WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:03.359 Well, welcome, welcome, welcome uh to Gateway Church. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:11.759 Welcome to those of you that are watching at every campus, uh every gathering and watching online today, and welcome to you here at the South Lake campus. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.320 I'm honored to be back speaking to you. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.879 I want to give you a quick update on my dad. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:26.719 Uh, as he mentioned a couple weeks ago, uh he preached through it, but he had uh he lifted something heavy and ended up tearing a muscle in his uh what's this thing called right here? 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:30.079 Uh hamstring hamstring, and thank you. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:32.320 And this is a rough start already, guys. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:33.840 I can't remember hamstring. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:49.039 So uh uh so he pulled a muscle in his hamstring and uh it it swelled up really bad, bled uh internally, and then all that blood uh trickled down to his feet, uh which then caused the nerves to inflame. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.719 Uh it's a really hard medical term to say. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:56.000 I think the abbreviation is RSD or something like that. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:01.359 And so uh his foot swelled up and it caused uh the nerves to go crazy. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:14.480 He described it as like as if your basement and your house is flooding and uh your house starts uh banging against the walls trying to get your attention, like just uh a significant amount of pain in his leg. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:21.439 Uh and so you know, you hear pull pulled hamstring and you think like, okay, you know, that's uh that's a pretty simple thing. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:23.359 Um I'm gonna show you some pictures. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:37.599 We debated, I just met with everyone back there because uh well, number one, I don't want to faint in front of you, so uh it's not bloody or anything like that, but if you're squeamish at all, you might not want to look at this. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:42.000 But I just want to give you an idea of what actually is going on in his foot. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:45.760 So this first uh picture is when it really started to swell. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:46.799 Get ready. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:48.079 Here it is. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:50.799 It's swelled up really bad, turned black and blue. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:53.760 Here's the next picture is kind of a progression of that. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:04.400 Uh, and then here's a picture that he took yesterday, and you can see that the swelling has gone down significantly, but it almost looks like he has a sunburn, and that's because of the inflamed nerves that are going on. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:12.800 He's on some medicine that is going to relieve uh the pressure on those nerves and has already caused the swelling to go down, so he's keeping his leg propped up. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.560 And uh and so he's doing great though, recovering. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:26.639 Uh and so he's feeling great, and we'll be back next week uh to start that series that we just heard about, which is the seven churches of Revelation. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:28.319 He told me a little bit about it. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:34.159 He's been uh spending a lot of time sitting in bed, you know, keeping his feet propped up. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:38.159 And uh, what does a preacher do when he's got nothing else to do is study a lot. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:41.680 So you are gonna- I'm I was like so excited to hear what he's gonna talk about. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:46.400 You're definitely gonna want to hear this message, and that series starts uh next week. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.879 So make sure that you're here for that. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:51.360 We would love for you to be a part of that. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.960 Uh and then uh uh let me just give you a quick update as well. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:57.280 Dad men mentioned this a couple weeks ago. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:09.039 Uh my family and I, we have been living for about the last year in Amarlo, Texas, and uh we just uh over the last couple weeks moved back here to the area. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:11.199 Um we're excited about that. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:14.719 Um it's been great, it's been a good move. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:16.319 God has worked out all the plans. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:26.800 It was very quick, and so we had to rush to get the kids into a school and find a rental house around here uh so that we could move in on time for them to go to school. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:32.479 We put them into a Christian school here uh in the area, and they're doing great and loving that. 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:39.439 Uh and uh Hannah, my wife, um, accepted a job at an organization called Embrace Grace. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:50.000 Many of you will know that name because it was birthed right out of Gateway Church, uh, started from a small group right here, and now has grown to be a ministry that impacts people all over the country. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:52.319 And it is literally her dream job. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:55.360 It is her favorite thing in the world, and she's doing such great work. 00:03:55.439 --> 00:04:04.240 If you don't know about Embrace Grace, uh they help uh mothers who find themselves in unexpected pregnancies and do not have a support system around them. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:09.199 And so uh it's a it's a very important work, something that I'm very passionate about. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:12.400 And I'll tell you a little bit more about it actually a little bit later. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.360 But uh Hannah's doing great and enjoying that. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:20.800 Uh my daughter's 11, she's here on the front row, and uh she's the funniest person I've ever met. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:27.519 I was thinking about taking her to improv and see if they'd let her do a couple minutes of stand-up because she has me in stitches every day. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:28.800 She's so funny. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:34.000 Uh Grady is 14, he is fully 14, he is fully a teenager. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:40.079 Uh and that means that uh, you know, uh he smells bad sometimes, you know. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:42.399 Um he acts like a teenager. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:45.439 I I got permission to share this uh from him. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:54.319 I I he's here with his friend Judah, and uh I uh I recently from you know Judah came up to Amarillo and hung out with us there for a little while. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.519 And so I drove from Amarillo back here to drop Judah off, and we were gonna spend some time in town. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:01.680 And that's about a five-hour drive. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:07.920 And uh for no less than two weeks, my car smelled like a boy's locker room after that. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:11.199 Uh and so we're making the drive, and I was already stressed out. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.439 I like to keep my truck really clean. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:15.920 And these these dudes had whole meals. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.600 I don't know if they had a microwave back there, they were making like microwave meals and stuff. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:24.959 They were eating constantly, and the trash was flying everywhere, the drinks were spilling everywhere. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:28.720 And uh then soon enough they said, Hey, can we pull over and stop at a gas station? 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:29.920 And so I said, Yeah, sure. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.879 I'm thinking they have to go to the bathroom because they've been eating and drinking like crazy. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:39.839 We get to the gas station and they just start loading up on snacks like they were already hungry again, to they're just like a bottomless pit. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.600 And so they they come out with all these snacks, and you know, so I'm like, Okay, well let's let's buy all these snacks, you know. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:46.800 We get back in the car. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.920 We're not two more hours down the road, they're like, Hey, can we stop at the gas room? 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:51.920 Like, finally, they they do have to go to the bathroom. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:52.240 We stop. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:53.439 They just wanted more food. 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:54.000 That was it. 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:56.079 They just that was the entire trip. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:57.839 Uh, it was an expensive trip for me. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.040 I took out a small loan, I got a really good interest rate, it was fine. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:03.600 That's all they do is eat just constantly. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:04.720 That's all they do. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:10.720 And uh so the other day, you know, um Grady was outside playing basketball with his friends and he came in. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:19.360 And you know, he's 14 and he he walked in and it was so sweet because he like sat right next to me and he wrapped his arm around me and he laid his head on my shoulder and he kind of snuggled with me, you know. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:27.680 And that doesn't always happen when when a kid is 14 years old, you know, they start to maybe kind of pull themselves away from you, and so you want to cherish those moments, you know. 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:35.600 And so I'm hugging him and I'm I'm sitting there thinking, how can I get out of this without scarring him emotionally for life? 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:43.360 Because he was outside playing basketball and wore his hoodie and it was a hundred degrees outside. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:51.040 I felt like I was snuggling with a smelly nuclear reactor, you know, like that's that was what I had next to me, you know. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:54.160 And so uh that that's just the stage of life that we're in. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:55.920 Him and his friends came in from playing basketball. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.480 They literally elevated the in the temperature in the entire house just by walking in. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:07.120 And so we're just dealing with all the teenager things, but they're loving school and loving being back here in the area. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:09.439 And so um, that's an update on our life. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:14.079 My primary responsibility now here at Gateway is to teach and preach. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:15.680 And so I'm so excited about that. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:21.199 This is my favorite place in the world to preach, and uh and this is my my dream job as well. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:26.240 So we're just so glad to be back here and uh serving on the team again. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:33.519 So I want to talk to you about uh something that's uh talked about really, really commonly in church, really often. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:34.879 This is talked about all the time. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:39.040 Uh Pastor Jelani, I know last weekend was uh a holiday weekend. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:43.680 If you didn't get a chance to see that message, uh hopefully you watch it online, but go back and watch it. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:49.199 It was incredible, and he talked about forgiveness, and this is gonna be somewhat of a follow-up to that. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.399 This pertains some of the elements of forgiveness. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:08:01.759 And uh I've titled the message today Fish Tales, and uh again we're gonna talk about a really popular subject in church, and that is the story of Jonah. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.959 Um well, it's popular in kids' church, I'll say that. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:07.920 Uh maybe not so much in adult services. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:19.680 Uh I can't think of the last time I heard an entire message on Jonah, and uh and and so we're gonna dive in, and it's an important text, and so it's important for us to pay attention to it. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:24.240 It's not a kid's story, it's far too complicated for it to be a kid's story. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:28.879 There's far too many layers, there's far too many messages that are found in the story of Jonah. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:32.879 So it's fine for us to kind of boil that down and teach the kids that. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.679 But growing up in church as a pastor's kid, it was a story that I heard a million times over. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:43.840 The lesson of it was something very similar, which was don't disobey God, or you'll get eaten by a whale. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.080 And so uh that was it. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.600 That's what I thought the depth of that entire story was all about. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.480 And it turns out there's so much more than that. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:55.039 And in fact, uh we often associate it. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:56.639 We say Jonah and the whale. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:58.240 That's often what we say. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:07.440 Uh, you know, sometimes you you, if you even mention the word Jonah, or if I say like uh to friends, I'm gonna preach about Jonah this weekend, they say, You mean Jonah and the whale? 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:17.600 And it's like, you know, we should realize that the book of Jonah is four chapters long, and the portion about the fish is one verse, it's two sentences. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:19.759 The story is not about the fish. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:25.440 We should also point out that whale is never mentioned in the the scriptures about Jonah. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.600 It's not a whale, it says the great fish. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:32.240 It would be just as accurate to call it a sea monster as it would be to call it a whale, because we don't know. 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.399 It was just a really great fish. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.200 Great because he was cool, or great because he was huge. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:37.919 I have no idea. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:38.879 It was just a great fish. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:40.720 That's all that we know from the Bible. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:45.519 But the story is not about the fish, it's about so much more than that. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:50.000 And honestly, I did struggle with this story for for many years. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:56.480 I I grew up hearing the story, and even when I was a kid, I was like, uh, are you sure? 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:58.399 Are you sure that's what happened? 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:05.840 Jonah lived inside the belly of the whale for for three days and three nights, and he wrote this elegant poem while he was in there. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:11.679 I'm not sure what he wrote on or how he how he was able to speak this very eloquent prayer, and I struggled with it. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:16.960 And as adult, as an adult, it got worse and worse, and people weren't addressing the story of Jonah. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:19.200 And so uh I started to question it. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:21.919 Now, uh that didn't go very well for me. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:24.879 Like me uh going like, I'm not so sure. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:28.000 Um, I immediately was met with backlash. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.440 It was not a subject that was okay to talk about. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:41.279 And uh and that sort of sent me away to to have a moment with God and say, God, you you gotta tell me, am I uh am I being a bad person for questioning this story? 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:46.399 Am I being a bad person for needing more information and more context about this? 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:50.559 And so I just I I I had had a particularly difficult conversation. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:54.879 I went home and I prayed and I said, God, you gotta you gotta tell me, is this okay for me to do? 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:56.639 I'll never forget. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:58.879 God said, Do your worst. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:09.919 And in all of my conversations with other people around me, when I had brought up the struggle that I was experiencing, I was met with what I would call fear and insecurity. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:12.799 Don't question those things, that's a dangerous path. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:15.279 Don't do that, don't do that, just believe. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.440 That's what I was told over and over again. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:22.080 Just believe, just accept it for what it is and believe. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:31.840 And I wept at the security of God to say, do whatever that you want, because I'm certain that you'll still find me. 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:35.840 Now, people question all the time and they fall away from God. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:52.720 But my belief is that the reason that that happens is because so often when people are questioning or struggling with something, they are pushed out of the community of the church because of whatever feelings we have about those questions, and so then they are left to struggle alone. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:01.039 It's okay to wrestle with God, it's okay to take these scriptures seriously enough to investigate them. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:11.759 It's okay to do those things, and the very best way that you can do it is to do it with God so that you have the Holy Spirit illuminating the scriptures to you, and to do it with community in the body of Christ. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:13.600 And so often that doesn't happen. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:14.960 We push those people out. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:21.440 I was just talking about this to a friend of mine this week, and he said, That's what happened to my brother when he started asking questions. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:25.759 The church literally ostracized him, and he ended up not being a believer today. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.320 And he said, I'm so grieved about it. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:33.600 We should not uh treat people poorly because they are struggling with something. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:41.360 We should welcome them in and say, Let's go on a journey together with the presence of God so that we can wrestle through these stories. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:45.519 So here's something that you need to know about the book of Jonah. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:13:02.799 There are uh theologians and scholars and Hebrew scholars that uh that believe that the Bible is inspired, that it is true, that it is God's word, and uh and that it is accurate, that it is it is true and and and inspired by God. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:07.759 And uh and and they will say that the story of Jonah is historical. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:17.919 It is a an historical account of uh a prophet Jonah who we know is a historical character because we see him in other passages, and we'll talk about that in a moment. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:25.840 But they would say, yes, we we we affirm and believe in the scriptures, and so therefore, Jonah is a historical telling. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:34.080 There are other scholars, Hebrew scholars and and and theologians, and they believe the exact same thing on the first part. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:40.559 They believe that the Bible is inspired, that it is holy, that it is true, that it is right, that it is God breathed. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:46.639 They believe all of those things, and they also believe that the story of Jonah is a parable. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:54.000 Using a historical character, much like Jesus did whenever he talked about the beggar, Lazarus, uh, and the rich man. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:01.519 Jesus used a historical figure, Lazarus the the beggar, and he also tells it in the form of a parable. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:06.080 Now, it doesn't really matter uh for this context today. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:10.080 We will learn every lesson that we need to learn, no matter which camp you fall in. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:12.879 It's not important for us to try to decide or solve that. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:22.559 It's more important for us to say we can leave that as a mystery, but we ought to take this story seriously and say, God, what do you have to speak to me about this? 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:30.000 And what happens so often is because it is relegated down to a kid's story, we leave it pushed to the side, we don't take it very seriously. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:42.879 It would be, I'm not gonna do it, but it would be really interesting to say how many of you are familiar with the story of Jonah and see the hands, and then say, and how many of you have spent any exhaustive amount of time studying the book of Jonah? 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:44.639 It would be far fewer hands. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:46.080 There's no judgment to that. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:55.600 That was my position for so many years, and I relegated it to this kid's story that I learned, but it didn't seem to have very much bearing on my life as an adult. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:58.799 And so what we want to do then is take it very seriously. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:00.879 We want to take this thing seriously. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:04.000 And and in March I preached a series about the promised land. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:12.879 That was partly as a result of the struggle where I wanted to go back and I wanted to find the the truth and the depth of the old testament, old testament scriptures. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:28.159 And so uh uh I'm just putting it out there that there are two camps, and though they they both they both believe in the whole uh the whole sanctity of the Bible, the God breathed part, but there are two different ways that you could look at the story of Jonah. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:33.600 Again, it doesn't really matter for this, but as I started studying it, I just read it over and over. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.320 I was blessed to find great stuff by Tim Mackey. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:49.600 He's a Hebrew scholar, so he brings light to that by being able to read it in its original Hebrew context and to be able to point out the the poetry of all of this book and the things that it's trying to tell us. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:16:04.399 So uh the the first thing that we want to talk about today is that uh the there are this is something that we can all agree on, there are different literary styles used in the different books of the Bible. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:07.919 There's different authors, there's just different methods of telling the story. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.559 There's just different categories that they fall into. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.519 The Psalms fall into a more poetic approach. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:24.720 The uh the book of Revelation is a more prophetic book, the uh the Gospels are a narrative story about uh the man, Jesus Christ, that lived on the earth. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:41.279 The prophets traditionally take a very historical approach of laying out the exact history of what took place, and they'll include a lot of names and dates and titles and things like that in order to uh bring uh a precedence to the historical views that they hold. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:51.679 And so there's all these different kinds of literary styles, and the book of Jonah, I would like to propose to you today, is written in a particular style that we're not used to seeing in scripture. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.240 That style is satire. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:04.720 It is satire, it is written in a way that is supposed to blow up these big proportional things and give this big, dramatic, funny story. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:13.920 I believe that a Hebrew audience would have laughed at this story because they would have seen the the way that it is in the original language, brings all of these things out. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:15.680 They would have laughed at this story. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:17.920 And so we'll talk more about why it is satire. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.079 Let me just go through a couple different things that they would have noticed, a Hebrew audience. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:28.799 First is that the the way that it starts, the entire book starts with saying that Jonah is the son of Amitai. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:34.720 Now, Jonah means dove, which we associate with purity, and uh Amitai means faithfulness. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:40.480 So it says Jonah, the dove, purity, the son of faithfulness. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:47.039 And then as the story goes along, they will hear that he was not quite faithful and not quite pure as the story goes along. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:50.960 And so, right from the beginning, you have this contrast drawn up. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:56.079 And and so the book seems to be uninterested in what actually ends up happening to Jonah. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:56.880 How does he change? 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:59.519 How does his character morph and grow? 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:01.599 It it does we don't get any of that stuff. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.759 We don't know how he ended. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:06.319 It doesn't seem that he ended the story very well. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:15.200 In fact, I'll just show you this is the very last scripture of the fourth book of Jonah, which is the last book or the last chapter of Jonah. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:16.880 And this is what it says. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:18.319 Uh it's verse 11. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:33.759 It says, And should not I pity Nineveh, this is God talking, that great city in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle? 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:38.720 There's no more. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:39.680 That's it. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:42.880 That's how the book ends. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:53.039 No redeeming character qualities in Jonah, no surprise ending there, no Jonah saying, I repent, God, and this is what I'm gonna do from now on. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:54.000 That's how it ends. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:01.440 And in case you have never spent very much time reading the story of Jonah, uh, God seems to be really concerned with the cattle. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:05.200 It ends with cattle as the last word of the scripture. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:14.960 And I don't know if you know this or not, but when the uh the people of Nineveh did confess and give their lives to God, um the cattle did too. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:16.240 I'm not kidding. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:18.000 You can go back and look at it. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:22.240 Uh the the the cattle repented and fasted. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:27.759 They fasted, the the cattle stopped eating, and that in and of itself is a miracle. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:32.079 I have never seen a cow in my life that is doing anything other than eating. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:33.200 That's all they do. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:34.720 That's what cattle do. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:35.920 They eat all the time. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:37.119 I like to be outdoors. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:45.920 Uh, sometimes I go out early in the morning or late at night, and I'll be driving through like country roads, and my headlights hit a bunch of cows, and uh, they're still eating. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:46.880 It's the middle of the night. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:47.519 That's all they do. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:48.559 I'm like, do you sleep? 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.680 Do you do anything else? 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:57.599 They eat all the time, but in the book of Jonah, God is really concerned with the cattle, so much so that they fasted, prayed, they wore sackcloth. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:58.000 I don't know. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:58.960 It's a wild story. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:02.880 I'm telling you, the satire is heavy in this story. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:04.079 It should make us laugh. 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:07.200 It should be fun and funny for us to listen to this story. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:08.240 And there's a reason why. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:09.359 We're gonna get there, okay? 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:12.160 So uh Jonah never learns his lesson. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:16.640 Even when he does obey, he does the bare minimum that God asked him to do. 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:20.799 There's no redeeming moment where he learns his lesson and changes or anything like that. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.759 Everything in the story is upside down. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:28.640 Jonah, the prophet, uh he he disobeys all the time. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:32.240 He he does the wrong thing over and over again in this story. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:39.839 And yet everyone who is painted as the big bad enemy of the story, they always surrender to God immediately. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:40.720 Immediately. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:56.000 For example, when uh Jonah is in the boat with pagan sailors, this is where he gets thrown overboard, and uh then after that swallowed by a uh a great fish, in that story, they ask him, Who, what God do you serve? 00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:57.200 And this is his response. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:58.880 It's in Jonah chapter 1, verse 9. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:08.799 It says, And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:12.720 So the sailors are in a really bad storm, a very bad storm. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:20.079 And they're afraid that they're gonna die, and so they cast lots and they figure out that Jonah is the reason why they are in this predicament. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:22.640 So they go to Jonah and they say, What God do you serve? 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:27.920 And he says, I serve the God that made this very ocean right here. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:33.119 He also made the dry land that we would all like to be on right now. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:35.119 That was his response. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.920 Does it seem like Jonah was fearful of God in that moment? 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:46.480 When they were like, hey, what should we do exactly then to make your God stop trying to kill us? 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:52.240 He was like, Oh you know, we could go back to Nineveh where I'm supposed to go. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:53.119 You know what? 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:54.160 Just throw me overboard. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:55.039 I'd rather die. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:55.599 I'm good. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:56.640 Just throw me overboard. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:58.240 That'll that that should solve the problem. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:00.559 This is not a God fearing person in the Moment. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:06.319 The story is supposed to draw attention to that, that the man of God is not acting the way that he is supposed to. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:09.039 So then what do these pagan sailors do? 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.079 Well, then that's found in Jonah chapter 1, verse 15. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:18.400 It says, So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:27.440 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, a true fear, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:37.759 This story is supposed to point out to us that the people who are supposed to do the right thing are not doing it, and the people who are supposed to do the wrong thing are turning from their wicked ways and doing the right thing. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:47.839 We're supposed to see this giant contrast in all of this and recognize this and see what is going on, what is happening in this flipped upside-down world. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.279 And so in Hebrew, the poetry of all of this is so strong. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:57.200 Jonah is supposed to go to Nineveh, but instead he goes down to Japah. 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:01.440 Instead, he goes down into the sea and gets in the boat. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:05.759 He goes down into the bottom level of the boat. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:11.039 He lays down to go to sleep, and then he's hurled down into the ocean. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:14.559 All of this poetic language is located here in this story. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:17.359 He goes, drifts down to the bottom of the sea. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:28.160 It says he ends up in the roots of the mountains that seaweed wraps around his head, and he ends up at the bottom of the earth, and he gets barred underneath the earth, and he ends up in Sheol. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:40.079 And then the fish scoops him up and brings him up, rising up to dry land, to the place where he's supposed to be, bringing him back to the calling that God has asked for him. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:46.000 He cries out uh in this moment of desperation for God to save him. 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:53.519 And so he's restored back to the opportunity to be able to fulfill the calling that God has on his life. 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.079 And it carries that form or that arc. 00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:59.599 It brings us through uh pointing all of this out. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:04.000 When he was supposed to go east to go to Nineveh, he heads straight west. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.279 In fact, I'll show you a map so that we can get a better idea of this. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.559 Uh Israel is just a little bit north, it's not on this map, but Israel's just a little bit north of Joppa. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:15.599 And he's supposed to go over to Nineveh, which is east. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:17.200 You can see where Nineveh is. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.880 And uh instead, he goes straight towards Tarshis. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:23.920 Now, once you pass that, that is a vast ocean. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:27.839 This was in essence the edge of the known world for them. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.960 This was as far west as he could possibly go. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:34.400 For you flat earthers, there must be like a wall of ice on the other side of that. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:36.799 I don't know, but they could not go past that, okay? 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:38.000 They couldn't do it. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.680 So he's going as far west as he could possibly go. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:45.519 And there is Nineveh there, 550 miles inland. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:25:11.599 My favorite thing, especially in some of the kids' books that talk about uh the story of Jonah and the great fish, is that uh sometimes a lesson, I've even heard it, uh adults talk about this, sometimes the lesson that is pointed out is uh that uh God used the great fish to bring Jonah to his actual destination, which makes me wonder how that fish could walk 550 miles inland to Nineveh. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:12.799 We don't know where he ended up. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:17.039 We don't know, but he had a quite a journey from there still to make it to Nineveh. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:22.720 But the point of the story is telling us that everything that he's supposed to do, he's doing the opposite of those things. 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.319 He's going it the opposite of everywhere that he's supposed to go. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:32.960 And then finally he makes it to Nineveh and he's supposed to preach to them, and and and he doesn't want to be there. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:35.359 It's pretty obvious that he doesn't want to be there. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:40.799 And so uh he he preaches a five-word sermon for one day. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:44.640 Uh in in the English, it's uh uh like seven or eight words. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:50.079 Uh in essence, what he said is 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:51.519 But in Hebrew it's five words. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.559 He preaches a five-word sermon. 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:56.799 This is kind of what it looked like. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:59.359 Him walking through town going, You're gonna die. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:00.480 You're gonna die. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:02.079 40 days, you're gonna die. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:03.279 Oh, you're definitely gonna die. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:04.960 40 days, you're gonna die. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:06.559 You're gonna die 40 days. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:08.319 40 days, you're going down. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:11.839 Anyone notice anything that's missing from that sermon? 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:13.839 Well, God, maybe. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.359 Like God told him to go there. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:22.480 You think maybe he could mention, like, yeah, God, the God I serve, Yahweh, you know, he's coming for you. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:23.759 No, none of those things. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:25.680 40 days, you're gonna die. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:27.440 That was his message. 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:33.599 Now, Jonah walks around for one day in this city and he says, 40 days and you're gonna die. 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:34.880 You'll be overthrown. 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:39.279 Are they how are they to know that it was an another army that was coming? 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:40.319 Was it God? 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:41.440 We have no idea. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:43.519 Everything is backwards in this story. 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:48.160 Jonah never even uh meets the the king of Nineveh. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:51.839 Uh instead, word just makes it up to the king of Nineveh. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:27:03.680 So I want you to imagine for just a moment that the king of Nineveh is meeting with his advisors, and uh they go, um, yeah, King, um something weird happened yesterday. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:04.799 We need to tell you about it. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:13.200 Um there was this guy, and uh I totally get that we're the greatest empire that the world has ever seen to date. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:19.039 Uh but this guy he walked around town and uh he said we were gonna be overthrown. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:20.640 And the king says, Oh. 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:24.240 Well, uh was he a prophet? 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.200 Uh we you know, he didn't say. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:29.519 Uh he just said we were gonna be overthrown. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:31.279 Well, did he look presentable? 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:33.680 Did he look like uh did he look like a good dude? 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:34.960 Is that what he looked like? 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:38.640 Well, he uh I'm gonna be honest with you on this. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:42.400 He's he smelled like he lived inside of a fish. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:48.640 Um he was very disheveled, he was uh wearing seaweed for clothing, we don't know why. 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:54.720 Um, and he smelled awful, and uh and he said he said 40 days, we'd be overthrown. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:00.559 And the king of Nineveh was like, guys, this sounds serious. 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:03.279 This is a big deal. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:08.079 Um what I'd like you to do is tell every single person that they need to fast. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:09.279 Stop eating food. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:13.279 No food, no water, they need to fast, and they need to wear sackcloth. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:15.519 And someone's like, uh what hold hold on. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:18.480 You're talking about wearing burlap, that really uncomfortable stuff? 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:19.839 You know it chafes, right? 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:21.119 You know we don't want to do that, you're right? 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:21.519 You get that? 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:22.640 And he's like, No, no, no, I know. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:23.839 We gotta take this seriously. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:28.240 I want you to wear sackcloth, and we're gonna fast, and this is this is how we're gonna deal with this. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.319 And they go, Cool, King, is that is that everything? 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:32.799 And he goes, uh, you know what? 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:37.839 Just to be safe, I'm just throwing this out there, just an idea. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:40.559 Let's have all the animals do it too. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:42.480 Sorry, what? 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:44.640 You want the animals to stop eating? 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.079 And and how do we enforce that? 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:47.279 I'm sorry, what do you want to do? 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:49.440 And he's like, this this guy's terrifying. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:51.279 He's a fish person, we don't know what's going on. 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:52.319 Let's just do it, all right? 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:55.039 Make the animals stop eating, that's what's gonna happen today, okay? 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:56.319 And then they do it. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:06.319 And and Jonah leaves the city and he goes out and he sets up a little booth for himself, and he sits and he watches safely outside of the city's headquarters. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.000 Let me tell you what this is. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:19.359 This this idea of him coming out of here and he walks in and he gives them the bare amount of information possible, and then he leaves the city and he sets up a booth. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:19.759 Why? 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:21.920 So that he can watch what's gonna happen. 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.799 This is called prophetic sabotage. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:30.079 He did not want Nineveh to be saved. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:39.599 He did not want them to experience the grace of God, so he walks around and he gives the bare minimum message of judgment, but he never shows the love of God. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:46.319 And then he sits outside the city, and it's my belief that he was sitting there waiting for God to come and destroy them. 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:48.400 I'm gonna watch this. 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:50.720 I'm gonna watch it happen. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:30:02.000 And every time we tell people about the judgment of God or the fact that he hates wickedness in the world, but we don't show them the love of God, we commit prophetic sabotage. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:11.359 Every time we point out what someone is doing wrong without showing them the love of God, it is prophetic sabotage. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:26.880 It is, I hope you pay for the things that you have done, and I refuse to tell you about the grace of God that he is pursuing you every day, every night, that he wants to be with you, that he desires you, that he loves you more than anybody else loves you in the world. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.559