SPEAKER_01: You're listening to this edition of the world.
SPEAKER_00: I remember with clarity the person that I used to be before I was saved.
SPEAKER_00: I remember with happiness.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can relate to what I'm about to say, but I hated who I was as a human being.
SPEAKER_00: And when Christ came into my life when he blessed me, and I became a born-again Christian, I'll tell you everything changed.
SPEAKER_01: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_01: We hope you are encouraged by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: In praying about the service, I really felt the Lord leading me to talk to you about the Iranic Blessing out of Numbers chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Has anyone ever heard a message on the ironic blessing?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just curious.
SPEAKER_00: A few?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Well, hopefully this will be as good as the one you heard, brother.
SPEAKER_00: Time will tell, right?
SPEAKER_00: Two weeks ago, I preached on Matthew 5.6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose of that message was to cause you to hunger and to thirst for the deeper things of God so that you could be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Last Sunday, Pastor Ryan spoke about the importance of hope as our hope is tied into the reality of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Did you enjoy that message last week?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's give him a clap offering here.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Ryan.
SPEAKER_00: So I wanted, see, Ryan and I didn't plan this, but I'm bringing the third message of the Bless You series.
SPEAKER_00: So many people have a misunderstanding of God.
SPEAKER_00: They've been wounded, they've been hurt by figures in authority.
SPEAKER_00: Moms, dads, pastors, coaches, people that you should have been able to trust that prove that they were not trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: And the sad reality is that when those kinds of wounds happen, it has a tendency to change our view of the person that we really can trust the most with our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And my whole desire this morning is to try to convince you from the Scripture that every blessing that you've ever received in life has been by the hand of the God who loves you, who wants the very best for you, who so desires to minister to you with such profound intimacy, more than you can begin to imagine or think.
SPEAKER_00: So when we when we open to number 6, verse 27, let me just go ahead and read it to you.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice, first of all, who the characters are.
SPEAKER_00: Who are the people involved in this?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord spoke to Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Who's talking to Moses?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Very important.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel and you shall say to them, Now please understand what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: More than likely, Moses has just come out of the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_00: He's been communing with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: They're getting ready to finally inhabit the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: And God wants to bless them before they cross over.
SPEAKER_00: And God is saying, Moses, I'm going to give to you my personal blessing.
SPEAKER_00: These are my words.
SPEAKER_00: These are not the words of men.
SPEAKER_00: These are not the words of the priests or the prophets or the kings to come.
SPEAKER_00: These are my words given to you so that my priest who stands before the people can proclaim to them the truth of my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Very important that you understand where this is coming from and its purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 27, so shall they put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless them.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the heart?
SPEAKER_00: Choose that background for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to understand God's heart.
SPEAKER_00: Not through the experiences that you've had through life, and trust me, some of you have had some really bad experiences.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have prayed in earnest for things that you're going through to change so that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel and just a little bit of hope, and you're still waiting.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have been disappointed and you've been hurt.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you may be really, really mad at God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Because of the things that you've experienced or the things that you had hoped to experience and just haven't happened, and why?
SPEAKER_00: And where is he?
SPEAKER_00: And if God is a God of love, then how can these things possibly happen?
SPEAKER_00: Those of you that witness to others casually or decidedly, how many times have you heard somebody say, if God were a good God, why would he allow these things to happen?
SPEAKER_00: Terrible things to happen?
SPEAKER_00: If he is a good God, if he is a loving God, how can he allow these kinds of tragedies to happen?
SPEAKER_00: You've experienced that, haven't you?
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we don't quite know what to say to that because it's like, yeah, I can relate because I'm kind of dealing with the same stuff.
SPEAKER_00: So this prayer, if you were to write out all of the prayers on scripture, which there are numerous, Paul's are some of the most fabulous, there is no prayer that you could ever pray for another individual that can be improved upon.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's prayer for you.
SPEAKER_00: These are his words for you.
SPEAKER_00: You can't improve on God's direct communication, can you?
SPEAKER_00: So the Iranic blessing has three specific segments.
SPEAKER_00: Each division is broken up into two.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm going to go ahead and break those down for you one by one.
SPEAKER_00: The first is the most general, verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: God's blessing is his goodness poured out.
SPEAKER_00: The priest called upon him not only to provide for the people, but also to defend them from all evil.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord bless you.
SPEAKER_00: The word bless is barach.
SPEAKER_00: It's a primitive word which means to kneel down.
SPEAKER_00: To kneel down.
SPEAKER_00: Now I have 16 grandchildren.
SPEAKER_00: And most of them are considerably shorter than I am, except for a few that are adults now.
SPEAKER_00: But I remember, do you remember when you were littler?
SPEAKER_00: How the Grampy would come up and he would kneel down and pick you up?
SPEAKER_00: Can I see your hands if you're a grandparent here?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: You know, you kneel down so that you can bless them.
SPEAKER_00: And God is saying, I love you so much that I am willing to kneel down.
SPEAKER_00: I am willing to bend down.
SPEAKER_00: I am willing.
SPEAKER_00: I am desirous.
SPEAKER_00: I want to touch your life.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I love you.
SPEAKER_00: Wesley's expository notes to bestow upon you all manner of blessing, temporal and spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: To keep, that is, to continue his blessing to you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to just bless you one time.
SPEAKER_00: I want to bless you throughout all time.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you hear somebody, I remember years ago, when I was a new Christian, we used to have Wednesday night services.
SPEAKER_00: I've just dated myself.
SPEAKER_00: And Wednesday nights were dedicated to testimonies.
SPEAKER_00: And you'd have somebody stand up and they'd give their testimony.
SPEAKER_00: And I always wondered when that happened.
SPEAKER_00: Was it yesterday?
SPEAKER_00: A week ago?
SPEAKER_00: A year ago?
SPEAKER_00: A decade ago?
SPEAKER_00: God wants to bless you every day of your life.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to have a fresh testimony of his love, a fresh expression of his desire to be intimate with you every single day of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 3 and verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: It was to you first that God sent his servant and son Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When he raised him up, provided and gave him for us to bless us and turning us, every one of you, from wickedness and evil ways.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the word bless is not just physical, tangible things, but he wants to bless you spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you can say with me that you feel blessed that God has turned you away from sin?
SPEAKER_00: Can I see your hand?
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that didn't raise your hands during communion, there will be prayer teams on the left and on the right.
SPEAKER_00: We would invite you to come forward because we want you to be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: I remember with clarity the person that I used to be before I was saved.
SPEAKER_00: I remember, not with happiness, but with sadness.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can relate to what I'm about to say, but I hated who I was as a human being.
SPEAKER_00: And when Christ came into my life, when he blessed me, and I became a born-again Christian, I'll tell you, everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: God's desire is to bless you.
SPEAKER_00: James 1:17, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
SPEAKER_00: Every blessing, those of you that are happily married, just the men only, may I see your hands?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, ladies, did you notice?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: You have been blessed in marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Men?
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, men, you have been blessed with the wife that you have with you today.
SPEAKER_00: Is that correct?
SPEAKER_00: That's what I thought you were going to say.
SPEAKER_00: And the women that have children, and I know children can be well difficult at times, and I have one of mine sitting here this morning, and I love you.
SPEAKER_00: And I am blessed that you are my daughter.
SPEAKER_00: Every blessing that you have, the job that you think you have your jobs because you're all that in a bag of chips.
SPEAKER_00: I went to college, I got my master's, I got my PhD, I have this job because I earned it.
SPEAKER_00: I pulled myself up from the bootstraps.
SPEAKER_00: You really believe that?
SPEAKER_00: God wants to set you free.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever blessing you may have this morning has come from the Father of Lights, saved or unsaved.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you have that you consider to be a blessing is by the hand of Almighty God.
SPEAKER_00: Because he loves you.
SPEAKER_00: Not because you earned it, not because you deserved it.
SPEAKER_00: He just wanted to shower you.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the only thing.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to keep you, he wants to bless you, and he wants to keep you.
SPEAKER_00: I accepted Christ in 1969.
SPEAKER_00: This is 2017.
SPEAKER_00: I've never backslid one time.
SPEAKER_00: He's kept me.
SPEAKER_00: Now I've had opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I could tell you stories that would bring tears to your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: He's kept me.
SPEAKER_00: The only people who are not tempted are dead.
SPEAKER_00: He's kept me.
SPEAKER_00: Have dealt with temptation every single day of my life as a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's true.
SPEAKER_00: And it's true for you too.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look at me like that.
SPEAKER_00: You deal with it too.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just bless you, he keeps you.
SPEAKER_00: He keeps you.
SPEAKER_00: Is there a greater blessing outside of salvation?
SPEAKER_00: John Gill's expository Bible says this from the evil of the world, from the hell, from the evil of Satan, from the evil of sin, from the from its power, its prevalence, its dominion of it, and from falling totally and finally by it and keep in state of grace until everlasting salvation.
SPEAKER_00: God is a keeping God.
SPEAKER_00: These are the words of Jehovah.
SPEAKER_00: These are the words of Yahweh to his people.
SPEAKER_00: Say to my people these words.
SPEAKER_00: Say to them, not one time, the Iranic blessing was a regular ritual when they came together for worship.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 121, verses 5 through 8.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is the shade on your right hand, and the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord will keep you from all evil.
SPEAKER_00: He will keep your life.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord will keep you going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: God will keep you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for those of you that may be here this morning saying, I wish it were true, because you don't know my story.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say this to you.
SPEAKER_00: There's no temptation that you've ever dealt with.
SPEAKER_00: It is not common to the person sitting right next to you.
SPEAKER_00: And God's promise is that with the temptation, He also understands how much you can endure.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what your breaking point is.
SPEAKER_00: His promise is he will never allow you to be tempted above what you can actually stand.
SPEAKER_00: And you might say, Well, George, I wish that were true.
SPEAKER_00: If you yielded, it was a premeditated decision on your part.
SPEAKER_00: You moved, but God didn't.
SPEAKER_00: God's promise is true.
SPEAKER_00: And he will keep you.
SPEAKER_00: He will live up to his word.
SPEAKER_00: He will administer his word.
SPEAKER_00: Submit to God, resist the enemy, he will flee.
SPEAKER_00: That is a keeping promise.
SPEAKER_00: That's a keeping promise.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 8 in the New Living Translation.
SPEAKER_00: He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
SPEAKER_00: God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says.
SPEAKER_00: And He has invited you into partnership with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He is faithful to do what He said.
SPEAKER_00: He will bless you.
SPEAKER_00: He will keep you.
SPEAKER_00: How long have you been unemployed?
SPEAKER_00: Where is God's blessing?
SPEAKER_00: What about that prodigal son or daughter?
SPEAKER_00: And I've done everything that I've known to do as a parent to really raise them in a way that would honor Christ and bless their lives, and for whatever reason, they've walked away.
SPEAKER_00: Where is the keeping power of our God?
SPEAKER_00: Where is the blessing when my heart breaks, not knowing whether or not that prodigal is even alive or dead?
SPEAKER_00: Am I talking to the right crowd this morning?
SPEAKER_00: There are times when we have problems with the promises of God because we really believe that we're doing our part, and for whatever reason, God isn't doing his.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I want to be honest with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you hope.
SPEAKER_00: Bad things happen to good people.
SPEAKER_00: It just does.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a broken world.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a world where we use sex to sell used cars and hamburgers.
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a world that is anti-Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes things happen to us that are separated from the promise of God simply because of the wrong decisions of other people.
SPEAKER_00: Not just because of the wrong decisions that we make.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we suffer because someone else made a grievous error in judgment.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to hear me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Regardless of the situation that you're in, regardless of the disappointment that you may have brought with you to church this morning, God's word is true for you.
SPEAKER_00: And if you can walk out of here today believing, hanging on to the fact that He wants to bless you, that He wants to keep you, and that He can redeem whatever situation you are currently in, then you're going to experience something supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord's face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
SPEAKER_00: The word shine in the Hebrew literally means luminous, set on fire.
SPEAKER_00: The second blessing is more specific than the first, verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: God's face is the revelation of his personality.
SPEAKER_00: It radiates as fire does, consuming evil and bestowing light and warmth.
SPEAKER_00: And it shines as the sun, promoting life.
SPEAKER_00: God's graciousness refers to the manifestation of his favor and grace in the evidence and the events of life.
SPEAKER_00: God shines.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 12, 21, when I think about the blessing of the Lord, his capacity to keep, that he really desires to stoop down and humble himself to touch us.
SPEAKER_00: But I mean the fact that he even thinks about us is kind of extraordinary.
SPEAKER_00: There are some believe that God is so distant, he created us, kind of like giving birth to a baby, leaving it on the doorstep and going on with life and paying no attention.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the God we serve.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God that is intimately involved with every detail, every care, every concern, every hope, every fear, every failure, every aspect of your life.
SPEAKER_00: He cares.
SPEAKER_00: He shines.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 12, 21.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord went before them.
SPEAKER_00: They've been delivered out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They're on their way to the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_00: The Egyptians were not the only enemies that the children of Israel faced.
SPEAKER_00: There were many.
SPEAKER_00: And the testimony is, and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel both day and night.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Cecil B.
SPEAKER_00: DeMille did a pretty good job, pretty good job with the movie he produced, and he didn't even have all the cool technology we have today.
SPEAKER_00: But I can envision that pillar of fire at night just radiating the face of God in front of the people.
SPEAKER_00: I can just see him looking down.
SPEAKER_00: Involved.
SPEAKER_00: Not distant, involved.
SPEAKER_00: And letting the light of his countenance in the form of a pillar of fire lead them through the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: I went through a time of darkness a couple of times.
SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you this, I experienced the shining of his face.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 31, 16, make your face shine on your servant.
SPEAKER_00: Save me in your steadfast love.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 80 and verse 3, restore us, O God, let your face shine that we may be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Show us your personality.
SPEAKER_00: Reveal the true you to us so that our hope can be rekindled.
SPEAKER_00: So that our courage can be bolstered.
SPEAKER_00: Reveal yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Shine.
SPEAKER_00: Allow us to see you in the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And be gracious to us.
SPEAKER_00: Again, to bend or to stoop in kindness to an inferior.
SPEAKER_00: Are we inferior to God?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, can we say that in church?
SPEAKER_00: I know we're saints, but compared to God, I think we're inferior.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of like an ant trying to understand brain surgery.
SPEAKER_00: There's a bit of inferiority there.
SPEAKER_00: But God, God wants to, again, not just be up on the high in holies, but God is willing to actually come to us and bend down and expose himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: He's personal.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to be personal to you.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to experience him.
SPEAKER_00: Not just to have a mental ascent, not just to have a correct theological view.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to touch you.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to be gracious to you.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 30, verse 18, therefore the Lord waits to be gracious.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord is a God of justice.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who wait for him.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that are a part of the road and you're doing PBJ, we're just about done with the book of Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: It's really an interesting book.
SPEAKER_00: You have to get through the first couple of chapters and then it gets interesting.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I experienced personally.
SPEAKER_00: But I love the part where the king issues a decree and says, I want those of you who want to go back to Israel and Judea, go ahead and go and rebuild the temple of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so almost 50,000 of them journey, they make the trip and they start rebuilding.
SPEAKER_00: And their enemies, can we join you?
SPEAKER_00: Can we join you in rebuilding the house of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, you have no part of this.
SPEAKER_00: You have no part of us.
SPEAKER_00: And so if we can't join you, if we can't kind of sneak in and do subtle sabotage, then we'll just do this overtly in your face.
SPEAKER_00: And they shut them down.
SPEAKER_00: Depending on the commentator that you read, somewhere between 10 and 15 years, the work on the temple stopped.
SPEAKER_00: And they waited.
SPEAKER_00: And they waited because they had the decree of God, go and rebuild.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God, we're trying to go and we're trying to rebuild, but our enemies have come against us and we have just we're just shut down.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing more we can do.
SPEAKER_00: Except to wait patiently, trusting that what you said will come to pass, even if it takes time.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't understand why you delay the way that you do.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the question you brought with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If God is so great, why the delay?
SPEAKER_00: We've prayed and we've prayed and we've laid hands and we've anointed with oil and we're still waiting, and where's the promise of God?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they were thinking the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's been five years, it's been ten years, it's almost fifteen years.
SPEAKER_00: Where's the promise of God?
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden the Lord moves on a new king's heart.
SPEAKER_00: Those of you that have read Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: And the cool thing about that whole story is, to make a long story short, is that Ezra, the king, issues a new decree and says, not only will they be permitted to rebuild, but those of you that have come against them, you're gonna pay for the rebuilding.
SPEAKER_00: I love that part.
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking of somebody that I love very much who's been in a waiting mode for so many years, and I actually began to pray this scripture for them.
SPEAKER_00: That God would enable them to be patient while God works in secret.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus loved Lazarus, he loved him.
SPEAKER_00: And the word comes to Jesus, you know, your friend Lazarus is sick, but if you can hurry up and get here, then you can heal him and he'll be just fine.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus hears the message and purposely delays, purposely.
SPEAKER_00: You have to understand Jesus loved this family.
SPEAKER_00: And it was it was a simple journey to get from where he was to where Lazarus was sick.
SPEAKER_00: It was a simple journey.
SPEAKER_00: But he chose not to go.
SPEAKER_00: And when he finally shows up, people are at the tomb and they're still weeping.
SPEAKER_00: Still weeping days after he's been buried.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary kind of confronts Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a little bit of anger there.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you had been here, if you had been here, he would still be alive.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Mary, do you believe in the resurrection?
SPEAKER_00: Answer from her head.
SPEAKER_00: Well, of course I believe in the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: That answer didn't come from her heart, it came from her head.
SPEAKER_00: She had the theological understanding someday there'll be a resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: I am the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Roll away the stone.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Lord, please.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, by now the body stinks.
SPEAKER_00: Roll the stone away.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I came to bless, I came to keep, I came to be gracious.
SPEAKER_00: And even in delay, when you think it's dead and it's gone and there's nothing left to hang a promise on, I am still able.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Lazarus, come forth.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who wait for him.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you are waiting.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are here this morning listening, and it's like, well, that sounds really great for the person who's blessed and has full-time employment and is married because I'm single and I'm sick of being single.
SPEAKER_00: That's great for the person who's really res.
SPEAKER_00: What about me?
SPEAKER_00: What about my needs?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are all of those who wait for him.
SPEAKER_00: Can you wait?
SPEAKER_00: Can you hang on to the promise that is more sure than the sun rising in the morning?
SPEAKER_00: Interesting story about God's graciousness.
SPEAKER_00: You're familiar with Jonah and Nineveh?
SPEAKER_00: Nineveh was one of the most powerful cities, maybe the most powerful city in this particular time.
SPEAKER_00: And it was wicked.
SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew word for wicked was really, really bad wicked.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, Jonah, I'm going to send you, and I want you to go, and I want you to tell them how wicked they are, and I'm going to wipe them off the face of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: But see, here's what Jonah understands.
SPEAKER_00: Jonah understands that God is gracious and he's compassionate and he's scared to death that if he goes, they might repent.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, that would be terrible.
SPEAKER_00: Because they deserve, they deserve the wrath of God to come upon them.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jonah goes the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_00: And you know the story about the fish, and he's in the belly for three days.
SPEAKER_00: He's vomited up.
SPEAKER_00: Probably skin is bleached, smells to high heaven worse than a carp and the sun for five days.
SPEAKER_00: If you've never smelled a carp, you don't even know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I saw Jonah walking in, God's going to destroy you, repent, I'd be looking at him, and I'd be on my knees, I'd be on my face.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00: You know.
SPEAKER_00: And exactly what he feared happened.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 4, verses 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_00: But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
SPEAKER_00: Because when he walked through the city, God is going to destroy you because of your exceeding wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone fasted.
SPEAKER_00: No water, no food.
SPEAKER_00: The animals, no water, no food, from the highest person up, from the king to the lowest, youngest child, every single person, every animal humbled themselves before God and begged for mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And God relented.
SPEAKER_00: And Jonah is ticked off.
SPEAKER_00: And he prayed to the Lord and said, Oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my journey?
SPEAKER_00: That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish.
SPEAKER_00: For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.
SPEAKER_00: That's the gracious God that we serve.
SPEAKER_00: There are some people that you meet that are going to say, it's too little, it's too late, it's over for me.
SPEAKER_00: God, you don't understand the life that I've lived.
SPEAKER_00: God can't be gracious to me.
SPEAKER_00: He can't bless me.
SPEAKER_00: He can't keep me.
SPEAKER_00: His face will not shine upon me.
SPEAKER_00: But he's been talking to me like this.
SPEAKER_00: His back is to me.
SPEAKER_00: And you can say to them with absolute assurance, if God can forgive the people of Nineveh, trust me, you're a cakewalk.
SPEAKER_00: There is no sin so great, save one, that God is not willing to prove his graciousness and forgive.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord turn his face to you.
SPEAKER_00: Panin.
SPEAKER_00: May he turn his face to you.
SPEAKER_00: You ever been in a conversation?
SPEAKER_00: See, I'm a counselor, my friend John, he's a counselor.
SPEAKER_00: And we can attest that most of the things that we hear about is, I just don't understand why my husband can't be present when I'm trying to talk to him.
SPEAKER_00: Is that right, John?
SPEAKER_00: Your children come up to you.
SPEAKER_00: They have something important to say.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't really hear them.
SPEAKER_00: I think I'm gonna go out and buy a pound of marijuana.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, oh, oh! He's going for the pass! He's going for the pass.
SPEAKER_00: Touchdown! The child walks off thinking, Oh, Dad said I could go out and buy a pound of marijuana.
SPEAKER_00: I know that's a you know extreme example.
SPEAKER_00: You ever, I mean, we've all experienced this.
SPEAKER_00: You're talking to somebody, their body is there, but they are not even present.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, am I talking to the right people?
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, she says, I'm guilty.
SPEAKER_00: Or no, no, no, it happened to you, not guilty, it happened to you.
SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: You go to God with your pain, you go to God with your hopes and your cares and your concerns, and this is what you get.
SPEAKER_00: And God is saying, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Moses tells Aaron that when he blesses the people, make sure they understand my face is turned to them.
SPEAKER_00: I see them.
SPEAKER_00: I want my people to know I see them.
SPEAKER_00: There was a movie, tall purple people who lived in the woods.
SPEAKER_00: What was that called?
unknown: Avatar.
SPEAKER_00: Avatar, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Avatar.
SPEAKER_00: This happens when you're my age.
SPEAKER_00: What can I tell you?
SPEAKER_00: These are the things you have to look forward to.
SPEAKER_00: Senior moments, and they begin to last longer and longer.
SPEAKER_00: Avatar.
SPEAKER_00: It was a really interesting thing in there when they said, I see you.
SPEAKER_00: If you had any inkling at all as to what they were trying to communicate, that is what God is trying to communicate to you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I actually see you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't just see your facade.
SPEAKER_00: I see to the very core of your soul.
SPEAKER_00: I see everything.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is hidden.
SPEAKER_00: I see.
SPEAKER_00: I see because I choose to turn my head.
SPEAKER_00: I choose to look.
SPEAKER_00: I choose to bend down.
SPEAKER_00: I choose to stoop.
SPEAKER_00: I choose to care.
SPEAKER_00: Aaron, be sure my people understand that I see them.
SPEAKER_00: How important is that?
SPEAKER_00: Gil's expository notes again: show his face of favor, look cheerfully on his people, declare himself well pleased with them in Christ, and appear as smiling upon them through him, indulging them with visits of love, restoring to them the joy of salvation, and upholding them with his free spirit, and so causing them to walk pleasantly and comfortably in the ways of God, expecting eternal life and happiness as God's free gift through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He sees you.
SPEAKER_00: No amen?
SPEAKER_00: I feel like you're present, but I I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I you know, you're here, I don't know if you're present.
SPEAKER_00: He sees you.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness gracious.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive them, Father.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord turn his face to you and give you peace.
SPEAKER_00: Shalom.
SPEAKER_00: Now the word shalom, see, here's the problem with the English language.
SPEAKER_00: The English language is like this big.
SPEAKER_00: And Hebrew is like this big.
SPEAKER_00: And so when they try to translate, it's really hard because we're to translate a robust language into a very, very narrow English.
SPEAKER_00: The word shalom isn't just peace, it's God's blessing on every aspect of your life, on your soul primarily.
SPEAKER_00: Because you see, it's the soul of man that holds all the moving parts together and keeps them working in harmony.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to give you peace.
SPEAKER_00: Numbers 626 in the amplified reads this way: the Lord lift up his approving countenance upon you and give you peace, tranquility of heart, and life continually.
SPEAKER_00: We see a parallel verse in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: The apostle Paul, who suffered more than any other apostle in the New Testament, he understands pain, trust me, on every level.
SPEAKER_00: And he's writing to the Philippian church with us going through some tough times.
SPEAKER_00: And he starts in verse 4 and he says, Rejoice, and again I say rejoice, it's like, Paul, what are you smoking?
SPEAKER_00: Do you not understand?
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on and he says, Don't be anxious, pray about everything with thanksgiving, etc., etc.
SPEAKER_00: And then he comes to verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to read to you verse 7 in the amplified because again, it unpacks the beauty of the original language.
SPEAKER_00: And God's peace shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul, assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God, and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is a shalom, this is a peace that encompasses the totality of who you are and who you hope to be.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 14, 17.
SPEAKER_00: For the kingdom of God is not just a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And then he concludes with verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: So shall you put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.
SPEAKER_00: As if he hasn't already said enough.
SPEAKER_00: And now put my name on the people.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we have the name of God upon us, we have it all saints.
SPEAKER_00: We have it all.
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