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Jonah chapter 1, in the Old Testament, Jonah chapter 1, it's after the book of Obadiah, right before the book of index, if you don't know. Jonah chapter 1, I'm going to begin reading at verse number 1. 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 has 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 the 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. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you so much for allowing me to be here. And Father, I ask that you would just please be with me tonight, Lord. I ask that your Spirit would come upon me right now. Lord, I know I'm a sinful man and I don't deserve your power, but Lord, I don't want to waste these people's time. I want you to speak through me tonight and give them something that would help this church, would help the individuals, Lord, that would help me. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us. Thank you for faithful Lord Baptist Church, Lord. We know how much we need churches like this across this country, Lord, and I ask that you just be with me tonight. Put your power on me tonight. In your precious name I pray. Amen. A second grade boy sat in his classroom. His name was Billy. He sat in his public school classroom as his teacher, secular teacher, tried to destroy their faith in the Bible, the classroom, the kids, destroy their faith in God, and she was trying to turn them towards evolution. And the teacher said things, she said, children, the Bible is full of myths and stories that aren't true and aren't based on science. She said, for example, the story of Jonah being swallowed by a whale. She said, now everybody knows that a whale's throat is not large enough to swallow a human being. And Billy raised his hand up and he said, teacher, I can't believe what you're saying, that the story of Jonah is not true. He said, I was taught it in Sunday school, I was taught it at church, my preacher taught it, my mom and dad taught it to me, and I just can't believe that it's not true. And she kind of sparked and said, see, children, this is what's wrong with Christianity. They teach you to just turn away from facts and from logic and they teach you to just believe in this book and just to have faith. And Billy raised his hand and said, no, no, teacher, I just know that the story of Jonah is true. I know that it's real. And he said, and when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask Jonah myself. And the teacher kind of cried back and said, well, what if Jonah's not in heaven? And Billy thought to himself and said, well, then I guess you all have to ask him. And, you know, the story of Jonah is a very, very well-known story. I'm sure everyone here has heard it when they were little. I'm sure you guys can tell it back to me. It's an accurate account, it's a true account of a real person. Something that happened to a real human being. And I want to preach to you a message out of the book of Jonah, of the story of Jonah. It's a very simple message. But I just want to gather some truth from this story that touched my heart and I hope it will help you tonight. In verse number one, the Bible says, now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah. Now, the first thing I want you to notice in the story of Jonah, first place I want to focus is on the preacher, Jonah. Verse one says, now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai. Now, before I even go on, I can't get past this verse without saying this. Today, the word of the Lord is right here in this King James Bible. The King James Bible is the word of the Lord for our day. It's been the word of the Lord since the beginning of time. If you, I want to show you just a few verses. Go to John chapter one, and I know this is a lot of review for some of you. But the King James Bible is not just the word of God. It's not just the preserved word of God. It's not just the eternal word of God. It's not just what God said to, what God wrote down. I think sometimes we do a disservice to say that the word of the Lord is the word of God. It's God's holy Bible that has perfection. Because the doctrine of the Bible goes deeper than just a book that God wrote. Look at John chapter one, verse one. The Bible says, in the beginning was the word. Now, I want you to notice something. It doesn't say in the beginning was God. The Bible says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Look at verse number fourteen. And the word was made flesh, talking about Jesus Christ. Now, notice it doesn't say that Jesus Christ became the word. The Bible says, the word became flesh. So, the word first was the word. In the beginning was God. In the beginning was Jesus Christ. Now, the Bible tells us, in the beginning was the word. The word was God. The word became flesh. Are you following what I'm saying? And dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begone of the Father, full of grace. I want you to see just something real quickly, a few things that I think are interesting about the word of God. Go to Acts chapter thirteen. Acts chapter thirteen, verse forty-eight. And I'll turn there myself. Acts chapter thirteen, verse forty-eight. The Bible says, And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Now, notice what it says. The Bible says that they glorified the word of the Lord. Now, this appears a few times in the scripture. I'm just going to show you this one. There's other times you can find it, but the Bible says that they glorified the word of the Lord. Now, there's many, many passages that tell us that they glorified God in that same order. You can go to Matthew chapter nine, verse eight. I won't go there right now for time. Mark two, twelve. Luke five, twenty-six. Luke seven, sixteen. And all these places tell us that when something miraculous happened, the people glorified God. And in this passage, we see that the people glorified the word. And the reason for that is because of what we just read. The word of God is God. Now, I think sometimes we emphasize so much that, hey, these are the words of God. This is what God wrote down. This is perfect, but it goes a little deeper than that. We don't just have the word of God tonight in this King James Bible. We have God right here. God's being, God's self, is in the word of the Lord. Now, I said all that to say this. Go back to Jonah. Hard to find. It's kind of hidden in the back. The Bible says, now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come before me. God calls Jonah. Now, here, God verbally spoke to Jonah. Jonah actually heard the word of God. It wasn't just written. He actually heard him. Look at Jonah's response. Verse number three. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish. Now, think about this. Sometimes I think we read through these or we hear these stories. Jonah. Now, Jonah, we need to give him more credit than we usually do because you've got to think Jonah was probably not a bad guy. I mean, for God to choose a man to say, hey, I want you to preach my word, he's probably a good guy to begin with. And Jonah heard God speak, I mean, out of heaven. And God told him specifically, I want you to do one, two, and three. I want you to do these things. And Jonah literally said no and just went the other way. Now, I mean, think about that. I mean, if you were God and God said, hey, do this, would you be like, no, I'm not going to do it? I mean, how many of us would say, well, hear the words of God ourselves in our ears and say, no, I'm not going to do it? But you know what? We can't really talk too bad about Jonah because that's no different than what we do right now. You know, that's no different than when we hear things like go ye into all the world and preach the gospel out of this book right here and we decide to not go soul winning. Then what are we doing? We're doing the same thing Jonah did. He heard the word of God and he said, you know what, that's not for me. You know, we do the same thing when we, let's look at a few of them. Go to Malachi 3. I really want to talk about this. I really want to talk about this because I know how much Pastor Anderson doesn't talk about it. And I know he does it for a specific reason. But he's not right with God, so it doesn't matter. Malachi chapter 3 verse 8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have ye, have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings? Now you come, I understand you come to Faithful Word Baptist Church. You come to a church with a very, very good pastor, a very, very wise pastor, a pastor who has set a plan for this church and goals for this plan specifically. And he does not want anybody to come here and feel like they have to just give money. Let's face it. The average church you go to, it's money, money, money, money, money. They're just asking you for money. They're just asking you for money. They need to build this and they want to do this. And the pastor wants to take a trip over here. And they just want all this money. And I know Pastor Anderson doesn't talk about this a lot because that's not his goal. That's not even an importance to him. He doesn't take a paycheck from this church. I understand that. But it's still important because it's in the Word of God. And for us to understand that we can't be Jonahs and we can't hear the Word of God, we have to follow everything in the Bible. God said, you've robbed me in tithes and offerings. That means you tithe to church. You bring your tithe into church. And the truth is, whether it's not mentioned a lot because he happens to not care, it doesn't matter. If you want to be right with God, you have to hear the words of God and obey. Does that make sense? You have to take your money, even if it's your money, and you just give it to God. You're 10% because that's what God says. And we can go on and on and on. You can go to Psalm 101, where do I want to go? Psalm 101 3, the Bible says, I will set no wicked things before mine eyes. What are we doing with our televisions? Well, I'm not doing anything with my television because I don't have one. But what are you doing with your television? The Bible says, I will set no wicked things before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. I shall cleave, they shall not cleave to me. A forward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. Hey, the Bible said it, no wicked thing before mine eyes. Are we doing the same thing Jonah does? When we hear the word of the Lord, this book right here, and God verbally, or not verbally, but he's speaking to us through this right here, and we say, you know what, I'm going to go this way. Because see, we look at Jonah and we're like, Jonah, what are you doing? God told you, and he literally went the opposite way. If you look in the Bible, if you look at like a map, God said go to Nineveh, and Jonah went down and went the opposite way and said, I don't want to go. Now, I've heard things, and I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard things about Jonah, about the nation of Nineveh, the city of Nineveh, that they had like persecuted the Jews, and they had tortured the Jews. I'm sure Jonah had probably a very good logical reason to not want to go. But when God says go, we must go. And, you know, I think of the war in Iraq, and I think of Muslims, and listen, I love America. I would like to see a decisive victory. I would like to see us just, you know, take care of terrorism. But I think as Christians, we need to be very careful to not get into this mode where we like hate people and, oh, Muslims. I mean, we've got to understand, these people have souls. The way to wage war on terror, I hear George Bush, and I hear these guys, and they say, oh, we've got to kill every terrorist. We're not going to kill every terrorist. There's no way in the world, every time a terrorist dies, they're going to use that to recruit ten more. There's no way we're going to kill every terrorist. We're going to kill terrorism by this, taking missionaries over there and winning them to the Lord and getting them out of that garbage so they don't want to kill us, but they want to serve the true God of the Bible. That's the only way we're going to take care of this problem. And Jonah's response to these people that hated him, that wanted to kill him, I'm afraid sometimes we're the Jonahs. And we're looking at these people, whether it's people in the ghetto, and we think to ourselves, I don't want to go talk to those people, or those people are dirty, or those people are whatever, those people are mean, they're going to hurt me. Well, we have this bigotry towards groups and people, and we have to understand that we have to be willing to go where God wants us to go, and God said, hey, go ye into all the world. Everywhere. I want you to see, not just that God called Jonah, but Jonah's response, I want you to see what Jonah did. Jonah chapter 1, verse 4 and 5, I want you to see Jonah's friendship with the world. 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 light 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 they lay and was fast asleep. So the ship masters came to 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, everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast slots. Look at what's happening. Jonah gets on a ship with a bunch of people who are not worshipping the God of the Bible. And Jonah gets on this ship, and he starts traveling with just this wrong crowd. And he starts going the opposite way of God. The point I want to say is, Jonah had some friends who were not Christians, who were worldly people, who were serving other gods. And when we look at ourselves as Jonah, we have to understand, a Christian ought not have worldly friends. Look at this verse, James chapter 4, go to James chapter 4. I want you to see something, but every time I read this, it amazes me just the strong wording here. The Bible says, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye now that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be friend of the world is enmity with God. Now, what's the world? I mean, is God saying don't be friends with the earth, with the ground? Is he talking about the physical world? He's talking about the people in the world. Now, I want you to understand something real quickly. I'm not saying that you need to call your unsaved mother and tell her, listen, I never want you to talk to me again. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not saying you need your friend that you grew up with before you were saved that's like a brother to you. You don't need to call him and say, hey, listen, I never want to see you again because you're not saved. I'm not saying that we need to not be friendly or be friendly with our co-workers or our loved people, but I'm saying that when Jonah got on this boat and he started traveling the wrong way with the wrong people, and sometimes I feel like Christians just get on their boat of life and just travel the wrong way away from God, and they're traveling with people who are worldly. They're traveling with people who are worshiping other gods. They're traveling with people who don't love the God of the Bible, and even though we hear God and he says go this way, we go the opposite way, and what happens is that we get away. We get more and more away from God, and the Bible says that when we're friends with the world, we're at enmity, we're versus God, we're away from God, and Jonah, this is what happened. Jonah got away from God towards the world, and he got towards these friends, and what we need to do is try to win our friends to the Lord. We need to try to win our family members to God. We need to try to get our family members saved because Jonah's friends, here's what happens. Let's keep reading. Just pick up on verse number 7. Then were the men exceeding 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 land, but they could not, for the sea wrought 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, hath done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea. Now think about this. Honestly, just put yourself in the story. I mean, here you are in the middle of the ocean while a storm is raging. It's dark, it's raining, there's lightning. And these people, I mean, could you do this? Could you take a human being, a real person, and just cast them into the sea? But see, what happens is when you start going down the wrong way with the worldly friends, when a storm comes in, see, we don't fit in with the world. The Bible says you're not of the world. The Bible says know ye not that ye are bought with a price. The Bible says don't you understand that you are purchased, you belong to God. You don't fit in with the world as much as you want to try to get on a ship with them. When the storms come, when things get a little tough, when it comes to a place where they have to choose, hey, are we just going to keep going? Are we going to stay with our friend here? They're just going to abandon you. They're just going to throw you off the ship. Because the world, because we don't fit in the world. We're not part of the world. That's why your best friends ought not be world to people. That's why you shouldn't be spending time with all these... You say, well, where am I going to meet a good Christian person? Well, you're not going to meet Christian friends if you keep showing up to church Sunday morning only, for one. I mean, where do you think you're going to meet people? Right here? You're not going to meet worldly friends if you show up to church once a month. I mean, the way you meet people, hey, take advantage of everything they do around here. Go to the ladies' meetings. Come soul winning. Come to every service. Just show up for dinner one day. I mean, just learn to love these people here. Because this is the crowd that we need to be with. Do you see that when he came on the boat, they didn't care about him. They didn't ask him. When the storm came, hey, who are you anyway? What god do you serve? And then they threw him off the boat. Once you see chapter 2, verse 1... Actually, go to verse 16 of the prior chapter. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Here's Jonah. There's no radar. There's no U.S. Marines. There's no Coast Guard. There's no way of finding a man in the middle of the ocean. The storm's going. The storm's going. I mean, it's impossible to save this man. And the Bible says God prepared a fish. The Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Now I don't know if it's true that a whale can't swallow a human being. The Bible says he prepared a fish, so he obviously didn't just take one from the sea already. I would go with the benefit of giving God the benefit of the doubt. God can create the earth. He can stop the sun in the sky. If he can part the Red Sea, I think he might be able to make some sort of a freak of nature whale that can swallow a man. I mean, I don't know. But the Bible says God prepared. But I want you to see something. When no man could save Jonah, God was there. Do you understand? I want to be careful with this because this gets very close to neo-preaching. But sometimes life can get you to the place where no man can save you. I mean, I don't know what it might be. I mean, it could be your family's falling apart. It could be your finances. It could be your children. But sometimes we get to this place where we're just like Jeremiah. We just sink in the mire. And we just get to this place where it's like nobody, you can't even explain to somebody. Nobody can understand just where you are. You feel like you're just floating in this sea and nobody can save you. But understand one thing. God's there. God prepared a fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now I want you to see something interesting about this. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 12, verse 39. Years after this, the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about His death, and He brings up Jonah. Chapter 12, verse 39, the Bible says, But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah 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. And Jesus Christ is right here talking about His death. He's talking about being crucified. He's talking about being buried. He's talking about going to hell for three days and three nights. And He says, hey, just like Jonah was in the whale's belly for three days and three nights, the Son of Man is going to be in the whale's belly for three days and three nights. Now understand something about the crucifixion. Jesus' death on the cross was a death that He did not want to do. I know that sounds kind of funny, but Jesus Christ did not want to go to the cross. If you look at Matthew 26, verse 39, the Bible says, And He went a little further, a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but thou wilt. Jesus Christ did not want to die on the cross. Jesus Christ, He said, God, if there's any way that I can get away from this, if there's any way that I don't have to die on the cross, if there's any way that I don't have to be buried and go to hell, He said, just let this cup pass from Me. But He said, hey, nevertheless, let thy will be done. Jesus Christ also said something interesting about the crucifixion. I want you to look at Matthew chapter 16, verse 24. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, notice this, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. Jesus Christ said, He said, I'm going to die on the cross. I'm going to go to hell. But then, He said, after you get saved, after Christians get saved, every man, says everybody, needs to take up their cross. They need to deny themselves what they want. They need to take up their cross and follow Me. Now, I was debating whether telling the story or not. I asked my wife whether I should or not. She said no, but I'm not telling anyone. I'm sorry, honey. I heard a story about a pastor in the 1950s. He was a pastor in Poland when World War II, when the Russians were coming in and invading that area. This pastor's church, his name was Richard Wormbrandt, I believe. This pastor's church was confiscated. He and a few men there at the church were taken into a common jail cell. They were stripped from their clothes. They were given thin wool blankets to wrap around in. There was no place for them to use as a restroom, so they chose a low part in the prison and just kind of used that as their latrine. A few days after they'd been there, one day, Richard Wormbrandt said he was taken from his jail cell and he was taken to this room with a little wooden table and a little wooden chair and he was made to sit there and he sat there with the sheet with the little wool around him. And a lady was brought in. She too likewise was stripped. And he memorized, he recognized one of his church members. She was brought into this jail cell, into this room. She was made to lie down with rings on every side and she was stretched out like this. And 30 men came in and had their way with her in front of the preacher. Later the two men that had brought her in had changed their shoes into, I believe they're called hogmeal boots. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right. They're kind of like golf cleats with spikes under their shoes. They had a photograph player, a phonograph player is that what it's called, and they put a disc in there and began to play Russian dance music. And these men began to perform Russian dances on this lady's body. Richard Wormbrandt said, I saw the most disgusting images. Richard Wormbrandt said, I heard the most violent, ugliest scream you could ever imagine. He said, I saw the flesh rip off her back. He said, I saw the gushes and gouges of blood just flow from her like a river. He said he was shaken to the place where he couldn't cry anymore. And he was taken back into the cell. When he was in the cell there, a few days had passed, a few weeks had passed. They brought to him a bucket. Every prisoner was given a bucket, like a three pound bucket, like the size of a coffee pan. And they were told to use that as their personal hygiene bucket for their use. Every few days they were allowed to dump it out. After a few days, Richard Wormbrandt said he was brought back to this room, made to sit at the same table, made to sit at the same desk with the same wool blanket around him. Two men came in, two men took his shoulders, pinned them back to that chair. Two other men took their fingers and pried his mouth open. Another man came in and put on a glove on his hand and reached into his personal hygiene bucket. Another man opened the scripture and said, we heard you hadn't had the Lord's Supper recently. We thought you might enjoy having the broken body of your Lord as he shoved his own defecation. The same man took the same bucket and poured the liquid urine into the man's mouth and said as he read the scripture, this is the blood of the New Testament. Richard Wormbrandt was taken back to his jail cell. He said that night, I couldn't even lean up to the wall to sleep. The other men had kind of huddled around and just gotten together, tried to stay warm. And he said, I just had this disgusting taste in my mouth. The most disgusting images in my eyes, the most just disgusting thoughts in my mind, just this taste and the things I've heard, the most blasphemous words and he was just sitting there. The man across from him was the jailer and he was cursing because he had forgotten his big winter overcoat. There he sat with a nice suit of clothes on and he had a jacket on, but he was cold because he had forgotten the big winter overcoat and he sat there and he was cursing God. Richard Wormbrandt was thinking, he's cursing God. He's cursing my God because he's cold. He's sitting there with clothes on. He's got a jacket on. He forgot his big winter overcoat and he's cursing God. He just thought to himself, man, I'm not chilly. I'm cold. I'm freezing. I'm going to die here. He said he sat there and he just shook that little black kid and he was just concentrated on a man. He said, every thought, every vile thought, every violent thought, the worst thoughts he could think of, humankind were focused on that man. Richard Wormbrandt said, he just sat there looking at him. After a while, the Holy Spirit just tugged on his heart and he heard that voice inside of him. He thought to himself, if that man were Jesus, would you give him your blanket? Richard Wormbrandt said, no. No. He's the enemy. He's raped women. He's taken my church. He's abused us and he's beat us. If you don't care about your personal things, if you don't care about what happens to you, would you give that man your blanket? No. No. Never. He said, he sat there and he shook the blanket. He said, it's the only thing that's mine. Hey, let me tell you something. God is going to bring every single one of us to a place where we say, hey, this is the only thing that's mine. God's going to say, good, I want that too. After debating for a couple of hours, Richard Wormbrandt said, I just gave up. I just said, fine. He took the only piece of clothing he had on himself, he folded it up, walked over to the jailer, stuck his bony arm into the cell and threw it on his lap. The jailer woke up, startled, looked at him, looked at the blanket, cursed him for waking him up and wrapped it around himself. And Richard Wormbrandt said, that I sat naked. He got up to turn around, try to maybe find some sleep, and the man, the jailer called out for him and said, how did you do that? Richard Wormbrandt said, well, if you were Jesus my Lord, I'd do it for him. If I'm willing to do it for him, I'll do it for you. Richard Wormbrandt said that the man, tears began to well up in his eyes and escape down his cheeks. Richard Wormbrandt said that man looked at him and said, I need what you've got. I need what you've got. Whatever has given you the strength and the power to allow us to do this to you, and you're still kind to us, and you still care of us, and you still do these acts of kindness to us, I need what you've got. And Richard Wormbrandt, from that jail cell, I'm told through history that he was able to lead 40 guards to the Lord because one man decided he would die to himself. Jesus Christ said, take up thy cross. Jesus Christ was, we started this, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh. God in heaven, who created the earth, who created the sea, who created the heavens, who created every single one of us, who created every ridge you could think of, every Saturn, every Jupiter, every star, God in heaven made himself flesh, like we're flesh. The Bible says he humbled himself. He became a baby. He was born of a virgin. He lived a perfect life, never sinned, never deserved death, never deserved anything. Pastor Anderson preached this morning that this God, who deserved nothing, became flesh for us, became sin for us, who knew no sin. And he died on the cross, and he went to hell. And God says, take up thy cross and follow me. We've got to understand, if we're ever going to do anything for God, that our Christian life might just get a little harder than the little financial problems you've got, or your little not-willingness to give up your stupid little pants. I think I said this last time, do you understand how stupid it's going to sound when you stand before God and God says, hey, the God of heaven, who made himself, who did not have to die for you, who made himself flesh, who went to hell, and you sit there and say, well, God, you know what? Thank you for saving me. Thank you for all you've done. But you know what? My pants, you know, it's not, that's not what, you know. Do you realize how stupid that sounds? Do you realize how stupid it sounds to say, God, you know, this whole soul-willing thing, I just, you know, it just wasn't for me. It wasn't my gift. Do you understand? I mean, think about Stephen in the Bible. The first martyr in the Bible, the Bible says that this man stood up and preached the word of God, and these men, I mean, put yourself in these stories. They took this man, took him out of the city, and they took stones and threw them at him till he died. Do you understand this? Do you understand that there's people who have given their lives? Do you understand that there's people who died? Do you understand that there's people that were burned at the stake, people who have had their lives tortured and were imprisoned because of this right here? And here we are in America, and we sit there and we think, oh, I put my hour in, I'm soul-willing, I'm really sacrificing for God. That's not gonna be enough. Look at this. Go to 2 Corinthians 11. While you go there, I actually want to, I'm gonna read for you in Galatians 2, verse 20. The Bible says, this is the apostle Paul, he says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. The apostle Paul came to the place where he said, hey, you know what, I'm gonna deny myself, I'm gonna take up my cross. And he said, hey, I'm crucified with Christ. Now the apostle Paul, he had a good life, right? I mean, he got invited to every meeting, you know, he drove around in his nice Lexus, and he went to all the conferences, and he got all the love offerings, and, you know, he was on TV. The apostle Paul, I mean, he's big stuff, right? I mean, man, take him for Christ. Hey, I want to do that. Let's read a little bit about the apostle Paul. Chapter 11, verse 23, the Bible says, Paul's speaking about himself. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more. In labors, more abundant. In stripes, above measures. In prison, more frequent. In death, oft. Of the Jews, five times received I, forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice and a day have I been in the deep. In journeys often. In perils of waters. In perils of robbers. In perils of my known countrymen. In perils by the heathen. In perils in the city. In perils in the wilderness. In perils in the sea. In perils among false heathen. In weariness and painfulness. In watchings often. In hunger and thirst. In fastings often. In cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without and which cometh upon me daily, the care of other churches who is weak and I am not weak, who is offended and I burn not. If I must need glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities. Look at this. Verse 24, five times received I, forty stripes. Five times the Apostle Paul was taken into a jail, made his hands to put up, and they took a cat of nine tails, a whip with nine ends to it, with knives and sharp objects and glass and stripped five times, whipped forty times, every time, hitting his body, ripping his flesh off four times. I mean, do you comprehend this? Do you read this and see this? Three thrice was I beaten with rods? Would we be willing to do that for God? I mean, the first time I guess you'd learn your lesson and say, forget this. I mean, do you understand? To take a rod and beat you with it? I mean, beat you with it? I mean, I just got a beating yesterday and it's not nice. I mean, three times beaten with rods in perils in the sea. See, the choice we have to make is, will you be crucified with Christ? Will you take up your cross? Will you decide, hey, you know what? You know what? I don't know. Maybe persecution might not come for us. I think it will. It might be that the biggest battle you're going to fight is whether or not you're going to come Wednesday night. I don't know. But why don't we take up that cross that we've been given, whatever it might be, and decide, you know what? I'm going to deny myself. I'm going to deny what I want. I'm going to deny my flesh. I'm going to take up the cross and follow Him. Go back to Jonah. Remember, it's after Hosea. Something happened to Jonah in the belly of the whale. He went into the sea, and he'd rather die than follow God. He was swallowed by a whale, vomited up, and he came out saying, I'll preach. Look at chapter number 2. This is Jonah and the whale. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the deep in the midst of the sea, and the flood compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward the holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depths closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption? This is also prophecy of Jesus Christ. O Lord my God, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. O pay that that I vowed salvation is of the Lord, and the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. You know what I think happened to Jonah in the belly of a whale? I think Jonah died to himself. The difference between a Christian who's going to do something for God and a Christian who's going to run away from God is death to self. It's being crucified with Christ. It's saying, come what may come. I'm just going to do what God wants me to do. I said, number one, I wanted to focus on the preacher of the story, but number two, I want to focus on the people of the story. Go back to Jonah chapter 1 verse 2. I want you to see these people. The Bible says, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. Go to Jonah chapter 3 verse 2. I just want to make a real quick point here. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. If you look down to verse number 3, So Jonah arose in one sense to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. Look at chapter 4 verse 11. And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than 64,000 persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much count? God made it very clear that the city of Nineveh was a great city. Now what is meant by that, I'm not exactly sure. I mean, I'm sure it was a great city. You know, when He says that it's a three days' journey, it's just a big city. I'm sure Nineveh was a very rich city. I'm sure Nineveh had a powerful military. I'm sure it was a nation that was feared or revered. When I look at Nineveh, I think to myself, it sounds a lot like America. Tonight we live in the greatest nation in the whole entire world. Tonight we live in a nation that has the most powerful air force, most powerful marine corps, most powerful military, army, navy. We live in a nation that is secure. We live in a nation that is rich. We live in a nation that is advanced in technology, advanced in science, advanced in medicine. And Nineveh was this type of city. It was a great city. But tonight we're not just living in a great city, in the greatest nation this world has ever known. We live in the freest nation this world has ever known. And going back to the point, are you going to want to stand before Paul? And Stephen's there, and Peter's there, and Daniel's there, and they're swapping their stories, and they're saying, hey, you know what, did you, did you, have you seen, have you guys got to tell you about the time I was in the lion's den? And he shot the lion's mouth. I mean, hey, and Paul said, hey, lion's, I got beat five times. And they ask you, and you're saying that, well, you know, one time they slammed the door in my face. I mean, do you see, do you see the, read through Hebrews chapter 11 one day, when God is speaking about these saints of old who are coming before us and all they endured, and God says there at the end of the chapter of whom the world was not worthy. I mean, do you understand that God looks at these people and He says, man, the world was not worthy of them. Will God look at you and say, man, the world was not worthy of you? I mean, is God going to look at you and say, why did I save you? What did you do? I mean, I understand you're a faithful word baptist church. I understand this man right here has a goal for this church, and I understand that one day every single one of us is going to want to stand up and say, hey, God, there's a reason why you saved me. There's 200 people who got saved in 2006 in Phoenix, Arizona, because I died to self. Hey, God, 20 people got baptized or 16 people got baptized. Hey, God, look what's happened. You saved me and I didn't give up. You died for me. I died for you. Look what we've done. What is God going to say? I died for you. What happened? Man, I want God to save me. Hey, of whom the world was not worthy. Man, look at them. Man, look what they did. Look what they gave up. Look what they suffered. Jonah's tonight, Jonah right here. We live in the greatest city the world has ever known, the freest nation this world has ever known. What are we going to do with it? I want you to see something else about Nineveh. Go to Jonah chapter 3. I'm going to begin reading verse 6. For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and set it in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, heard nor flock, taste anything, let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry madly unto God, yet let them turn away every one from his evil way. Nineveh was not just a great city. Nineveh was an evil city. Now, if you study the word evil in the Bible, you see that almost every time the word evil is mentioned, the opposite of the word evil is mentioned, which is good. Evil isn't necessarily a sin. I know you've been taught this before. Evil is not necessarily a sin, but it's to wrong somebody or to do something bad to somebody. And I think of America. I think, man, this is an evil city. I mean, is it popular to be clean-cut, to be a hard worker, to show up ten minutes early to work and work hard? Not in my job, at least, because you make all these people look bad. But, I mean, we live in a nation where evil is just put up there. I mean, all the kids want to be the rapper. All the kids want to be Eminem. All the kids want to be Britney Spears. And all the kids want to be all these idiots who are just not doing anything, but why? Because evil, because it's an evil nation, because it's an evil city. Look at something else about Nineveh. In that same verse, 3-8, But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God, yet, yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. They were also a violent nation. America's a violent nation tonight. When children turn on their televisions and watch more deaths than anybody should, America's a violent nation tonight. When sodomy and just wickedness is made to look light, and movies and stories, I heard of a child molester who was put in prison, and while he was in prison, he asked if he could have something to paint with and some paper, and he made drawings of the children he had molested and sold them on eBay, and he was allowed to. Now don't tell me that that's not a violent crime. That is a violent crime, and America's a violent nation. I heard in the news just recently, four 16-year-old boys lured two guards. They said, hey, we need help over here. They lured them into an alley, and when the men came, they were following two boys, and then two boys came behind them and poured gasoline on these men and set these men on fire and watched them as they burned just for the fun of it. America's a violent, violent nation. When the schools are being invaded by these kids with guns to shoot people and kill people for no apparent reason, other than the fact that we make evil seem good, we are an wicked, violent, violent nation. I want you to look at something else about Nineveh. Chapter 4, verse 11, the Bible says, And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, where are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle? I've heard people say, I don't know. I'm not that smart. So I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard people say that what this verse is talking about is these people could not discern between their right and left hand. It's making a reference to the fact that there was a lot of children in the city. I don't know if that's true or not, but I know that God makes a very, He makes a point, just right in that last verse of the book, He just makes a point to say, Hey, this nation was not able to discern. I was telling Pastor Anderson, I was at work and I was talking to them. We recently found out, I guess two months ago, that my wife is pregnant with our first child. Amen. He's going to be a boy, amen. Well, I want him to be a boy. And I was telling him, you know, we were talking about it because I know that his wife, he has a picture of what's called sonograms. We're talking about babies. And he's sitting there thinking, he's like, yeah, you know, my wife and I were having this, we had this long conversation. We're like just debating which one of us is going to quit our jobs and be the primary caregiver. I'm sitting there, I'm sitting there myself. I mean, I'm looking at this guy. This guy's like 40 years old. This is a tall, just like fat guy, you know. I mean, like he looks like he should like be in a construction, like working construction somewhere, like some sort of a wrestler or something. And I'm sitting there thinking to myself, what, primary caregiver? I mean, are you going to breastfeed the baby? I mean, I know it's possible, but are you going to do it? I mean, and I'm thinking to myself, man, we live in a nation that cannot discern. I mean, do you have to sit there? I mean, if my wife wants to go to work and I can stay home, I guess I'll do it, but no, I'm just joking. But I mean, is it really that hard to see? I mean, who's going to stay home with the baby? Let's think about this. I mean, is our nation not far gone that we can't discern? I mean, something as simple as a right and left hand? I was thinking about this. My wife has been gone for a few days, and we got the first sonogram of our baby. I've just been looking at this thing because when she brought it to me and she told me, yeah, we got the first picture of the baby, and I thought it was going to be like a blob, you know, like a blob on the screen. And I have it right here. And I mean, how many weeks was this? The baby was nine weeks maybe, eight, nine weeks, and it's a human being. I mean, there's a big head and a small body and like these little hands, and she was telling me I didn't get to go. I mean, I was going to take the time off, but it didn't work out. And I didn't get to go to the thing, but she was telling me the doctor or the nurse practitioner was telling her that, man, I've never seen a baby so active, and it's moving its little hand, and it's moving its little legs, and it's tooling around, and it's, you know, just doing all these things. And I was just, what is that? I was just home alone, you know, right before I go to bed. I was praying a little bit, and I was looking at this picture and thinking to myself, man, this is a baby. And I mean, I've known this before, but I just looked at this thing, and I think to myself, this is a human being. This is a real person. This little child that I've never seen has a father who loves it so much. I mean, how can you love something so much you've never seen? It has a mother who loves it. It has a grandma and a grandpa with their hands and uncles, and I'm seeing this thing myself. If I wanted to, I'd still have a month, a month and a half to abort this child? And I think to myself, man, can we do this, sir? Can we see something so simple and think to ourselves, this is a human being, and our nation looks at this, and we think to ourselves, as easy as your right hand and your left hand, and we can't tell the difference, and we kill children every day. 4,000 children die from the hands of their mother. And I think to myself, man, we live in a nation that cannot discern, we live in a nation that is violent, we live in a nation that is evil, we live in a nation that is great, and I think to myself, I think we live in Nineveh, and I think that we just might be the Jonahs, and I think that we need to get our act together, and I think we need to realize, hey, things aren't going too well, and the word of the Lord has already spoken, and if we're going to follow it, we must die to ourselves. I said, number one, I wanted you to look at the preacher. I said, number two, I wanted you to look at the people. Lastly, I want you to just look at the message. Go to Jonah chapter 3. Verse 1, the Bible says, And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey, and Jonah began to enter into that city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yea, 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed they fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. You ask me tonight, what preaching does America need tonight? Dr. Billy Graham, what preaching does America need to bring it back to God? Well, it needs a message of love. Hey, Joel Osteen, what type of preaching do we need to bring to America, to bring it to God? Well, you know, we need a message of hope. Hey, fundamentalist, liberal, what kind of preaching do we need for America? Well, you know, America needs fundamentalism with a sweet spirit. That's what we need. And God says, no, America and Nineveh need judgment preaching. Yes, 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Think about these things, about the message of Jonah. When Jonah walked into that city, he began preaching 40 days, 40 days, 4-0. When God called Jonah, it was longer than 40 days. I don't know how long Jonah took running away from God. I don't know how long he'd been. We know he spent three days in the belly of a whale. So we know Nineveh had at least 43 days. I don't know how long he was on the ship. Could have been a few days, could have been a few weeks, could have been a few months. The Bible says that God's mercy endureth forever, and he's patient with us, and he's long suffering. I don't know how long God decided to stick with Jonah and just see if he'd come back. I don't know. But I know that God gave him 40 days. Here's the point I'm trying to make. Time was running out. The Bible says redeem the time for the days of evil. And I don't know how long America has. I don't know how long we have. But I know this, time is running out. I want you to think about something else, about the message. Destruction would come if Jonah never came. If Jonah never died to self, if Jonah never got right with God, if Jonah never went to Nineveh, they would just be destroyed. They would just die. Forty days later, they would just be destroyed. They would be overthrown. Here's the... I said all of that to come to this point. Here's the whole point of the message. I mean, I've even named the message, You've got 40 days. That's the name of the message. I don't know how long God's long suffering is going to last for this place. We don't know the Bible says... We don't know how long his long suffering is going to come for every individual will be judged. The Bible says it is appointed unto man who wants to die, and after this, the judgment. Every single one of us has an unsaved mom or dad or friend or neighbor. Every single one of us has somebody we know that is not saved. Every single one of us has somebody that we know that is not a Christian. And you can sit there and say, Well, you know what? I'm just going to pray for them, and I'm looking for the right time. And you know what? I gave them the Gospel once, and they kind of didn't... They weren't too sure of it, and they didn't want to, and I tried to invite them to church one time, and they said no, so I just kind of let it go. And you can say whatever you want, but there's 40 days, maybe. I don't know how long it's going to be. They never had 40 days. Jonah had the privilege of knowing that. These Jonahs don't. You don't know how long your unsaved husband has. You don't know how long your family has. I don't know how long my unsaved friend and my unsaved family has, but the point is that judgment will come. Whether we go or not, judgment will come. I don't know how long we have. But maybe when we come to that place where we just don't want to give up ourselves, we don't want to deny ourselves, we don't want to give up all the little thrills of the world, maybe we just think to ourselves, Man, could it be yet 40 days and America will be overthrown? Could it be yet 40 days and my mother will die, my grandfather will die, my aunt will die, my neighbor will die, and their judgment will come? Because one man heard the Word of God, ran away and said, I will not deny myself, I will not die, I will not crucify myself. Here's the whole point of the message. Yet, 40 days, America might be destroyed. I'm not prophesying. I don't know how long it will be. I don't know how long I've got. I don't know how long you've got. But they only had 40 days. And we seem to be in the same pot as they are. And I'm talking to the Jonahs in this room, I'm talking to this Jonah right here. Yet, 40 days. Let's do something. Let's die to self. Let's get in that whale belly and get to a place where we say, God, anything. You put me in prison, you beat me with rods, you stone me, I get crucified, anything. I will die to self, but I will not die without listening to the Word of the Lord. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for allowing me to come here. Thank you so much for allowing me to be here, Father. I'm so thankful for this church, Lord, I really am. These people don't really know me, but I know them. I know their pastor, I know the family here, Lord. I know that they're in the right place. And Lord, we are the hope of America. We're the hope of our families. We're the hope of those who are unsaved. And Lord, allow us to die to self tonight. I don't know what these people are going through. I don't know if this message helped them or not. But I pray that it did. I pray that you speak to them. I pray that you help them to know that you will always be there. That they don't need to travel with worldly friends and go down the worldly lifestyle, but they need to deny themselves, crucify themselves, and follow Christ. Thank you, Lord, so much for these people, Lord. I ask that you would just bless this church, bless their preacher. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to preach tonight. In your precious, holy name I pray. Amen. I'm going to turn the service over to Pastor Anderson. Alright, let's take our psalm books and let's turn to let's turn to Psalm 292. Psalm 292. Boy, thank God for Brother Jimenez and that message that he brought. Powerful message.