coming up for the reading.
Thank you.
Here we go, Jonah chapter one.
Jonah chapter one.
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah
the son of Amittai saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
and cry against it,
for their wickedness is come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord
and went down to Joppa
and he found a ship going to Tarshish.
So he paid the fare thereof
and went down into it
to go with them unto Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea
and there was a mighty tempest in the sea
so that the ship was like to be broken.
Then the mariners were afraid
and cried every man unto his God
and cast forth the wares that were in the ship
into the sea to lighten it of them.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship
and he lay and was fast asleep.
So the ship master came unto him
and said unto him,
What meanest thou, O sleeper?
Arise, call upon thy God.
If so be that God will think upon us
that we perish not.
And they said every one to his fellow,
Come and let us cast lots
that we may know
for whose cause this evil is upon us.
So they cast lots
and the lot fell upon Jonah.
Then said they unto him,
Tell us, we pray thee,
for whose cause this evil is upon us.
What is thy occupation
and whence comest thou?
What is thy country
and of what people art thou?
And he said unto them,
I am in Hebrew and I fear the Lord,
the God of heaven,
which made the sea and the dry land.
Then were the men exceedingly afraid
and said unto him,
Why hast thou done this?
For the men knew that he fled
from the presence of the Lord
because he had told them.
Then said they unto him,
What shall we do unto thee,
that the sea may be calm unto us?
For the sea wrought and was tempestuous.
And he said unto them,
Take me up and cast me forth into the sea,
so shall the sea be calm unto you.
For I know that for my sake
this great tempest is upon you.
Nevertheless the men rode hard
to bring it to the land,
but they could not,
for the sea was wrought
and the tempestuous against them
and was tempestuous against them.
Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said,
We beseech thee, O Lord,
we beseech thee,
let us not perish for this man's life.
And lay not upon us innocent blood,
for thou, O Lord,
hast done as it please thee.
So they took up Jonah
and cast him forth into the sea,
and the sea ceased from her raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly
and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord
and made bows.
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish
to swallow up Jonah,
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord, thank you for this evening
that we could all be gathered here once again
to hear your word preached.
I thank you for this portion of scripture, Lord.
I pray that you fill Pastor Kevin with your Holy Ghost
as he teaches us from it.
And may we take in everything,
may it sink deep into our heart and our minds,
and please bless the service.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Before I get into the sermon,
let's just sing one more song
and I'm going to ask
Brother Matthew or Carissa,
since you're our...
you know, first time I see you guys
as a married couple, congratulations.
Praise God for such a...
for such a union.
All right, so how about you guys,
if you've got a favour for us.
Have you got a song that you'd like us to sing?
102.
The height of my soul.
And I'm very thankful to Pastor Piper as well
from Liberty Baptist Church
for conducting that ceremony.
But 102, he height of my soul.
Let's sing that one together.
A wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord
A wonderful Saviour to me
He height of my soul
In the cleft of the rock
Where rivers of pleasure I see
He height of my soul
In the cleft of the rock
That shadows are dry
In my thirsty land
He height of my life
In the depths of His love
And covers me there with His hand
A wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord
He taketh my burden away
He holdeth me up
And I shall not be moved
He giveth me strength as my name
He height of my soul
In the cleft of the rock
That shadows are dry
In my thirsty land
He height of my life
In the depths of His love
And covers me there with His hand
With numberless blessings
Each moment He crowns
And filled with His fullness divine
I sing in my rapture
Oh glory to God
For such a redeemer as mine
He height of my soul
In the cleft of the rock
That shadows are dry
In my thirsty land
He height of my life
In the depths of His love
And covers me there with His hand
When clothed in His brightness
Transported I rise
To meet Him in clouds of the sky
His perfect salvation
His wonderful love
Oh shouts with the millions on high
He height of my soul
In the cleft of the rock
That shadows are dry
In my thirsty land
He height of my life
In the depths of His love
And covers me there with His hand
The last sermon that I preached two weeks ago
I ended the series on the seven churches of the book of Revelation
And so what I decided to do now
Is we're going to go chapter by chapter through the book of Jonah
And most likely when we're done with Jonah
We're going to go to the book of Nahum
Which deals with the same city of Nineveh
That both these prophets are preaching to
So Jonah chapter 1 verse number 1
It says there
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah
The son of Amittai saying
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city
And cry against it
For their wickedness is come up before me
And so this is one of the more rare times that we see in the Bible
Where God is calling for judgment upon a Gentile city
The city of Nineveh was a significant large city
In the kingdom of Assyria
It was a city of the Assyrians
So obviously Gentile nations
You know as we read through the Bible most of the time
God is passing judgment upon Israel
Upon Jerusalem, upon the Jews
But this is one time when God actually
Is looking at other nations
Just a Gentile nation
And is commanding judgment to come out of the mouth of Jonah
To go and preach against that great and that wicked city
You know it's quite interesting that it says at the end of verse number 2
For their wickedness is come up before me
You know the wickedness had gotten so bad
That it's just like a stench
In the nose of the Lord God
And it says Jonah you need to go and preach against this city
And a lot of you are very familiar with the story of Jonah
Most often than not
You know I remember being a child in Sunday school
This is one of the stories that you hear about the most
You know Jonah being swallowed up by a whale
Now I want you to just consider who Jonah is
You know this is not the only time that we hear of Jonah
If you keep your finger there and go to 2 Kings
Please turn to 2 Kings chapter 14
We are actually introduced to Jonah in 2 Kings chapter 14
I just want to show you what it speaks about here about his name
In 2 Kings 14 verse number 23
Give me a moment to turn there
2 Kings chapter 14 and verse number 23
It says
So this is speaking about King Jeroboam
Who's Jeroboam the second
And he's ruling in the northern kingdom of Israel
Alright
Verse number 24
So Jeroboam the second is following after Jeroboam the first
All the sins that he committed back when he was the king
And of course it's about bringing the golden calf
They were worshipping idols
They were worshipping false gods
And Jeroboam the second is doing likewise
But then it says in verse 25
What does this Jeroboam the second do?
It says
And so this king, yes he did weakness in the sight of the Lord
But he was also successful in winning back certain areas that belonged to the Israelites
So areas that were taken over by the enemies of Israel
He had gone to war, he had been victorious in gaining back some land back to the nation of Israel
Then it says this
So you see this is the first time we read about Jonah in the Bible
Alright
So you see that he was obviously a prophet at this time of Jeroboam the second king of Israel
But he had prophesied that Jeroboam would be weakened by the sight of the Lord
And had prophesied that this king would win back this land, this territory
And so when it actually happened
The Bible just recalls for us that this year this was prophesied
This was preached by Jonah the prophet
And so you can see the book of Jonah is not the first time we meet him
We meet him here, he's being used by God
He's an experienced preacher
You know when we get to the book of Jonah this isn't his first sermon
This isn't the first time that he's stepping out to preach for the Lord God
He's an experienced preacher
He has prophesied in the past, God has used him
And what he has prophesied of has come to pass
Proving that he was a legitimate good prophet of God
Often we read about the book of Jonah and we know how weak he was
You know the book of Jonah is at a point when he's kind of backslidden
He's a little bit cold to all the things of God
But there was a time when he was a powerful preacher for the Lord God
So that's just the introduction that I want to show you there
But also if you're still there and seeing Kings 14
In verse number 25 it says
At the end of it the prophet which was at Gethhepa
And so this area
Gethhepa is in the region of Galilee
You know what we read about as Galilee
He was off that land, off that area
Now why is that kind of interesting, why am I pointing that out?
Please go to another passage, go to John chapter 7
Go to John chapter 7 verse 50
John chapter 7 verse 50
We're going to the book of John here where basically
The chief priests, the Pharisees, the religious leaders
They've come together to discuss Jesus Christ
And they want to judge and they're trying to stop the ministry
Of the work of Jesus Christ
And we know that the story of Nicodemus
Obviously in John chapter 3 Nicodemus came to Jesus at night
Asking him, hey how does one get saved, how does one get born again?
And Christ of course teaches him the gospel message
But it says here in John chapter 7 verse 50
So for the religious leaders, the chief priests, etc
They're having this meeting discussing Jesus
And it says here in verse number 50
So he's coming out to bat for Jesus
They're all just basically condemning Christ
And he says look, according to our law
Are we really right to judge Jesus before we even hear what he's saying?
You know, before we even know exactly what he's doing
You know, are we really going to run and make decisions based on rumors
You know, on second hand information
And so he's coming out defending Christ
And look how they answer, verse number 52
It says here
What?
We just read, Jonah's come out of Galilee
And if you read the Hosea
Hosea came out of Galilee, 100%
And you know, there are some other, I'm not sure
You know, there are some other prophets that have come out of Galilee
But I just find it interesting
That these false religious leaders
They're telling Nicodemus, man, if you just
If you search the scriptures
You know, if you just spend time reading the Bible
You will know that no prophet has come out of Galilee
What about Jonah? What about Hosea?
You know, and look
We've got to be careful about the religious leaders that we listen to
You know, I mean, they'll say, look
If you go to the Bible, it'll say X, Y, and Z
It doesn't really say X, Y, and Z
You know, and look
You know, just be mindful
That people can use the scriptures against you
Without knowing what it actually contains
Obviously, these people have not read the Bible
They're saying, look
Nicodemus, you go and read the scriptures
You haven't even read the scriptures
You haven't even, look, the prophet Jonah
Jonah, he's not like a
Yes, he's considered a minor prophet
But it's a very famous story
I mean, not everyone gets swallowed by a whale
And to forget that he's come out of Galilee
Is just ridiculous, alright
So anyway, the reason I showed you that
Is because as we read through the book of Jonah
You'll find parallels
To Jesus Christ
You know, Jonah is used symbolically
As a type, a picture
Of who Jesus Christ was
And the first thought we can get out of here
Is that come out of Galilee, alright
Go back to Jonah chapter 1
Jonah chapter 1 verse number 3
So again, this is not Jonah's first sermon
God's asked him to do a work
Hey, he is a prophet, alright
He's a seasoned prophet
This is his job, this is what he's supposed to do
Go and preach the word of God
But what does Jonah do in verse number 3
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish
From the presence of the Lord
And went down to Joppa
And he found a ship going to Tarshish
So he paid the fare thereof
And went down into it
To go with them unto Tarshish
From the presence of the Lord
Look, Jonah's backslidden
Jonah's gone cold
Toward the things of God
You know, and I
You know, I encourage you brethren
You know, you need to pray for me
As your pastor, as a preacher
And you know, any man that serves in the house of God
You ought to be praying for
If you've been influenced by great pastors of the past
You know, you've been part of good churches
Hey, pray for those pastors
It's not impossible for a pastor
To go cold about the things of God
Right, some of that was being used by God
Greatly in the past
And now they've lost that love, they've lost that excitement
You know, he'd rather run away
From the presence of God
And he starts heading toward Tarshish
Now Tarshish is
Understood to be in Spain
There are different views as to where Tarshish was
But I think the majority view
Is that it's toward Spain
Okay, but the city's been renamed now
Obviously in modern times
Now when you think about where Israel is
If you're familiar with the map of Israel
You know, traveling to Spain or Tarshish
Would be traveling to the west
Okay
And traveling to Nineveh
Would require Jonah to travel to the west
Sorry, to travel to the east, sorry
Travel to the east
So not only is he not doing what God wants to do
He's going the completely opposite direction
God says, go east
He says, I'm going west
I'm getting away from the presence of the Lord
You say, why, why has he taken that view
Well, we'll have a look at that shortly
We'll decide why
But, you know, before we figure out exactly why
Jonah's feeling this way
You know, maybe some of you have grown cold toward the things of God
You know, hey, maybe some of our church members
Maybe, you know, some
Are just not actively in church
Not actively serving God
But, you know, what I love about the story of Jonah
Even someone that can be backslidden
Even someone that is ashamed to preach for the Lord God
You know, God can still use them
God can step in
And, you know, even though Jonah's gone cold
He still uses Jonah a great way
To preach to Nineveh
I mean, it's one of the great stories
That this Gentile city eventually
You know, turns to the Lord God
In the fear of the Lord
And God has mercy upon this city
I mean, that's a great preacher
Could you imagine, like, you know, if I'm preaching here
And by the effects of my preaching
All of Sydney turns to the Lord God
All of Sydney
Stops committing the great weakness that they've done
You say, hey, what a great, what great preaching
Look how God used this preacher
To turn Sydney
Back to the Lord God
I mean, that's basically what Jonah was able to accomplish
A complete Gentile city
Bring them back to the Lord God
So he was able to be used by God
Mightily in the book of Jonah
But notice his backslidden
Notice that he's cold
Notice that he kind of wants to quit the preaching
He wants to quit that task
And so, again, just keep your pastor in prayer
You know, I'm a human being
And you know what, that's what I love about Jonah
He's a human being
You really see, even though he's an experienced preacher
You see that he has weaknesses
You can see there are times that he's not excited for the Lord
In fact, he wants to run away
The completely opposite direction
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea
And there was a mighty tempest in the sea
So that the ship was like to be broken
So a significant storm on the sea, right?
Even the ship started to fall apart
Verse number five
Then the mariners were afraid
And cried every man unto his God
So notice the mariners on the ship
They don't worship, they don't love the Lord God of Jonah
Of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
They've got their own false gods that they're praying to
They're crying unto for help
It says, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea
So you can see what the ship was used for
It was being used to transport wares
You know, objects
Whatever items they were selling
And so, hey, there goes their profit
They're trying to keep
You know, life is more important
Hey, they're trying to lessen the burden on the ship
So they're just casting things off hoping that it's going to have an effect
To keep this ship on the sea
It says they had to lighten it of them
Look at this
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship
And he lay and was fast asleep
Now, you know, there's another story in the Bible, in the New Testament
You're all very familiar with it, I'm sure
When Jesus Christ goes on a ship with his disciples
And a great storm hits
And the disciples, they're all afraid
Where's Jesus?
Well, he's sleeping
There's another parallel, there's another typology there
There's another picture there
There's two completely different approaches
They're doing the same thing
But look, Christ is sleeping
He's calm
The storm's not bothering him
He knows he's in control
He knows that if he just says the words
The storms will settle
But this is a totally different situation
The reason this ship is going through a hard time
And the mariners are so afraid
Is because of Jonah's disobedience
And, brethren, let me remind you
That your disobedience
When you get cold toward God
It doesn't just affect you
It affects those that you love
It affects those that you're close to
In this case, you know, it affects the mariners
I mean, look, they could potentially
Lose their life at sea
Because the prophet of God was disobedient
Because the prophet of God had gotten cold
And had taken himself out of the will of God
Trying to remove himself from the presence of God
What a foolish thing
To think that you can escape the presence of God
You cannot, brethren
There's nothing, there's nowhere we can go
To escape the presence of God
Keep your finger there
And let's go to Psalm 139
Psalm 139
Psalm 139, verse number 8
The Bible reads
If I send up into heaven
Thou art there
Yep, we know that, amen, I can't wait to get to heaven
That's where I want to see the Lord
Then it says this
Listen, even those that die and go to hell
Without Jesus Christ
They haven't escaped the presence of God
God is in all places at all times
Alright
I know, I've heard bad teaching
Basically saying when you're cast into hell
If you die without Christ
You've been eternally separated from God
That's a false teaching
That's nowhere taught in the Bible
Even those that go to hell
They're there in the presence of God
In fact, the book of Revelation teaches
That the fires of hell are coming from
The presence of Jesus and the angels
Alright, so
Look, hell is a place of God's wrath
Of God's anger
The fires of hell come from the Lord God
He created that place
Like Satan is not in charge of hell
And when he's cast into that place
He's going to be tormented day and night
Like anybody else that's cast into that place
You cannot escape God
You're on the earth
You've got God
If you go to heaven, you're with the Lord
You go to hell, the Lord is there
You cannot escape him
It says in verse number 15
Sorry, verse number 9
Psalm 139 verse 9
If I take the wings of the morning
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea
Jonah's trying to do
Dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea
He's trying to get away from land
He's trying to get to
Even there shall thy hand lead me
And thy right hand shall hold me
If I say surely
The darkness shall cover me
Even the night shall be light about me
Even if you think you can hide God in nights
Jonah, he's gone into the ship
He's gone to sleep
Maybe God can't see me
As I sleep inside the ship there in the middle of the sea
God sees him
God sends a storm
God sends in trials and tribulations
Jonah's way
There's no way you can go
I love the fact, surely
Surely the darkness shall cover me
Even the night shall be light about me
Yeah, it might seem dark to you
But when God looks down, it's all light
He sees it all
He sees everything that happens, brethren
Verse number 12
But the night shineth as the day
Doesn't matter if it's dark or light, God, it's the same to you
You see all things
Isn't that a scary thought, though
That God sees all things
That he knows all things, though
I mean, it's wonderful to know
Our God is mighty and powerful
But what about when we've gotten called toward God?
How about when we haven't picked up our Bibles?
How about when we haven't gone and preached the gospel to the lost?
How about when we've
Gone and
Given into our lust and into our sins
And we've gone down the path
Of darkness
Probably with the hope of thinking
Well, God, I hope you don't see this
And I hope, God, you don't see what's in my heart
And in my mind and what I'm doing
And when that happens, brethren
You know, we're taking the same approach as Jonah
You're going a little bit called toward the things of God
You're trying to hide yourself from God
But just remind yourself
That whether it's dark, it makes no difference
God sees it all
God sees your sin
So don't try to cover it
You can't run away from God
Why run away from God?
You're only going to make things worse
You know what? When you've done wrong
When you're cold
When you've lost the zeal to serve God
Just remind yourself, God knows
God's seen it all already
So I might as well just go onto him humbly
Bow my head and say, God, I'm sorry
God, forgive me
God, I've messed up again
God, I'm a human being
I've got a sinful nature
I'll be back in fellowship with you
There's no way you can go to run away from the presence of God
And I guess Jonah's forgotten this
He's backslidden, you know when you get backslidden
You kind of forget the most basic things
That you can't escape the presence of God
Verse number 6
Jonah chapter 1
Verse number 6
So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him
What meanest thou, O sleeper?
Arise, call upon thy God
If so be it that God will think upon us
And we perish not
Obviously Jonah does not want to call upon God
He's trying to run away from God
And so he's being pushed by the shipmaster
Hey, what are you doing sleeping? Wake up!
Pray to your God
Our gods haven't sorted things out
Our gods haven't stopped the storm
Maybe your God will
As I said to you
When you're outside of God's will
When you sin you affect other people
Your sinful lifestyle
Is going to be hurtful to others
You know if I just decide
As a husband, as a father
If I just decide to not walk in the ways of the Lord
And I'd say you know what
Let's just enjoy the pleasure of the world
And you know it's just
I'm tired just trying to live a holy life
I'm tired just trying to please the Lord
You know it's just much easier
If we let our hair down and just enjoy
And we just live worldly
You know what I mean it might satisfy
My lust but it's going to affect my wife
It's going to affect my children
My children aren't going to see the importance
Of serving the Lord and walking off these paths
You know what and if you make that decision
To leave the presence of God
And you seek the worldly pleasures
And the ways of the devil brethren
You're going to hurt yourself
You're going to cause damage
You're going to cause long lasting damage
You know if I just decide
Well you know I'm sick of my wife
I'm just going to get divorced
You know I'm going to find someone else
You know it's going to affect my children
It's going to hurt my children
They're not going to know the importance
Of maintaining relationships
And many times when people come from a broken home
They end up in a broken home
Their children end up in a broken home
Their children's children are in a broken home
And it's like this downward spiral
It's so hard to break out of that
And make things right
And that would be an encouragement to you
Just to remember hey walk
In accordance to God's paths
You know walk you know one day
God may very well if you have children already
Or don't have children God may give you children
How you live your life is going to affect
The next generation
Be mindful about this again
The ship master, the mariners on the ship
They're being affected
Because of the disobedience of Jonah
Verse number seven
Come and let us cast lots
That we may know for whose cause
This evil is upon us
So they cast lots
And the lot fell upon Jonah
The lot fell upon Jonah
So like you know
Look and again
These are experienced mariners
Okay
They're experienced at the sea
I'm sure they've faced storms before
I'm sure there's been rough seas before
But they're at a point
This is not a normal storm
Alright I mean we've cried to
Every god possible
And it hasn't stopped
This is not a normal storm
And the only solution they can think of
Well let's just cast lots
And it falls upon Jonah
I mean obviously God had a hand
I don't know what they did roll dice or
Pull out the shortest stick or the longest stick
Whoever pulls out this stick
You know you're at fault
Tell us why
And so Jonah's trying to hide from God
He's disobedient
He's sinned against the Lord
He's not doing what God wants him to do
And you know that reminds me of a passage in Numbers 32
I'll just read it to you, you don't have to turn there
Numbers 32 verse 23
It says
Behold you have sinned
Against the Lord
And be sure your sin
Will find you out
Be sure your sin
Will find you out
How many sins do we have
That we just want to keep secret
We just hope nobody finds out
You know what brethren
We're all sinners
We've all done wrong
Alright, if you try to hide
You know and you don't go before God
And open up that you're a sinner
And open up that you need help
You know what and you're just continuing in sin
After sin after sin
Eventually it's going to come out
Eventually it's going to destroy your testimony
Eventually everybody's going to know what you've done
So look
When you've done wrong
Go straight to God
Instead of being secret and hiding it
And being stubborn and rebellious
Just go God I'm sorry
You know be open about it towards your Lord God
Before you destroy your reputation
Before you destroy your testimony
Hey, Jonah's been found out
Okay
I mean obviously this is superstitious in that sense for them
You know casting his lots
But for them it's real and of course God had a hand
You know they're pointing out Jonah's at fault
The reason you're suffering
The reason you've lost your prophet throwing your wares
The reason your ship is badly damaged is because of Jonah
It's his fault
Verse number 8
Then said they unto him
Tell us we pray thee
For whose cause this evil is upon us
What is thine occupation?
What's your occupation?
We know he's a prophet
And it says then whence comest thou?
We know it's from Galilee
And what is thy country?
And of what people art thou?
We know he's of the Jews
He's an Israelite
Alright so they're asking the question like what's going on Jonah?
You know why is this happening?
Why is it that all these problems
You know that these storms would actually
Be the cause of you Jonah
Who are you? Where did you come from?
Why is it that this has happened?
Why is it that Jonah had fled?
Do you guys know the answer to that?
Why did Jonah flee?
You know from the presence of the Lord
Why did he not do what God asked him to do?
Well the Bible tells us if you go to Jonah chapter 4
Go to Jonah chapter 4 please
Jonah chapter 4 and verse number 2
Why did he flee?
Jonah tells God here
It's recorded for us in Jonah chapter 4
Verse number 2
It says and he prayed unto the Lord and said
I pray thee oh Lord
Was not this my saying
When I was yet in my country?
Look at this
Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish
Why?
For I knew that thou art a gracious God
And merciful
Slow to anger
And of great kindness
And repentest thee of the evil
Do you see what he's saying?
He says look God this is why I fled
Because I know you're a merciful God
In other words God
If I preach against the Ninevites
I know you're going to be gracious to them
I know you're going to forgive them
Lord I know you're long suffering
What's he saying?
He says God I don't want you to forgive the Ninevites
God I want you to destroy them
He says look
I preach Lord
I know they're going to get things right with you
And you're going to be patient with them
You're going to be kind
You're going to be slow to anger toward them
And Jonah does not want that
So he says therefore I'm going to flee
I don't want to preach against them God
Because I know what kind of God you are
You're going to forgive them
If they get things right with you
Listen Jonah did not care for the Ninevites
He was an Israelite
He did not care for those Gentiles
I just want God to destroy those wicked people
That's how Jonah felt
And so God says look go and preach against them
And in his mind
Well if they get things right with God
God's going to forgive them and I don't want that
So I'm going to run away
I mean Jonah had gotten so cold
That he doesn't even want people to get right with God
Brethren
We ought to be soul winners
We ought to preach the gospel
Look Sydney is a Nineveh
There is great weakness
I'm sure the weakness of Sydney
Has reached the heights of heaven
The stench of the weakness
Has reached you know the nose
The stench to the Lord God
But hey
Are we then to turn around and say well God
You know it's just a wicked city
Just destroy this place
No you know what we know what God is
We know he's a gracious God
We know he's merciful
We know he's slow to anger
We know what God is going to do
You know this is why you're saved
This is why you know you've not
Died and been sent to hell
You know God has given you the chance the opportunity
To believe in him and he's forgiven you
Right
Christ has paid for all your sins
God was long suffering towards you
If you're saved God has given you the time
To hear the gospel and be saved
To call upon Christ for salvation
But then we don't want to give it to
Our wicked Sydneyites
Is that the right word?
I don't know
Sydneyciders
Here's the thing
When you stop soul winning
When you don't have a heart to give people
The gospel
You're basically saying God I want to wipe them out
That's what you're communicating
To the Lord God
Yes Nineveh is a preacher
But we've all been given the ministry of reconciliation
We've all been made witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ
We all have the words of eternal life
If we hide that brethren
We're just being like Jonah
Running away from the responsibility
That God has given each one of us
And so
He's a quitter
He doesn't want to see God bless
These wicked people
And remember when we go knock doors
Alright
The Bible says to preach the gospel
To every creature
I don't care how wicked they look to you
Alright in fact some of the people that have been saved
Have looked the most wicked to me
Some of the people that I think are going to get saved
Because they look righteous and holy or whatever
They don't get saved
You know there was once I was preaching the gospel
To a woman and I gave her everything she got it all
And she said to me but I think it's too late for me
To get saved
And I said why?
And she showed me her back
She had a tattoo of the devil on her back
She goes this is why
And I said what? Because of your flesh?
And I had to teach her
Your flesh is going to rot in the grave
It's got a sinful nature
Who cares what markings are on your flesh?
It doesn't matter in the long run
One day God's going to give us a new resurrected body
That cannot be tattooed
Cannot have any markings, cannot have any sin
And so if you just believe the gospel
You too can be saved
She caught upon the Lord and got saved
Praise God
But yes some people might think oh look how wicked she is
She worshipped the devil at some point
But no listen we're commanded
To give the gospel to every creature
To every creature
So we see this is a prophet
That wants to quit
He doesn't want to do the work
He'd rather see God destroy the wicked
And I understand sometimes I see the wickedness
And I just think God please destroy the wicked
But the time's not yet
The time is when God pours out his wrath
We read about all that in the book of Revelation
One day that is coming
And God's going to pour out his mighty wrath
Upon this wicked world
We've got a job, we've got a job to reach
The Sydney siders
We've got a job to reach this wicked generation
And this wicked city
Alright verse number nine please
John chapter one verse number nine
And he said unto them
I am in Hebrew and I fear the Lord
The God of heaven which hath made
The sea and the dry land
Then were the men exceedingly afraid
And said unto him
What hast thou done this?
I'm sorry why hast thou done this?
The man knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord
Because he had told them
Alright can you keep your finger there
Turn to John chapter 10
I told you the title of the sermon was
Jonah rose up to flee
What was he doing?
He was running away from his responsibilities
He was running away from what God
Wanted him to do
And we need to be careful
That you know it's again
Me as a pastor you know
I never want to
Run away from the responsibilities that God
Has given me you know I passed
The New Life Baptist Church I'm there brethren
I'm at the moment I'm the pastor of Blessed
Help Baptist Church I wasn't here last
Week but I've not run away from my responsibilities
Brethren alright I'm your pastor
I love you I know you guys love me
If there's anything you need please reach
Out don't think I'm too busy for you
Okay I certainly
Love each one of you okay
And the Bible tells us here in John chapter 10
Verse 12 notice this
John chapter 10 verse number 12
It says but he that is an hireling
What's a hireling?
Basically it's someone that does
Something for money okay
Now is there anything sinful
We've been a hireling
No if you work a job you are a hireling
You've been hired to make money
Okay you don't go to work
You know Monday to Friday 9 to 5
To walk away without a paycheck
Alright you've been hired
There's nothing wrong with that in of itself
Alright but let's keep going there
But he that is an hireling and not
The shepherd whose own the sheep
Are not seeeth the wolf coming
And leaveth the sheep
And fleeth and the wolf
Catcheth them and scattereth
The sheep the hireling
Fleeth because he is an hireling
And careth not for the sheep
Jesus Christ says I am the good shepherd
And know my sheep
And am known of mine
Alright so some pastors
Some people get into the ministry
Because they're a hireling
They're not doing it for the sheep
They don't care for the people of God
It's for themselves
It's about having a paycheck
How much money can I make by being a pastor
I tell you but if you want to be an independent
Fundamental Baptist pastor who preaches
In sermons who preaches the truth of God's word
You're not going to make much
I tell you now you're not going to make much
It better not be for the money
In fact one of the qualifications of a pastor
And of a deacon is not to
Love Filthy Luca
Not to be covetous people
We're not here to serve money
We're here to serve the Lord God
Now is anything wrong with a pastor getting paid
Of course not but that's not the priority
The priority is the sheep
Is the flock, is the church
God to further his kingdom
And they say these things
Because you know again
You guys are familiar
Probably looking on the news
You understand the economy, inflation
Things are becoming more expensive
You know interest rates are going up
You're paying a mortgage that's going up
You're putting petrol in your car that's going up
I mean pretty much everything is going up
I had to purchase a new PC for myself recently
I was surprised it was like
40% more expensive for a new PC
Than it was a few years ago
And I said to the person selling me the PC
Why? What's so expensive?
There's just not enough computer parts now
It's all been used with
Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin
A lot of people have purchased chips
For cryptocurrency
And all that processing
Mining, mining
I'm not using the right terminology
But mining coins or whatever it is
And there's just not much on the market
And because of covert there's been a restriction
On how much merchandise has travelled
From China and from the Asian countries
There's just a lack of things so everything's going up
And I think sometimes
You know when we see costs going up
You know for myself as a pastor
You know I'm definitely not making
What I used to make when I worked a full time job
And that concern might fall upon the mind
And say well you know
I need to earn X, Y and Z
I need to earn this much money and then all of a sudden
Your mind starts to go towards finances
But this is why, we've got to be careful
We've got to be careful that we're in the ministry
To serve God's people
To serve His sheep
And I have no doubt if we do things faithfully
God will take care of our needs
God will take care of this pastor's needs
You know if one day God uses you to become a deacon
Or to become a pastor
Or to go and start a church one day
I know God will supply your needs
As long as you put His kingdom and His ministry first
And not money
Not money
So we've got to be careful
We don't want to run away from our responsibilities
Because what does it say, the hyaline, what does it do?
When the wolf comes, when there's danger
When there's problems, he runs away
He doesn't care for the sheep
Jonah did not care for the Ninevites
He ran away from the responsibilities
Again because he's just grown cold at this point in time in his life
Okay
You know the Bible also says, and this is just for
I'm not talking about pastors here, I'm not talking about religious leaders here
I'm talking about just your everyday man
Who's out there, you've got a family
You've got a wife, you've got kids
Please keep this in mind
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5.8
But if any provide not for his own
And especially for those of his own house
He have denied the faith
And is worse than an infidel
What's an infidel?
An unbeliever
Men if you don't work and provide for your family
The Bible says you're worse than an unbeliever
You know you're running away from your responsibilities
And again when you run away from your responsibilities
We know this is God's word
We know God has created man to work
And get busy and be productive
When you run away from your responsibilities
You run away from the will of God
And again you're not just hurting yourself
You're going to hurt others that are around you
You're going to hurt your families
You're going to hurt your children
You're going to hurt your friendships
You're going to hurt the church
You're going to hurt people when you run away from the responsibilities
That God has set before you
I hope you can see that as Jonah has run away from the Lord
Let's not be the same
Let's be in the will of God
Let's serve the Lord God
Let's try to live that holy life
Let's be witnesses of him
Let's not have this attitude
Who cares if they die and go to hell
If God is long suffering and merciful
Let's take that God that we love and worship
And share that with other people
Jonah 1 verse 11
Sorry, not verse 11
Verse number 9
Is that right?
Verse number 11
We're up to it
My apologies
We're up to verse 11
There's one more passage I wanted to read
Philippians 4.13
Philippians 4.13 says
I can do all things
Through Christ which strengtheneth me
Sometimes we do get a little fearful brethren
There are times that we do run away from the will of God
There are times that we run away from our responsibilities
The task that God has set before us
And you know what
If that's you
If that's you right now
You know you ought to be doing something
And you realize I just run away all the time
From the responsibilities that God has given me
I don't want you to beat yourself up
I don't want you to say I'm just a loser then
I might as well just give up on life then
I'm just a reject and I'm not
I'm just worthless
That's the attitude brethren
You're saved
You've got the Holy Spirit of God living in you
You're a child of God
You just press that reset button
Say God forgive me
And it says there I can do all things through Christ
Which strengtheneth me
Life is hard
There are times you want to quit
I'd be lying if I said
I've never thought of quitting church
I've never thought of quitting being a pastor
When there's problems and issues
Those thoughts cross your mind
But you know what when those happen
And you realize you're weak in the flesh
You remind yourself that you're in Christ Jesus
And it's Christ who strengthens you
It's Christ who gets you from point A to point B
It's Christ that we need to set our eyes upon
And look upon him
And follow after his steps
Being strengthened by his power
By his might
We cannot do anything in our flesh brethren
We need to do things by the Spirit of God
Following after the steps of Christ
So brethren if you're a Jonah right now
If you're a Jonah tonight and you feel that way
Please remind yourself just strengthen yourself in the Lord
You're not some loser
We're all sinners
We all make mistakes
We all have weaknesses
This is why the Lord has to step in
And give us that strength
That supernatural strength that comes from him
Verse number 11
And by the way, don't forget
Jonah, don't forget
Got this whole city back to the Lord God
Okay, in his weak state
Why could he do this?
Because it's the Lord that strengthened him
Okay, it's by the power
Of the Lord that's given him the ability
To convict the hearts
Of the Ninevites to be brought back to the Lord God
Verse number 11
Then said they unto him
What shall we do unto thee
That the sea may be calm unto us
For the sea wrought
And was tempestuous
And he said unto them
Take me up
And cast me forth into the sea
So shall the sea be calm unto you
For I know for my sake
This great tempest is upon you
So it's Jonah that says look
The only way we can get over this is if you just throw me overboard
It kind of surprises me
Because if I was Jonah
I mean, I'm not a good swimmer
I know I'll be able to paddle water for a while
But eventually I'll sink
Or eventually some shark will get me or something
If I was Jonah
And I'll be like look, we've got to turn the ship around
You know, can you help me
Get back to where we need to be
Look, I'll cover the cost for everything you threw overboard
I'll start making payments toward that
That's probably the approach I would take
But I think what we see in Jonah
He's still trying to run away from God
Just throw me overboard then
Like he's going to perish, he's going to die
He still doesn't want to go and preach to Nineveh
Jonah
We see how we have all these different men in the Bible
We see how different they are
We see times of weakness and struggles
And again, I'm reminded
I've been in many churches
I've been under many pastors
And I've seen pastors struggle
I've seen pastors get stressed
I've seen pastors have weaknesses
I've had pastors say things to me that I just thought
Man, a man of God should not have said those things
But you know what, I'm not like
Oh, then you're just a horrible pastor
Or I'm just against
You know what, I'm just going to turn the church against this pastor
Pastors make mistakes
Preachers make mistakes
Men of God make mistakes
Because we're human beings
We're human beings
If I've done something to upset you, brethren
Just come up to me and I'll probably apologise
I'm sure I've done something
I'm sure I've forgotten to greet you maybe one day
Who knows, maybe I've offended you
With a few words
But you know, brethren, I'm just flesh and blood
You know
Men of God, prophets, pastors
They're just human beings
With the same sinful flesh that you have
With the same struggles that you have
We're the same, okay
And so we've got to be careful
We don't want to just be attacking men of God
Every time they fail
Every time they have weaknesses
We just have to be careful with that
But let's keep going there
Verse number 13
Jonah tells him, just throw me overboard
Verse number 13
To bring it to land
So they don't want to throw Jonah overboard
They don't want to do that
Like, kill a man, you know
But they could not
For the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them
So they refuse, they don't want to throw Jonah overboard
They know Jonah's a problem
But they're trying to defend Jonah
They're trying to defend him as is contrary to God's will
They're trying to go back to land
Now again
Just a thought here
About defending or attacking the man of God
Look, again
Pastors are not perfect
Pastors make mistakes, preachers make mistakes
I've seen plenty of them
We don't want to get into the habit of
Every time someone makes a mistake
That we just go and we just criticize them
We just go and attack them
In fact, keep your finger there
Please go to 1 Timothy chapter 5
And verse number 1
Say, Pastor Kevin, what did you do recently?
Nothing, I don't know, maybe I've done something
But 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse number 1
1 Timothy chapter 5 verse number 1
Because I've seen this
Church after church after church
When a pastor does not live up to
Someone's standard
They just want to go against them
They want to turn people against the pastor
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5.1
It says
Rebuke not an elder
But entreat him as a father
As the younger men, as brethren
And I know the primary application here
Is about older men
If we have people with grey hair
In our church that are seniors
We ought to be respectful toward them
Not rebuke them because they did something we don't like
But we should treat them as a father
We shouldn't treat them
Be careful how we speak toward them
But don't forget one of the titles given to a pastor
Is an elder as well
So a secondary application
If a pastor has done something
Like run away like Jonah for a period of time
Just attack him and criticize him
And just have a go
And destroy his reputation
Destroy his ministry
We're commanded not to act that way
We've got to be careful with how we treat the pastors
But at the same time
If a pastor or a prophet
Or a man of God
Has done something so wicked
We don't want to be like the men on the boats
That are trying to defend Jonah
God has set this storm
We know that eventually God does want
Jonah from above
Because there's going to be a whale that's going to swallow him up
And that's going to be God's lesson toward him
So we know that's the plan
That's the will of God
It will happen eventually
But hey they're trying to defend Jonah
They're trying to defend him while he's against the will of God
And brethren if this pastor
Is ever contrary to the will of God
If I'm ever preaching heresies
And I'm preaching damnable things
Alright guys I'm sick of the King James Bible
Let's go to the NIV because it's easier to understand
If I start making these
Major errors, major mistakes
Then you've got to call out
Please don't just defend
A man out of loyalty
Because you start defending a man
Then that man's going to feel like
Oh then I can just continue on this way
Instead of learning the lesson that God has for them
Look you're there in 1 Timothy 5
Drop down to verse 19
Within the same chapter
1 Timothy 5 verse 19
It says against an elder
This time the context is a pastor here
Against an elder received not an accusation
But before two or three witnesses
Them that sin
Rebuke before all
That others also may fear
Brethren if this pastor
Ever commits adultery against his wife
Alright
You need to call that out
If any pastor has disgraced himself
Has disqualified themselves
From the ministry
If you find out the pastor has stolen money
From the church
Hey this pastor's been a drunkard
Whatever
If there's some major sin
That pastor needs to be called out
And rebuked before all
But if a pastor just does something
It does not disqualify them
If a pastor does something
That you're not necessarily happy with
That's not your time to just rebuke them
And call them out
Intrigue them as a father
Realize that he's a human being
But those things
You need to call them out
Things like we read about in 1 Corinthians chapter 5
Fornication
Drunkenness
I can't remember the list right now
But those things
We need to call them out
We need to make sure these kinds of pastors
Step down from their positions
And I would expect that if I disgrace myself
So badly in the ministry
That either I would just step down automatically
Which I would
But otherwise you guys need to call that out
We don't want to defend
A man at every cost
But we don't want to shoot down a pastor
Just for little mistakes that they make from time to time
Because everyone makes mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes
Pastors are not perfect
Surprise
Pastors are not perfect
Pastors' wives are not perfect either
Pastors' children are not perfect either
Should pastors and their families
Be held to a higher standard
Of course
That's why they had to meet those qualifications
That's why they had to be recognized and proven by a church
And sent out
Etc, etc
Of course a pastor is held to a higher standard
Because they're meant to be an example
Of believers
An example to be followed after
As we seek to follow after Jesus Christ
But at the same time
They're human beings
Jonah was a human being
And I love the fact that this story is recorded for us in the Word of God
Jonah 1, verse 14
It says
Wherefore
They cried unto the Lord
And said
We beseech thee, O Lord
Who were they crying to?
The people on the ship
Before they were crying out to their false gods
But now they realize
It was Jonah all along
This storm
The one that controls the storm
So now they're praying to the real God
Isn't that amazing?
They see the works of God
They see the judgment of God upon the ship
And now they've become believers
I'm not saying they got saved
The Bible doesn't tell us that
But the fact is we see here the fear in God
They fear the real God of the Bible
It says We beseech thee, O Lord
We beseech thee
Let us not perish for this man's life
And lay not upon us innocent blood
For thou, O Lord
Has done as it pleased thee
Hey, they definitely have a fear of God now
The real God, the God of the Bible
They say, look God
Please don't judge us
Because of Jonah
We've done nothing, God
It's Jonah, he's the problem
And he says, and lay not upon us innocent blood
They've decided we're going to throw him overboard
And he's going to perish, that's what they're thinking
So please don't hold that against us, God
Please don't hold innocent blood against us
This is your doing
This is your doing, right?
They realise, God, this is what you want
You're bringing judgement upon Jonah
Verse number 15
So they took up Jonah
And cast him forth into the sea
And the sea ceased from her raging
Immediately, Jonah's cast out, right?
And the sea ceased from her raging
And again, I love that parallel
When you are far from the Lord
And you know, if you've been far from the Lord
Then you can probably relate to this
Where you just feel like
I'm just never going to get right with God
I'm just never going to get excited for God anymore
I don't think I can bring myself back
To the love and joy that I had with God before
And there's concerns
And fears
And you know, you don't know what the future holds
And you feel directionless
And you can feel so far away
God can feel so far away
And maybe you're facing the chastisement of God
The rod of correction
And you're going through trials and difficulties
Knowing full well, it's because your heart has gone cold
But again, you know what?
You just cast a problem into the sea
Hey, you just cast your sins before God
And say, God, I'm sorry
I'm a sinner
God, I've not been walking in your paths
God, I've been far from you
God, I've not been prioritizing church
Lord, I've not been prioritizing the Bible reading
God, I've not been praying to you
Reverend, as soon as you cast that out
And you get that right with God
It's like it says that the sea ceased from her raging
God forgives you immediately
It's already been covered by the Lord God
And Christ stands as our mediator today
You know, every time we go before the Lord God
Jesus Christ there is, you know
Reinforcing that we are children of God
And that we deserve his forgiveness
And so, brethren, this is what's beautiful about our Lord God
He is long suffering
He is merciful
It's good when it's toward us
It feels great that we can go before God
And have those problems cast away
We go before him and confess our problems before him
Verse number 16
Look at this
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly
And offered a sacrifice unto the Lord
And made vows
Now look, did they get saved?
Potentially
I don't know
I kind of hope they did
Because they're kind of doing the right thing here
They fear the Lord
We know the fear of the Lord is beginning with knowledge
We know the Bible says
In Psalm 103 verse 17
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
Upon them that fear him
And his righteousness unto children's children
So to those that fear him
His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting
You can never sin your way out of salvation
Once saved, always saved
For those that fear the Lord
We fear the Lord
We knew that we're sinners
We knew that God's judgment would be
That we'd be cast into hellfire
And that gave us great fear
Great trembling
We wanted deliverance from that brethren
We received the Savior
We received Jesus Christ
And he's given us mercy
From everlasting to everlasting
But it all started with the fear of God
These men on the ship
They're no longer praying to their false gods
They fear the true God
The God of Jonah
And they offer even a sacrifice to the Lord
Again, I'm assuming
That Jonah probably told them what to do
How would they know?
They're not from Israel
They probably don't even know the practices
And so the fact that they're offering a sacrifice to God
Probably points to the fact that Jonah gave them some instructions
Before they threw him into the sea
Verse number 17
Last verse
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish
To swallow up Jonah
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish
Three days and three nights
And if you can just keep your finger there
And go to Matthew 12
And verse number 40
Matthew 12
Verse number 40
Matthew 12
Verse number 40
These are the words of Christ
He says
For as Jonas was three days
And three nights in the whale's belly
So shall the Son of Man be three days
And three nights in the heart of the earth
So again we see how Jonah is a type
Is a picture of Christ
He was swallowed by
And by the way when it says there in Matthew 12
It says in the whale's belly
And what did it say in the book of Jonah?
It said
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish
Okay so
The great fish was a whale
It said whales are not fish
Yeah I know that's how scientists classify things today
Okay
But obviously as far as God is concerned
When he sees a whale
He says it's a fish
That's it
It's not a contradiction in the Bible
Alright
I mean these labels of different
Differentiating between a whale and a fish
This obviously has come long after the Bible was translated
Okay
It's just modern scientific classification
But as far as God is concerned
A whale is a fish
Alright
And again
You know I've heard people say
Well it's impossible for whales to swallow a human being
Probably
You know there's a lot of things that are impossible
Like a virgin birth
You know the Bible's full of miracles
You know
The Lord God is the creator of all things
Did you know he sent a miracle of a storm
That was so violent
That the people knew on the ship this is not a normal storm
That this was the hand of some God
They didn't know who he was at the time
Okay
God is the God of miracles
What did it say there in verse 17
Now the Lord had prepared
A great fish
To swallow up Jonah
This fish was prepared to swallow a man
This whale was prepared for that
God created this whale
All along in his foreknowledge
Knowing that Jonah would be cast into the sea
Okay
If this whale was born and created
It could swallow a human being
That's it
Please explain this to me
Why?
God's the creator
He can do whatever he wants
I mean a whale swallowing a human being
Is kind of like the least of miracles
You know what
Raising someone from the dead is more miraculous
Right
I mean
Sending Jesus to
You know
For God to be manifest
In Bethlehem's manger
You know that's miraculous
Right
I mean there are so many great miracles
Creation
Create all things in six days
That's a greater miracle
Than a whale being able to swallow a man
It's okay
Right
If every whale in the ocean today can't swallow a man
This was a whale that was prepared by God
From the very beginning
God knew ahead of time
That this whale would have to swallow up Jonah
To teach him a lesson
And how long was Jonah there
Three days and three nights
How would you like to be in the whale's belly
For three days and three nights
I don't think it would be enjoyable
And it definitely wasn't enjoyable
We'll read about that next week
In chapter number two
But in conclusion
In conclusion
Please turn to Romans chapter eight
Please turn to Romans chapter eight in conclusion
Romans chapter eight please
As I said to you
The title was
Jonah rose up to flee
Have you ever tried to flee from the Lord?
Have you ever tried to hide from his presence?
Maybe so ashamed
Of certain sins or
Just problems in life
And you've forgotten about the Lord God
Well I love this
I love this as a conclusion
In Romans eight thirty five
Romans eight thirty five
The Bible reads
Hey what's going to separate you
As a saved child of God
What's going to separate you from the love of Christ
What problems can you go through
That will separate you from that
Or the questions get asked
Verse number thirty six
Amazing
No matter what trial you go through
You are still more than conquerors
You are a child of God
You are saved
The moment this flesh dies
You are in heaven
And you're going to come back one day
In new resurrected bodies
To rule and reign with Jesus Christ
What an honour
Regardless of what problems you go through in this life
You have already conquered more
Than any unsaved man could possibly conquer on this earth
Amen
The Bible says in verse number thirty eight
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
Praise God
Nothing can separate us from the love of God
If you cannot be separated from the love of God
You're definitely not going to be separated from the presence of God
There's no way you can go
No matter how badly you mess up your life
God still loves you
What an honour to be a child of God
Knowing that not only do you love us to save us
But even as a child of God
Even if we mess up our lives
Even if we run away
Even if we get thrown overboard
And get swallowed by a whale
Christ still loves us
What an honour
That we cannot run away from his love
Okay let's pray
Heavenly Father Lord I just want to thank you
For the book of Jonah
And Lord the fact that you've put this story in the Bible
Lord I know the Bible's not been written by man
Because no man would want that written about himself
And Lord I thank you
You put these stories in to teach us Lord that
Lord we are weak
Lord we do fail
And even great men of God
Great prophets can make mistakes
And mess up their lives Lord
But I thank you Lord that you can still work with these men
And Lord if we're far from you
Lord this reminds us that you can still work with us
Lord that you still love us
You can still use us
And Lord if we're far from you tonight
If we've gone cold toward the work you've given us to do
Lord I just pray you'd forgive us
Lord bring us back into your presence
Help us to have sweet fellowship with you
And Lord we just ask that you'd bring back the love of our salvation
The joy, the excitement, the zeal Lord
So we can get busy for you
That we can be busy preachers, preachers of the gospel
And that we would not run away from the responsibilities that you've given us to do Lord
Whether that's in ministry
Or whether that's just our day to day life
Lord we pray all these things in Jesus' name
Amen
Let me just give you just an update
So in a couple of weeks
And by the way I do want to welcome Isabelle back to Blessed Hope Baptist Church
We've not seen her since March
So it's been a while
My daughter Isabelle is here
She's going to stay here for the week so she'll be here on Sunday
And next Thursday as well she's going to stay a week with the grandparents
And then at the end of June
The whole family are going to be travelling down to Sydney to celebrate our four year church anniversary
So we're probably looking at travelling either Monday the 27th or Tuesday the 28th
If you guys could just keep that in prayer for safe travels
I'd really appreciate that
Now the other thing that I wanted to update you on
Is I was looking at July the 9th for a soul winning event
That's not going to go ahead the way I initially planned
So what I would like to do, and I'm sorry if this is short notice
But I want to change that for July the 2nd
Saturday the 2nd
So that I'm here
Because I'm going to be here that weekend
So July the 2nd, Saturday the 2nd
I want to make that our soul winning marathon
In celebration of our four year church anniversary
So if you can be there for that
If you're not going to be in Tasmania brother please join us
You'll probably be in Tasmania
But yeah if you can
You know like brother Anthony's been doing
Two hours in the morning
But lunch will be provided by the church
And then two hours in the afternoon
So if you can be part of that
Or if you can just join us for the morning or the afternoon
Please let us know
And again that's to celebrate our church anniversary
And then on Sunday the 3rd
That will be the actual day that we celebrate it
I reckon that after service that we go to some type of restaurant
And just enjoy each other's fellowship for the day
So that's the plan that I think we should be heading for
Come in July
But I'll send you guys text messages
We'll communicate that to the church
And solidify that
Alright those are the key announcements
Let's take our hymnals
And let's finish up with hymn number 70
Hymn number 70
Will Jesus find us watching?
When Jesus comes to reward his servants
Whether it be noon or night
Faithful to him will he find us watching
With our lamps all trimmed and bright
Oh can we say we are ready brother
Ready for the soul's bright home
Say will he find you
Say will he find you and me still watching
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come
If at the dawn of the early morning
When to the Lord we restore our talents
Will the answer be well done
Oh can we say we are ready brother
Ready for the soul's bright home
Say will he find you and me still watching
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come
Have we been true to the trust he left us
Do we seek to do our best
If we obey all the Lord commands us
We shall be truly blessed
Oh can we say we are ready brother
Ready for the soul's bright home
Say will he find you and me still watching
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come
Blessed are those who the Lord finds watching
In his glory they shall share
If he shall come at the dawn of midnight
Will he find us watching there
Oh can we say we are ready brother
Ready for the soul's bright home
Say will he find you and me still watching
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come
Amen.
Alright, great singing.
Brother Matthew, would you call us in a word of prayer?
Well, thank you for the preaching we just heard today.
We pray that you'll help us to remain strong for you, Lord.
That you'll keep us from backsliding.
Help us to remain faithful to you and enduring this Christian life.
We pray you'll bless the rest of our evening, Lord.
Bless the fellowship that we have.
And thank you for salvation.
We love you.
And as it is, may we pray this day.
Amen.
You're dismissed. Thank you.
Amen.
Yeah.
Israeli Mountaineers.
I think this is the most beautiful part of Australia to see anywhere.
That's what you reckon.
I'd say the Sunshine Festival is beautiful.
Part of Australia.
It's like the promised land.
You can see beaches everywhere.
Yeah, bro.
Yeah, you can go to a beach and not have to look at the mostly dressed people.
It's fine. You're only quite smart.
It's quite beautiful.
Beautiful, clean water.
It's quiet, yeah.
Yeah.
Quite beaches.
Thank you.
Hey.
Have you...