Answering Gods Call (Jonah 1)

Today we start a new sermon series, "Encouragement from the Book of Jonah." In the first message, "Answering God's Call," we’ll explore how God calls each of us to step out of our comfort zones and embrace His purpose for our lives. Discover how Jonah's story reveals the importance of recognizing God’s voice and facing life's challenges with courage. Whether you’re wrestling with a big decision or seeking direction, this message will inspire you to stop running and start following God's lead. Come and be encouraged to take the first step towards fulfilling your calling. 

Rockwell Church     Oct  20, 2024     Pastor Chris Teien
Answering God's Call    Jonah 1

#1 Recognize God’s Call in Your Life (v.1-2)

#2  Stop Running Away from God’s Plan (v.3-10)

#3  Trust God in the Storms and Surrender to His Discipline (v.11-17)

Helping you apply God's Word and follow Jesus in everyday life. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church  Find episode transcripts at Well.faith 

Transcript

Chris T 0:00

Jonah. Jonah. That's a tough one to find in the Bible. So it's next to Obadiah. For some people, it's like you just open in a really small print Bible, it's just like one page. For me, no, I'm a gr I'm a grandpa with a 17-year-old granddaughter. Isn't that crazy? So anyway, I have a large print Bible. And so I have two pages. But Jonah, what do you know about Jonah? He was the guy that got swallowed by the big fish. That's right. That's right. So, and but that's not really what the story was all about. So the story's not really about that Jonah got swallowed and vomited up by a sea creature. The story is about God's great redeeming love and mercy for those people that are not worthy of it. For the Assyrians, for the Ninevehites, for Israel's worst enemy. And I'm not going to go into details onto how bad they are this week, because I get four weeks to do this, but I'll tell you about that another week. But just know that they were they were not liked by the Israelites. And Jonah had wanted nothing to do with them. So and it's also about God's call in Jonah's life and in our life. So, and that's kind of what I want to focus on. So I want to cover most of the first chapter of Jonah, but I really want to talk about God's call in someone's life and God's call in your life. And some people think that, you know, God only calls them to big things, or God can't call me anymore because, you know, I'm too old, or I'm too young, or I'm, you know, I'm too far in debt, or whatever it might be. So I live too far north, things like that. But God calls you. Sometimes God calls you to do the little things. And when you're faithful with the little things, then he gives you bigger and greater opportunities. And as you prove yourself faithful with that, then he gives you more and more opportunities after that. But just think about is there something that God has been calling you to do that you know you should do, but you just don't have enough faith? You can't get over your fear, you just don't want to do it, or you won't do it, or you don't think you can do it. And just think about that. So Jonah, called by God, ran the other direction. And so that's really want to focus on is God's call, God's great mercy and love for people that don't deserve it. And the man who said no, literally said no, God, not gonna do that. So, all right, so recognize God's call in your life, recognize God's call in your life. Again, think about that. So I, as I've told you before, when I graduated from high school and I was 16, so I'm like 14 or so, and people are asking me what I'm gonna do with my life, and I don't know, so I'm praying about it. And so I prayed, God, I want to do what you want me to do. Show me what you want me to do with my life. And I thought about computers, I thought about forestry, but then forestry, I thought I'd be too too lonely in the woods. Nobody to talk to out there but the trees. And I also auto-body or auto mechanics, so I still like cars. I don't think I'd want to spend my whole life, though, working on cars. In the town that I lived in before, one of the best auto-body men in town retired and sold his shop to someone else. And I called him up and I said, Hey, I know you're retired and stuff, but can you fix this car for a family in the church? You're one of the only guys that does this. He's like, Nope, I'm retired. I don't work with cars anymore. Now I work with wood. So that's how he decided to change that. But sometimes in our life, when God calls us to do something, it's a call for a lifetime, a career call. Sometimes it's a temporary call. Sometimes it's a call to step out in faith and do one thing. But as I was praying and praying about it, my he's actually my stepuncle, came up to me out of the blue and he said, Have you ever thought about being a pastor? And I laughed and I'm like, You don't know me very well, do you? And so I continued to pray about that. And God put that on my heart. Full-time Christian ministry was on my heart. Had no idea what that meant. I looked into camp ministry, youth ministry, pastoral ministry. I used to like read a bunch of college catalogs and, you know, figure out the best way and the best degree and all of these things. And on career day in my high school, some days I was really on fire for God, and other times I wasn't. So, but on one, I think it was my senior year, on career day, I literally showed up in a three-piece suit in the King James Bible. They got my hair cut short, and I was dead serious. So people are like, What are you doing? I'm gonna be a pastor. Turns out that if I could choose to have hair, it probably wouldn't be that short. And yeah, I only wear a suit to people's funerals and weddings. But back then, you know, that was the mold that I was chasing after. But that's when God called me. I felt God called me to ministry, and I started to walk towards that. I started to walk towards that by being faithful to do the little things. So whenever there was a volunteer opportunity, even when I was in high school, I would show up. Oh, you need help with the wana? I'll help. You need help with the cation Bible school? I'll help. Need help at the Bible camp as volunteers, I'll help. And so just continued to do that as time went on and eventually got trained up for ministry and then had my first youth ministry opportunity and had experience because I repeatedly showed up. I answered God's little calls to do things and proved faithful in that, and that opened the door. So my guess is that Jonah as a prophet, which is weird because this book, Tucked Among the Minor Prophets, is about Jonah, who was a prophet, but it doesn't really talk a whole lot about prophecy. It's more of a story, and I believe it to be true. So I was watching a well-known Bible scholar person say how this is the parable and how it can't be true, and you know, how it just represents different things. But Jesus quoted from it, and I think that this story, there's no I don't see any reason not to believe this story to be true, because I serve a great God who can do miraculous things and can do anything that he wants. And it doesn't start out by saying the following is a story, a parable. Instead, I believe that it's true, and it starts out with the Lord gave the message to Jonah, son of a Mitae. So gave the message to Jonah. So came to Jonah and said, Hey, Jonah, I've got something for you to do. Hey, Jonah, I need you to do something. And what did God need Jonah to do? God says, Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, announce my judgment against it, because I have seen how wicked its people are. Oops. So Jonah heard this. He's a prophet. He knew about the things of God, and part of him is like, yay, God's gonna judge Nineveh. I like that part. Oh, wait, you want me to go to them and pre-announce your judgment against them? No, I know how this is gonna turn out. I I can see this coming. So they're like gonna, I'm not even that good of a preacher, he probably said. I'm gonna just, you know, share the message, and then they're gonna repent, and then they're gonna like turn towards you, and then you're not gonna destroy them. Yeah, I'm not really into that, Jonah said. That wasn't something that Jonah wanted to do because these people were so evil, so wicked, had done terrible things to the Israelites, and so Jonah's like, yeah, not gonna happen. Think about Isaiah. Isaiah and Isaiah 6 8. So I don't think God was speaking directly to Isaiah. I think it was more of a Isaiah overheard. So then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? And Isaiah is like, Me, here I am, send me, me, me. I want to do this. Yeah, let's do this. And so Isaiah is like, God, I want to be used by you. God, I trust that you can use me. Oh, by the way, what exactly are we gonna do? I don't know. There's people that do that too. There's people that, and it's especially good with the young people, that answer God's call, that God wants to call somebody to a different people group. And a and a and a guy or girl or a couple or whatever, a young couple step up and they're like, Send us, we want to go. So one of my friends' sons, a pastor's son that I knew at the other church, they were in like the next town over or whatever, you know, just a normal kid in high school, you know, doing good, getting his grades and everything, is now a world-class missionary in Taipei. And when I watch him with his videos and, you know, how he speaks the language and he runs like a missionary coffee shop and stuff, and how God is using him, it's absolutely amazing to me that there was a kid who, you know, young in love, you know, got married, and both of them said, Oh, you need somebody to go to Taipei? Here we are, here we are, send us. You remember another person that was in the Bible that we all know about, actually one of the humblest men who ever lived, Moses. When God called them from the burning bush to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses made several excuses, including, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? And I'm slow of speech and tongue. I can't do that. And yet God assured him and said, I will be with you, and even sent Aaron to go with him. So sometimes, sometimes we hear the call of God and we make excuses, or we just really don't want to go because we don't have a love for those people. We don't care about those people. I mean, on one hand, we used to send missionaries to the other part of the other parts of the world to lead people to Christ, and now the immigrants are all coming over here. It would be good, though, if we could have a safe immigration system to assimilate those people in and provide for their needs and not overwhelm communities. And so if there was some more humanitarian, better way to allow immigrants to come into the country, as opposed to, from what I understand, you know, thousands of them dropped off in locations where nobody wants them and they're not well cared for. That's not fair to the people who live there, nor fair to those people. And so we should pray about that. So we should also pray that as we have opportunity that we figure out ways to proclaim Jesus to everybody and anybody around us, no matter where they come from, no matter who they are. Sometimes it's hard with the language barrier, but some people, Christians, are finding ministry in being called to doing English training. So English is a second language, or uh teaching English to immigrants. And so maybe God would call you to do something like that. But think about whatever it's God is calling you to do, whatever whatever it is that you feel he's calling you, is it serving in a new ministry, reaching out to someone in need, or making a significant life change? So Aza A. W. Tozer said God is looking for people through whom he can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves. So think about that. What fears or doubts are causing you to hesitate in responding to God's call? You know, fear of man proves to be a snare. How can you seek confirmation from God without falling into paralysis by analysis? And are you willing to trust God's promise to be with you as he was with Gideon and Moses and Isaiah and even Jonah? So pray about that and trust God in your weaknesses. And number two, number two, stop running away from God's plan. Stop running away from God's plan. That's exactly what Jonah did. So did Jonah answer the call? No, Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. So I did a little analysis to try to figure out what this would be like. All right. So it'd be like God saying, Hey, I want you to go to the great city of Chicago and tell them about my impending judgment, my grace and mercy, my salvation through Jesus. I want you to go to Chicago. You're like, I hear you, God. So you run on down to the Hibbing Airport and you hop on a plane for Anchorage, Alaska. That's close to the same distance overall. Or Fairbanks, Alaska is actually closer if you drive. But still, so Jonah's like told, go 600 miles. And he's like, I'm heading 2,500 miles in the other direction, God. So yeah, I'm not your man. I'm not gonna do this. And so just think of how much he suffered for avoiding God's call and doing God's will. So he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord. You can't escape from the Lord. Do you really think that just because you headed in the other direction, that God still can't use you? But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives the desperate sailors shouted out to their god, Small G for help, and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. So the captain went down after him. How can you sleep at a time like this? he shouted. Get up and pray to your God. Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives. Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused this terrible storm. And when they did this, lots the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. So I don't know what to compare lots to. Maybe like throwing dice, you know. But while it might have been a superstitious thing that they did, God used it to identify Jonah, to call out Jonah, to make it known that Jonah was the issue, Jonah was the problem, Jonah was the reason for the storm. And then why has this awful storm come down on us? They demanded. Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality? And then Jonah comes clean. He admits his identity. Even though he's running from God, he realizes that, yeah, this is my problem, this is my fault. I did this, and I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. So Jonah clearly knew that God was disciplining him for doing the wrong thing. I'm sure that he didn't see it coming, or he wouldn't have done it, but Jonah realizes that this is his deal and he's willing to take ownership for it. He's willing to actually give his life for the crew on the ship who were going to do everything that they could to try to help preserve him. So, but the sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord, and they said, Oh, why did you do it? Why did you do it? So, again, Jonah ran because he didn't want to do it. So he made it clear, probably in prayer to God, that I don't like the Ninevites. I don't want to be used to rescue the Ninevehites, I don't want to go to the people of the Ninevehes. You know, maybe he was even concerned that you know they might persecute him or harm him or whatever. But so the guys on the ship, you know, they threw stuff over to lighten the load. They tried to endure the storm, even if you know they had rebellious to Jonah on board. But when they realized that there was no hope, that it wasn't gonna work, then they're like, Jonah, what have you done? What have you done to us? I'll finish the story in a minute, but I want to uh just think about some other characters in the Bible that may have run from God. So um Elijah. So if you remember Elijah in 1 Kings, he kind of takes on the prophets of Baal, and so he literally, you know, has a showdown to see who can make the altar light up, you know, and even puts water on it and everything, and calls down fire from heaven, God lights it up, and then he's responsible for killing all the false prophets of Baal, and he has this great spiritual victory. He has this great wonderful spiritual victory because God has been glorified and God has acted and everything's great. Yet he chooses he chooses to run from God after that. So wicked Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him in 1 Kings 19, 3, 19, verse 3 says, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. So he went from the spiritual high point to doing this great thing for God to being so exhausted, so worn out and afraid. It's like, why wouldn't you see what God just did? So God just did this, and now you're afraid of this queen. But yet, you know, he he ran, he was he was terrified, he was burned out, and God cared for him, God preserved him. And not only did God preserve him by feeding him by birds and angels, and but he also sent him a helper, Elisha, who would be with him and eventually his predecessor. So you remember in the Old Testament when the Israelites were promised the or promised the promised land, uh Israelites in Numbers 13, when instructed to enter the promised land, they refused due to the fear of the inhabitants, giants and fortified cities. Their lack of trust led to wandering in the wilderness for forty years. So here we have the Israelites who, if they would have trusted that God could do a great thing, wouldn't have had to wander in the wilderness because they disobeyed, because they were faithless, because God judged them for that forty years. You remember the prodigal son that Jesus talked about. He thought that if he could get away from his family, if he could get away from his home, if he could get away from his dad, you know, give me my inheritance so that I can get out there and enjoy my life. That he thought that that would really be that would bring him great satisfaction. And instead it led to great disappointment. Yet God shows great grace and mercy even when we run off. You remember Luke chapter 15, verse 11, Jesus continued, There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country where there he squandered his wealth and wild living. Squandered his wealth and wild living. And so he had a lot of friends when he had the money. He had a lot of friends when he was, you know, putting on the parties and everything, but as soon as the money ran out, those people were no longer his friends. So he chose to go on his own. He basically chose to do his own thing without God, and it led to financial and spiritual bankruptcy where he had nothing. And he knew not, he didn't know what to do. So he crawled back to his father to beg forgiveness, and so his father welcomed him in the same way. Jesus told the story, in the same way, because God can forgive, because God can help us even when we've chosen to go the wrong direction, to do the wrong thing. And you know, as we get to the point where Jonah gets swallowed by the big fish, you might think that it was a punishment, but actually it preserved his life. He didn't, he didn't die. So he could have drowned, but instead God preserved him in an unusual way. So I was wondering about other times in the Bible where God does things to discipline those people who don't who choose not to obey him. And so I think Sandy mentioned it one time when she was talking about the roof project in the book of Haggai, that the the people were like, oh no, God doesn't, God doesn't need a house built for him. We're good to do our own things. And God's like, oh, time out. I want you to know what's happening here. He says, You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven's armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. It's because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. I have called for drought on your fields and hills, a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all of your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock, and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get, because they were being stingy. They were taking God's blessing and keeping it all for themselves and not thinking about God's desire, God's will, God's kingdom. So the Ninevehites, the Assyrians, were ruthless and feared. So they were infamous for their brutal treatment of. Captives, including extreme violence, torture, and destruction. And this is why Jonah didn't want to go to them. He had a good reason why he chose not to pursue them, why he chose not to go to them. But Cory Ten Boom says, never be afraid to trust an unknown future to an unknown God. You know, sometimes we're running from things because of a past hurt, because of a past experience, because we don't think we're qualified, because we don't think we'll be successful, because we're terrified that if we fail, people will think less of us. So when we come to those threats, when we come to those challenges, or when we come to significant victories, we have to keep God first. Wow, the clock goes fast. I've heard that sometimes when your life is the most successful, when you're doing great at work, when all the kids are doing great, when you have more money than you know what to do with, it can be one of the most difficult times to resist temptation and to follow God. So sometimes it's not the lack of success that keeps you from being godly, but it is the success. And sometimes I wonder if Satan doesn't try to trade you answering God's call for something else. It's like, I know God called you to do this, but try this instead. You'll make more money, you'll be happier, you'll be more comfortable. So yeah, you probably don't want to do that God thing because this is better, but it's not better. And when you end your life, when you look back at your life, you'll you'll wish that you had made made that choice. There's a there's a movie about that too. I can't remember. It's a Christian movie with Kevin Sorbo in it. I think it's Kevin Sorbo. We went to the same high school, not at the same time, but we're both graduates from the same high school. All right, anyway. So I'm full of useless trivia today. Number three, trust God in the storms and surrender to his discipline. Trust God in the storms and surrender to his discipline. So let's finish off the book of Jonah here. Since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, What should we do to stop this storm? Jonah says, I deserve this. Throw me into the sea, and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault. So he's literally willing to sacrifice his life for these sailors. And instead, the sailors are like, Dude, dude, don't kill yourself. The sailors rode even harder to get the ship to land, but the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn't make it. Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah's God, O Lord, they pleaded, don't make us die for this man's sin, and don't hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you've sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons. And the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once. And the sailors were awestruck by the Lord's great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and bowed to serve him. So Jonah actually just served as a missionary for the Lord on the ship, and while he appeared to have given his life for that, that God had other plans. God had other plans. And sometimes when we think that we messed up, when we think that we missed God's call, we need to pray and ask God, what is it that I can do now? What is how can we fix this? How can we change this? What can we do? How can I do differently? What do I need to be forgiven of? What changes can I make? And that is an important thing. And so then this is kind of for next week, but then now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. It was a form of the Lord's discipline. The Lord's discipline. Hebrews 12, 5 says, Have you completely forgotten the words of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastens everyone he accepts as a son. So God wasn't done with Jonah yet. The process that Jonah was going to go through wouldn't be a pleasant one, but it may well preserved his life for one, and two, I'll tell you next week how it may have made a huge difference in the way he was seen by the Ninevehites. But think about the difficulties in your life. How may they be drawing you closer to God? Think about the discipline in your life and what you could do differently. Sometimes the way to avoid God's discipline is to confess those known sins as quick as you can before the Lord disciplines you. He's very gracious. So consider how you will respond to God's call. Will you run away like Jonah? Hesitate like Gideon? Despair like Elijah, or willingly accept like Isaiah? Jim Eliot, a missionary who gave his life for the gospel, said, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain which he cannot lose. So I have a big list of all these other people who in the Bible have been called by God to do great things. And some people who ran from God's call, like Moses, I already said, I'm slow to speech. Jeremiah thought he was too young. Barak in Judges chapter 4 insisted that Deborah accompanying him into battle because he didn't think he could do it on his own. And so we move forward and we trust and obey. And we want to be more like those people that answer God's call, like Abraham, who obeyed and went, not knowing where he was going. It says in Hebrews 11:8. Or Mary, Jesus' mom, who humbly accepted, saying, I am the Lord's servant. And the disciples who immediately left their nets and followed Jesus. So Henry Blackaby says, You cannot stay where you are and go with God. So let's for the worship team can come forward. But Lord, I thank you that we have been given this opportunity to live this life and to be given spiritual gifts to empower us and equip us to serve you. And I pray that as you call us to little things or big things, that we would be quick to say yes. Sometimes it seems so much greater than we could ever do on our own. Sometimes it seems so menial. We'll be like, oh, why would that matter? But to be faithful, to answer your call, to serve you with the resources, with the time, with the energy, with the opportunities and the privileges we have, and to be faithful. Lord, let people find us faithful. And Lord, help us to be quick to communicate who we are in Christ and how they can know Jesus too. So we commit this time, we commit our lives in Jesus' name. Amen.