"Turn and Trust the Lord" W/ Pastor Brad

Transcript

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All right, so we are continuing on in this series on Jonah. Uh, Jonah was a prophet, he was given a calling by God, but then he ran in the complete opposite direction, and then God turned him around. Jonah is about running from God, repenting before God, a key theme, and then being revived by God. Let the church say, revive. Revive us, Lord. So it's four chapters, four sermons. The first two chapters are about how Jonah runs from his calling, but then there's a shift immediately in chapter three, where he responds to God's calling. So that's where we are headed today. And like Jonah, if we're honest, there are many things in life that we do not want to do. Many things in life that we refuse to do. Sometimes we find ourselves in those moments turning and running, and yet God, in his mercy, gives us another chance to turn to him. And that's today's title. Turn and trust the Lord. Help your neighbor and say, Turn and trust the Lord. All right. Yeah, yeah, perfect, perfect. God tells Jonah, go and preach. Preach the good news in Nineveh. Now, just to do a little bit of context here, check it out. Nineveh was the capital of a very large empire, the Assyrian Empire, and it was massive. It was powerful, and it was a very well-fortified city. In fact, if you were to go there today, you'd see walls that are still remaining, massive walls that look like this. It was known for its military strength and its conquest. It was especially known for its brutality towards its enemies. And in fact, Jonah grew up despising the Assyrians because of the great suffering they had caused and the atrocities they had committed to his people. And think that God had a message of mercy for these folks, the Assyrians. Jonah was like, uh-uh, let me bounce. Deuces, I'm out of here. So he runs, right? Hops on a ship. God sends a storm. God sends sailors. God sends a fish to make sure he would make his way back here. So as he takes a couple of steps towards this city, he approaches it with a message in his belly that God gave to him. And so, in honor of God's holy, living, and active word, if you are able, let's stand to our feet and let's read chapter three together. Chapter three together, 10 verses, very much applicable for today. Here we go. Three, two, one. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you. Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city. It took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued to Nineveh. By the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let people or animals, herds or flocks taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink. Hmm. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. This is the holy word of God. Thanks be to God. Yes, you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. So today, right, is about turning and trusting in the Lord. And I got three parts for you. Here we go. The Ninevehes turn to God. The king turns to God. And then the last point when people turn to God. Just want to walk through this again. The Ninevehes turned to God. Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord finally, and then went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city. It took three days to go through it. Pretty large place. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, here was his message. 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. The Nineveh believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, they did this. They put on sackcloth. Hmm. So, Jonah, right? He takes some time walking through the city. It takes several days. And the message that he has is not seeker sensitive. The message that God gave to him is not this comfort-oriented communication. Yet it's true and it's from the Lord to him. Jonah trusted God not to let social pressures or the fear that he had in his heart to dictate his attitude. No matter how unpopular this probably was, he followed through with what God gave him. And it's crazy. Verse 5 happens. And you want to circle under line verse 5 because if you could for a moment snap with me. Yeah. That's how long it takes, church. It's immediate. He gives this message of repentance, and immediately here's what happens: they believe God, they proclaim a fast. All of them, from the least to the greatest, they put on different clothing. The fashion of the time was sackcloth. Now, sackcloth is mentioned three times in our passage. This was an ancient demonstration of mourning. Think of the most comfortable clothing that you have. This is the complete opposite of that. In fact, kids, this morning with us, if you've got anything that's itchy, any itchy clothing or something like that, yeah, that's what this is. They put on itchy clothing for quite some time. Why? To mourn their sin, repent of it, and to turn and trust God. That's what happens with the people. Even the animals are putting this on. And then the leader takes notice. Look what the king does. When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal clothes, clothes, robes, that's it, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued to Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles. Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything, do not let them eat or drink, but let people and animals be covered in sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let the church say urgently. Mm-hmm. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented. He showed compassion and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. Church family, if you got your Bible with you, just hold it for a moment. And whenever you jump, you know, to the middle, you get the Psalms. Psalms is one of the largest books in the Bible that covers every human emotion. And then you jump to the Gospels where Jesus' ministry begins. From the Psalms to where the ministry of Jesus begins, is about a quarter of the Bible. A quarter of the Bible is dedicated to one prophet after the next, calling God's people to return back to Him. There's about 17 prophets, over and over. The Ninevehites, they just needed one. One prophet, Jonah, and they respond. That's what James 1 says. Do not merely listen to the word, do what it says. Otherwise, we are fooling ourselves, right? Nike might say, just do it. Jonah told this group, just live it. Just live the word of God. And there is this massive reaction here. There's a consequence facing the Ninevehes because of their sin. They knew it. And what did they do? They repented. And none of this is fake. None of it is counterfeit. It's real repentance and turning towards the Lord from the greatest to the least, from the people to the king. And one of the most powerful, beautiful, transformative pictures in the Old Testament is here where God forgives his people. Which means this God is ready to show compassion on anyone who is willing and ready to seek him. Which leads to my final point here when people, when people turn to the Lord. If you've been here for some time, or maybe this is your first time here, let me take you down memory lane for a moment. Because Madison Church, our campus is 18 years old, but Madison this year is 111 years old. It's been here rooted in the community for a very long time. And it began as a storefront, a storefront gospel mission back in 1914 by an evangelist by the name of Liz Smitter. And she served this community for more than 15 years. Week in, week out, show. This is where it began. In fact, if you'd like to learn a little bit more of the history of Madison, we have a book in the back, it's yellow, and it goes through Madison's history. It's for you, it's free. But that's not the story that I want to close with today. The story that I want to close with is the beginning of Times Square Church in New York City. If you've been to NYC, raise your hand. Yeah, yeah, a lot of us. I haven't been. It's on my bucket list. Road trip. I want to check this place out. Here's why. It's one of the largest now in New York, serves the poor and the hurting in remarkable ways. It meets in a renovated, historic theater, and it provides a lot of affordable housing in and around Manhattan. Sounds a little familiar here, right? But it didn't always begin this way. Check it out. David Wilkerson, the founding pastor of this church, was a minister leading a small church in rural Pennsylvania. The pressures of ministry were hard, and he used to relax at night by watching TV. One night he got convicted about how much time he spent sitting in front of a TV. He asked a simple question, but one that would rock his world. Here's the question that he asked. How much time am I spending in front of the TV each night? A pretty applicable and relevant question today, just as it was back in 1958. Amen? Everybody tap your watch. How much time am I spending behind a screen? In February, on a cold blizzardy day in 1958, while seeking God in prayer, Wilkerson felt drawn to the news because he was led to this. What if I uh sold my TV and spent that time just praying? So he did that. And as he's praying, he comes across in the news the murder trial of a young polio victim who had been brutally stabbed to death by seven young gang members in New York City. He's heartbroken by the crime, and he asks another question how could this happen? And he couldn't put the story down, it was on his heart constantly. And this question led to a commission. He sends God propaganda. So at 30 years of age, leaving rural Pennsylvania with no experience and zero plan, he drives to the trial in New York City to share the gospel with these gang members. He was removed from court and was mockingly photographed while holding a Bible. And this made its way to the newspapers. But though the news reports were intended to mock this supposedly naive young preacher, Wilkerson's actions earned him respect with the gang, who recognized him from the publicity. And so he started to preach and witness in the streets, seeing radical conversions of some of the most violent gang members, most notably Nikki Cruz. Wilkerson's account of his experience was turned into a book called The Cross and the Switchblade, which sold, which has sold tens of millions of copies. To help these kids get off drugs, he started Teen Challenge, which has grown into an international movement around the world. Church, if you've been here for some time, you know I love to share a revival story. The history of the church is filled with them. When I hear stories of this, my heart is filled with gratitude that a pastor in a small church was prompted by the Spirit to ask a kingdom question. How much time am I spending behind this TV? How much time am I spending behind this screen? What if I took all that time and started to pray and to fast, like we see in the book of Jonah and like we see in the 1950s downtown New York City. It starts by asking what God wants, not what we want. It starts with learning from Jonah, not running away with what distracts us, but turning to God to give him our heart, our trust. And so let's do that. Let's ask what God wants. Ask him to lift your eyes, our hearts and our minds to his. Because when we turn and trust him, he connects us to the needs and to the mission of God that is around us all. I could go all day, but here are just a few. My friend Ryan asked a question back in 2016 on the roof of this building on a nice, beautiful August day. He asked, What if people lived in here, in this building, and experienced the love of God? That answer led to 41 apartments on the second and third floor in this space and a faithful Wednesday Bible study that meets on the second floor, week in, week out, with the congregation and residence. In fact, if you're a part of that Bible study, can you raise your hand? Yeah. Can we praise God for our faithful leaders in this? Because that's an answer to prayer. My friend Joanna, who I mentioned earlier, asked a question around the same time. What if children were cared for here? That answer led to the commissioning of the Jackie Baber Bay Early Childhood Development Center on the first floor where kids receive early learning, care, and love all week long. My friend Henry asked, why aren't more high schoolers growing in gospel community in my neighborhood? Now, there's around 50 young people that fill his ministry house that's right beside his home, a couple blocks from here on Naylor Street, for discipleship and for pizza. Okay? Church, let God change the questions you ask and watch him transform your life and those around you with his love and his mercy. Jonah came to a point of surrender to God's calling. Not his, but God's. Ephesians 5, verse 8 speaks about what is bright in the world through being people of the world. Walk as children of the light. Please repeat after me. Walk as children of the light. Now I'll be your neighbor and say, walk it out. Walk it out. Church, when you hear his call, you never know where heaven will break in with radiant light. Because when heaven breaks in, check this out, everything is impacted by his kingdom. The people of Nineveh change. The king changes. Hearts transform, leaders change, cities change, streets light up with the light of Jesus Christ. As we turn to him and place our trust in him, watch what God does by following the Spirit of God together to see His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven from one generation to the next. When people turn to Him, revival is the result. And if there is one thing that we are in need of today, it is the unmistakable revival of God. He did it in Nineveh, He did it in the early 50s in NYC. And he is faithful to do it again in Grand Rapids. And all of it is rooted and grounded in what Jesus has accomplished for us. As Pastor Gina shared with us the good news of the gospel. In fact, when Jesus was with his disciples in the upper room, after that they had sung hymns and songs together, he drew on what was immediately around them because he wanted them to understand what he would do on the following day. He took the bread that was there and he broke it. And he said, This is my body that has been given for you. And then he took the wine that was there and he poured it. And he said, This is my blood that has been shed for you on the cross. For every time you eat of my body and drink of my blood, he says, You proclaim the resurrection until I come again. And so he has given his life for us, and it is costly. And through him we receive new life, abundant life, forgiven life in him.

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El turismo.