03/24/26

Jonah week 2

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

In verse number eleven. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea shall rot and was tempted us. And he said unto them, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea, so that the sea shall be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great temptus is upon you. Nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea was wrought, and the tent was tempest against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and they said un and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Let's pray right quick. Lord, I love you, and I thank you for your word. I thank you, God, that your word never comes back void. And Lord God, before I go any further than that, God, I just pray that you, the Holy Spirit, will show up in this place tonight. Lord God, I just pray that you'll open our hearts, you'll open our minds. God, I just pray that you'll just do a work in us. There's men sitting in this room that's struggling tonight. There's men in this room tonight, dear God, that needs a touch from you, Lord. There's men that just needs you to show them how great thou art. And God, we know how great thou art. You are the one and only true God. And God, I just pray right now that you'll take your word and preach tonight, dear God. And I pray I decrease, you increase, and the words out of my mouth will be of you, not of me, God. I pray in Christ's name. Amen. And he said in verse number 11, they said unto him, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea would raw tempests. This sea was so much upon them. It was just troubling. It was just so troubling, man. Could you imagine sitting on this boat, man? There was nowhere to go. There was no land in sight. Or maybe there was land in sight, because they said that a little bit, but they just couldn't get there. They were rowing, but they couldn't get there. There was nothing they could do, and it was just overtaking their life. And he said, The thing you need to do, then he said, and then he said unto them in verse number number 12, he said, Take me up. He said, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea. And I see I see this thing where if you'll think back, and maybe maybe you're sitting here tonight and you say, Man, I just I'm not sure about my salvation. I'm not sure about, but but what I do know is when I go to church, or what I do know is when I hear somebody preach. What I do know is, man, it feels like the sea's coming about me. I feel like the man, everything's coming against me. I feel like the man, I just can't get out of out of my own way. I can't do these things. Jonah said, take me up. The same way that Jesus is going to say to us and say in a just few in a few verses, is the way it way I feel the Lord's speaking to me is he said, just take me up. Take me up on my offer, take me up on what I can do, take me up, understanding that I can save you and I will. But but he says right here, he said, He said, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know for my for this my sake, this great tempest is upon you. He knew that the trouble that they were facing was because of him. So, so you start wondering and asking yourself, well, why did he say, throw me in the sea? Did he want to be the sacrifice for them? Was he painting that picture? I mean, is the Lord painting a picture right here showing that that Jonah's going to be a sacrifice for them like Jesus is for us? I don't know, but it kind of sounds like that. But he said, listen, if you want, if you want some calmness, if you want some peace in your in this in this storm, if you want all the trouble to get away from you, he said, man, just throw me in. Just throw me in and be done with me, and you'll be okay. That's just what he said right here. So, so I'm asking you tonight, how many times have you fought life and you've tried to fix it when God said, Man, just trust in me. Just trust in me, but we don't want to do it. We don't want to do it, and we're gonna see this in this next verse, and I'm looking back at some of these notes that I wrote down, but he says right here, nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to land. And it to me it's painting a picture of salvation here. To me, it's painting a picture of listen, man, there was a time in your life that that you knew that you couldn't fix it. There was a time in your life that you knew that the only thing that you could do is ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and save you because you knew that this man, man, he was just overwhelming. You said, Man, this tempest is about me and I can't figure out what it is. That tempest wasn't it wasn't trouble. It was Jesus Christ coming about you and saying, Listen, you just need to surrender to me, man. And and all this will go away. And I'm not trying to preach the prosperity gospel saying, Man, you take Jesus on and everything good. No, but hey, that sea will be off of you once that that sea will be gone. You'll never have to worry about I'm not gonna die and go to the devil's hell anymore. You won't have to worry about that because he'll take over. That's what he's saying right there. That he'll take over and you ain't got to worry about it. There'll be things in life you'll have to worry about, but man, if you'll just take him up, that's what he's saying to you and I right now. Just take me up. Take me up. He said, You ain't got to do what he said right here in verse number 1413. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to land, but they could not, for the sea was rotten and was and was tempted against them. But the thing that we have in life, men, is we think that we can fix it. How many times, how many times in your own life you know that God was calling you out? You know that God said, Man, I he was calling out to you, and all you had to do was open that door and let him in. He called you and he called you and he called you, and you said, No, Lord, I got this. I'm gonna row myself back to shore. I got it figured out. I've got the bull by the horns, I've got life figured out. You I'll get all that done when I get better, when everything gets ironed out, Lord. Then I'll come to your salvation. Then I'll submit to you, Lord. And that's what he's saying right here. So many times we just try to row the boat and take care of it ourselves. And the Lord said, Listen, I got somebody, God said, I got somebody that'll row your boat, man. I got somebody that'll get you to where you need to be. I got somebody, not only will he will he take you where you need to be, he'll show you who he is. And then that's what he's saying to us right there. He's trying to make us understand, quit rowing the boat. And I think God's saying to somebody tonight, you need to get out the boat, man. You got in the boat, you got in the boat going to Joppa, and you should have never gotten that boat. Some of you need to get in the right boat. If we could stop and testify right now, we've all been in the wrong boat. Especially fishing. Anybody got in the wrong boat and got out here and it was just the seasons were a little too rough? We talked about never go with Johnny Wilde. Amen. We already discussed that. But we all have gotten the wrong boat sometimes. Johnny's a good guy. I ain't beat him down, but he ain't here, so we can dig him up. That's right. And he said verse 14. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said, We beseech thee, O Lord. We beseech the begging God. Man, we know what we're supposed to do. Man, I can see a lost person right here saying this, God, I know what I'm supposed to do. I know I'm supposed to submit right here. I know I'm supposed to do this, God. But but I can't do it. God, God, I I can't do it. And they said, let us not perish for this man's life. I lay not upon, lay not upon us in his blood. He said, dude, you ain't got to. God said, You ain't got to, because I got a son named Jesus Christ that he's gonna take that place, man. And his blood's gonna shed on that cross for your sins. He's gonna take your place. He's gonna take your sins, he's gonna take your place, and he's gonna take all those things. If you'll submit to him, he will do that. You ain't got to die for somebody. He said, I'm sending my son to die for you. That's what he's saying to us tonight. And he said, For the Lord, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. It's all about him. It's all about what pleased the Lord. And what pleases the Lord is his children of Ain. What pleases the Lord is when we're being about his business. That's what pleases the Lord. But so many times we get in the way. So many times, as Jonah did here, man, he said, you know what? No. I'm gonna do it my way, God. But God said, No, I think you're gonna do it my way. See. In verse 11, you'll see in verse 11, the men, they feared the storm. In verse 14, they feared the Savior. The fears started getting different. And you started seeing it in verse 14 right here. They started crying out. They weren't crying out to a little G God no more, man. They understood how great that God was that Jonah run from. They understood, man, if he can cause a storm, a supernatural storm, when they shouldn't have been a storm, man. We can see them. God has done show them that this was all because of Jonah being disobedient. They cried out to him. And then you'll see in this next verse, in verse 15, so they took Jonah up and they cast him forth into the sea, and the sea season was raging. The same thing of the parallel I believe God is painting for us tonight is listen, you can run all you want to. You can try all the different tactics in life. You can try going to church, you can try coming to men's Bible study on Tuesday night. You can try reading your Bible every day. But until you submit to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord's men, you ain't never gonna get it. And that's what he's saying to us right here is man, you gotta throw Jonah in the sea. And you've got to understand that when Jesus Christ dies for you, he takes all those sins away. Not just some of them, not just a little bit of them, he takes them all away. It don't matter how bad you are and how much you you think you can you can categorize your sin, man. He died for all of them. He said the sea raped for the sea seas from its rage. Man, I'll never forget that night. I'll never forget that night. Been in church all my life. All my life. I've been in church. Me and my brother was heading home. He was driving. I was riding. It was in a trying time of my life, and went to things going very bad or anything. We was just riding talking. And he said, I said, man, I just don't know if I'm really safe. I've been I did all the church stuff, redead all the church things. I went to the church camps, did all the stuff. And I'll never forget my brother told me. He said, Well, you better get up here. We didn't say another word. I sit and look at the window the rest of the way home. It was dark and he dropped me off. I'll never forget my driveway. I was standing there. My driveway and where I was at didn't save me, but Jesus Christ did. And I'll never forget standing in that hole and say, Lord, I was dying out to go to hell. And he changed my life forever.

SPEAKER_07 12:25

And can I tell you what happened?

SPEAKER_05 12:28

What he said right there in verse 15 that happened in my life. The raging ceased. Hell wasn't before me anymore. Do you understand? I took care of my business. Jesus Christ took care of me. Jesus Christ came into my life and he saved me and changed me forevermore. Now, is there worries? Is there trials? Is there tribulations as a Christian? I guarantee you there is. There's more because listen, the day that I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, hey, the devil was on an all-out mission, knowing that he couldn't have my soul, but he could try to get my testimony. And it was going to be an all-out war when you ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and save you to the day you die, man. And all I can tell you is keep kicking the devil in the teeth, man, and tell him to go to hell where he belongs. Because Jesus Christ is Lord and He's not. You know, you look at this situation, you'd be like, man, I just don't know about all this. That's where he's looking at you in the eye, looking at me in the eye, and saying, faith. Faith. Faith. And we're going to see this next week about faith. Trusting God. Because so many times you've heard people say, I just don't know about a man and a fish. I don't know. Listen, we done talked about it. It ain't about a man and a fish. It's about a God chasing after his people. That's what it's all about. And we're going to see that next week. But look right here in verse 16 and 17. He said, Then the men feared the Lord. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. Man. See, God will be glorified in all situations. I sure hope that turkey's starting to fly a little bit. I sure hope he ain't coming off that wall. Hey, he brought Jonah back to life, but I hope that turkey don't come back to life right there. And offered a sacrifice unto the Lord in a battle. I believe God's saying to us tonight. Do you still feel the raging? Listen, just because we showed up here on a Tuesday night at a men's meeting to eat some good food that these men have cooked tonight, just because we've opened the Bible, just because you show up to church, listen, don't mean you won't bust hell's gates wide open because you've never seen Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior. I can't come in here and say, you know what, I think everybody in here is saved. I hope everybody is in here is saved. But I hope if you're sitting here tonight and you say, Brother Mac, I'm just not sure, man. I hope that before you walk out of these doors tonight, you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, because there's no greater, no greater thing you'll ever do in your life than that. And that's what we're doing. Listen, we wend them, we tend them. Hey, disciples make disciples that make disciples. That's just what happens, and that's what we're called to do, and that's what we're called to be, is to be that disciple for other people. So what were they doing here? In verse number 16. These men that feared the storm was now fearing the Savior. These men that they're crying out to God. They understand that he is real. They understand that this man that Jonah cried out to, I mean, that Jonah ran from, that he wouldn't cry out to. They understood that this man was so real, man, they cried out to him. Because they knew if he could stop the storm in their life, they knew that they could serve him forever. They knew that he was that great to make a storm stop. They knew that if he would chase somebody after, he would chase after somebody that much. And I think we need to see that, man. God will go after what he'll do whatever he's got to do to chase you and I down. And that's what he did right there. He went to two extreme measures to chase one of his children down. As you've heard many times, he'll leave that 99 just to go get that one. So he's offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. You get to thinking about well, what kind of sacrifice in the Old Testament did he make on the boat? Did he have animals on the boat? They had done cast everything away. I'm curious. What kind of sacrifices did they make on that boat? They didn't have one. I don't know. I'm just curious about that. I think something I figured out might be something that somebody can explain to me. I'm not positive on that. But what I do know is that people's lives got changed that night. So God took a situation. God took a situation that looked bad to everybody else. See, in all things, God will be glorified. God saved people even in that man's rebellion. That's what he did. Is that giving us a ticket to rebel? No. But that's what happened. Then it said verse 17, and I'm done. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fill three fish three days and three nights. Think about this. Number one, where'd the fish get prepared from? That great fish was prepared by God. It wasn't prepared at listen, think about this. This fish was a, they called it a great fish. It was a big fish. This fish had been growing for years, and I would say this fish has been growing for years. See, God's got it figured out when you don't think he's got it figured out. God's got a plan when you don't understand he's got a plan. He's got it figured out. He prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Think about this. If God wouldn't have prepared a fish to swallow up Jonah, Jonah would have died. See, God's got it figured out. Jonah would have drowned and died right there. The story's over, and you never hear anything about Nineveh. Nineveh gets taken out right then also. But God prepared a fish to take him up. God always prepares a way if you'll listen. But here's here's here's what I got to say, and I'm done. See, and I wrote this down your fish might be a woman, a well, or a water moccasin. Your fish might be a it might be a jungle or a jail. Your fish might be a heart attack or a heavy load. God will send what he's got to to wake you up. But understand that God's mercy was there on Jonah when he didn't have to. You gotta understand, man, that sometimes God will stop you at a red light. How many times you get upset and aggravated because, man, you got somewhere to be and it feels like you hit every red light in town. You just can't get there. Listen, you see it as man, I got to get there and I'm late. God sees it as man, I've got opportunities. You say, Brother Mac, that's silly and crazy. Can I tell you, my God, He provides things like that. He'll keep you out of a storm, He'll put you in a storm, He'll do whatever He's got to do to get your attention and send you in the right direction. And I believe right here in this way, listen, Jonah was headed in the wrong direction. Jonah was fixing to die, but God's mercy showed up just like he does in our life, over and over, day after day. We need to quit looking as men in our life. We need to quit looking and saying, you know what? Why's it got to be so bad? And seeing the negative in every situation. Man, let's turn our this negative into positive. Let's turn these things and say, man, why is this all happening? And say, man, God, thank you for letting this happen. Thank you for the things that happened in my life. Because if not, I'd still be in the pit. I'd still be in that merry clay. But thank God that you took, you set my feet upon a rock and established my goings, and you put a new song in my heart. And because of that, many sit and fear the Lord. God, thank you for those times. Thank you for the things that you did in my life. Any man can find negative if we look for it very much. But God's mercy and his graces is ever before us if we'll just see it. If we'll just get our eyes focused on Him and the things of Him and His Word and what He's called us to be. Next week I want to dig in on chapter 2 and Jonah being in the belly of the well. He's gonna be there three days and three nights. Obviously, it's the same picture of Jesus Christ as we're gonna celebrate next. Sunday week, I'm sorry. A great time. The Super Bowl Sunday, as you would say, for Christians. There's no greater excitement than to understand. There's too many people that don't just show up. You know how they are. Those Christians brother, they got a name for them, but they just show up at Christmas and Easter. I forgot what you call them.

SPEAKER_07 22:29

CEOs. CEOs.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

CEOs, that's right. What's the o?

SPEAKER_03 22:37

It's uh Christmas and Easter only. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

Christmas and Easter only. Yeah, that's good stuff. But let's be honest. There's a lot of people. I'm just gonna be real for a minute. There's a lot of people who won't show up for Christmas and Easter only. They won't show up at all anymore because of me. Because of you. Because the way you conducted yourself out there impacts the way. You say, Brother Matt, that's an excuse. Listen, some people's excuse will keep them out of out of heaven. What God's saying to you and I tonight in closing is to carry yourself in such a way. Carry yourself in such a way that when people see it, they want to be it. Because I don't want, man, I don't want somebody to look at me and say, he's the reason I won't show up. And that should be it. That should be every one of our lives. That should be every one of us, men, that we should make sure that the way we carry ourselves, the way we conduct business, the way we do everything we do, that to understand that at all times the whole world's looking down on us. Because they are. You might not see them, but people's watching you. And I've said it so many times. You're an example every day. Whether you're a good one or a bad one, that's up to you. Be a good example. He's speaking to somebody tonight. Okay? I ain't trying to beat nobody up. I ain't trying to, I ain't trying to be anything. I'm just telling you. Don't leave this place without accepting Jesus Christ, your personal Lord and Savior. You're not guaranteed tomorrow. You're not guaranteed your next breath. You're not guaranteed anything. He's saying tonight. If he's knocking on the door, open it. Open it. Just as I was telling somebody last week. I said, listen. If I talk you into getting saved, the devil will talk you out of it. I can't make you get saved. That's something between you and Jesus Christ himself. You gotta make that decision. I'll be here afterwards. Anyone else? I know Brother Clint's here, Brother Andy. Anyone wants to talk to anybody? It's real. Jesus Christ is real. This is not a fairy tale. So much commentary I've read this week about people. There's so many people that think that I I read one commentary that said that the guy wanted to be a Christian. He was a Georgia Tech uh scholar at that school, and he said, Man, I want to be saved, but there's one thing I'm hung up I'm hung up on, Pastor. He said, He said, I just can't believe that, I just can't believe that that that man lived in that fish. He said, That's what's keeping me from it. And we're gonna dig into that next week and and see what the Lord says. There's a lot there. I don't want you to miss it. But uh listen. As easy as it is for that excuse for that man, listen, don't give somebody else an excuse. Be an example this week. Anyone got anything? I didn't have much tonight, but ain't next Tuesday at Blueberry restaurant. Next Tuesday is at Blueberry Hill restaurant. I'll drop y'all a pen. We're gonna be at Blueberry Hill restaurant. Mr. Pat and all his buddies is coming in for the annual turkey hunt here uh next Tuesday, so we'll be at Blueberry Hill. We're gonna do um we're gonna do smoked chicken thighs, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans next week. Um Mr. Don's excited. He's gonna he's gonna get it smoked up, he's ready. But uh anybody got anything that anybody got anything to mention uh, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Uh oh, we're doing our passion play, brother. John Sartain has added three or four scenes, bring your families. It's a good time just to reflect. And you really see it visually. It's just a good time to bring unsaved people, your families, kids, whoever. It's just uh passion play. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday start at 8 o'clock, 8 to 10. Take it through in groups.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

We got a good Friday service at uh New Life. Um, and uh it's something like you've never seen before. Those guys in here have been before it really He's totally from it, did it?

SPEAKER_06 27:50

Hey, I got a personal invite.

SPEAKER_04 27:53

Hey, I won't say I just want to put a little bug in y'all over here. If you've been in church for any period of time and you've done a communion, you know what to use about it. Uh but this service right here, we done it last year. And I'm telling you, if you if you just come sit in that service and and the Spirit of God does not move you, you in bad shape. Um and if I stood here and talked about it, I'd get emotional and just cry like you beat me with a water hose, but I ain't gonna talk about it. But I'm telling you, if there's any way you could be there, it would change your outlook on living for God and how you feel about your Christianity and how close you want to be to God. It will break you down. That's all I'm saying. It's wonderful. You better get there early too. Seven o'clock. Seven o'clock.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

I want everybody to be praying for a local church that's got the devil got his hands in it. And um I've already heard people kind of excited about the church falling down, but we know the Lord's real and he's been working there, and um whenever he's working, so does the devil. And unfortunately. Um thinking about it, uh put a man in there.

SPEAKER_05 29:30

Grab a hold of it right quick.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Oh, one thing. Okay, put it on and do a good job. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_06 30:06

Is there anybody here that hasn't ever watched The Passion of Christ? I mean, or has everybody here watched it? The movie? If if if you have, you probably only wanted to watch it once. Yeah. But if you hadn't watched it, I think I think everybody needs to watch it. Because uh and when you when you do watch it, you realize that man can't duplicate what actually happened to our Lord and Savior. And I can't imagine it being worse than what I saw on the screen.