WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.559 Well, welcome to part four of Shift. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:30.000 If you go ahead and uh pull out your, I guess it's a teaching outline and bulletin all kind of all put into one. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:31.359 It's great to be back. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:36.960 For those of you that don't know me or weren't here last week, I have the privilege of being Ryan's dad. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.119 That has been my claim to fame. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:41.439 And uh as I came in, someone looked at me. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:42.799 He goes, Hey man. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.600 I don't know if you said the hey man, but you're Ryan's dad. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:50.799 So pull this out, and um I'll try and be the best Ryan's dad I can be. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.280 If you have a pen, pull that out as well. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:55.520 Because here's what I want you to get. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:02.399 Um, the title is shift, and about this point in any kind of series, you forget why the title is the title. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:08.480 And uh this summer will be 50 years since I was personally introduced to Jesus. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:10.719 Yes, yes, yes, that's amazing. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:16.000 Uh, that also means I'm older than most all of you, and I've been married 42 years. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:31.280 And uh, having been living a bit longer than probably most all of you, I can tell you this every major change that ever happens in your life happens because of a shift. 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:41.040 Every big change in a relationship, shift in perspective, shift in career, a shift you relocate. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.519 But we tend to try and tweak our way through life. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:02:00.879 I love this title because it's about the book of Jonah, and you would think, you know, this old testament book, but it's about a shift that happens not only in his life, but a shift that happens in people that we would never dream God could change. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:11.039 I was uh meeting with a young man and his wife recently with my wife, and um they they were in a marriage crisis. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:19.759 Great people have really walked closely with the Lord, just a very typical time that you have in career and kids and pressure and all the rest. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.599 And they were in a storm. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:26.159 In fact, much like uh one of those times where, oh God, I need your help. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:34.639 And he called and we sat down together and we had a good talk with the two of them, and I texted him about two days later, hey, how are you doing? 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:37.599 Because I gave him the name of a counselor that I called. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:39.199 And like most of us, right? 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:45.439 We have family of origin issues, we have struggles we've been through, and sometimes we need some outside help. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:48.800 And uh about a week later I said, Well, how did it go? 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:50.000 And did you get a hold of the counselor? 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:54.639 He goes, Well, you know, work got really busy, and you know, the kids are doing this and doing that. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:56.080 Well, I certainly understand. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:59.680 And so two weeks later I texted him again and said, Hey, how's it going? 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.120 And kind of went out of my way to line him up with this counselor. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:07.439 And he goes, Oh, you know, we've just been so busy, things are kind of transactional. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:16.400 So I mean, now we're six, seven weeks out, and um, what I realized, uh, this guy is a lot like me. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:25.840 You get into a storm, you really want help, there's a big conflict, you cry out to God, and you get a little relief. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:30.080 And what you realize is you want relief instead of transformation. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:38.560 Because, see, now the crisis, you know, it's transactional, it's not what it needs to be, but we're kind of getting along and things are sort of okay. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:50.719 And I just want to tell you, as someone who is a little older than most, uh, this summer I will uh was introduced to Jesus as my personal savior 50 years ago this summer. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:56.479 And I've been married to that very young woman with the blonde hair for 42 years. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:13.120 And what I can tell you is over and over and over in my life, when I realized I needed to deal with an issue in me or in my marriage or in my parenting or at work, I've tried to tweak, tweak, tweak, and make little changes. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:15.520 Can I tell you, it does not work. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:20.399 You just delay the pain and you don't experience what God wants for you. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:29.439 I love, uh notice in your notes, if you pull this out and if you happen to have a pen, um at the very top it says, How do you shift to? 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:34.399 And would you would you with the pen underline the more that you were made for? 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:42.319 In week number one, we talked about when we run from God, we shift away, and underline this, are you ready? 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:44.639 From the more that you were made for. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:25.519 Here's what I want you to know. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:38.160 I've been doing this for a long time, and the average Christian that I meet, when I sit down and have anything other than a superficial conversation, is not experiencing the more that you were made for. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:41.279 God didn't just save you to forgive you. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:47.680 He's got a plan, he's got a purpose, he's got peace, he's got direction, he's got a connection in relationships. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:55.839 And some of the biggest challenges, I want you to think about the biggest challenge, the biggest thing if you could say, God, take that away or fix it. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:14.879 Some of the biggest challenges you have in your life right now are actually allowed by God to bring some storms, to receive his mercy so that you can not tweak your life, but shift and experience the more that you're made for. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:20.720 What we're gonna find is that God is so patient and so merciful, and this is a big pretell. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.800 I'm gonna give you the answer to everything that we're gonna learn. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:38.000 Week number four is where we're at, is that when our external acts, obedience, do not reflect our internal attitude, heart, we miss the more we're made for. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:38.959 Let me say that again. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:45.199 When our external acts, okay, God, I'll apologize, okay, God, I'll do what you told me to do. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.439 Okay, God, I'll get my finances in order. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:49.519 But you can do external things. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:50.639 Jonah does it. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.000 Okay, God, I get vomited out on this beach. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.319 You said go tell those Ninevites that there's judgment coming. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:06:59.839 Okay, I'll do it. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:05.839 Often we do external acts to get relief. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:09.600 My friend came for counseling. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.360 My friend even walked away with a little resource in his hands. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:19.680 My friend did a couple little things with his wife that at least put the fire out for now. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:22.399 What he wanted was relief. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:25.519 What he did was tweak his life. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:29.279 But he didn't make a shift. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:40.319 And because he didn't make a shift, the same issues that are unresolved are just gonna keep boiling up, and I got a feeling I'll hear from him sometime soon. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:44.240 Now, here's the good news. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:47.439 We're all that way, aren't we? 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:49.839 Jonah was that way. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:56.079 How does God respond when, you know, it's external, we're not really from the heart? 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:57.040 I love it. 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:58.800 God gives Jonah a redo. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:07:59.680 Are you ready? 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:04.319 Uh we're gonna get a short movie in chapter three of Jonah, and the movie has four scenes. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:08.079 Scene number one is God recommissions Jonah. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:14.480 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time saying, Arise, circle the word arise in your notes. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:20.639 Go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I'm going to tell you. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:21.519 I love this. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:24.480 Jonah rebels, I'm not going to do God's will. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:30.079 He gets himself in a pretty messy, sticky, dark, yicky situation. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:34.000 He gets vomited onto the beach, and God says, okay, let's try this again. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:37.679 Scene number two, Jonah obeys God's command. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:42.480 So Jonah, circle the word you'll know in just a minute, arrived. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:47.360 So Jonah arose and he went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.879 Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:52.639 I won't go into all the background. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.559 Literally, it was the greatest city on the earth. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:59.279 You heard about it earlier if you were in part one. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:09.679 I mean, this is a city that, in our words, was about 378 square miles, because it was a walled city that was closer, but much like it was like a metropolis. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:12.320 Like here, like San Jose is what, a million people? 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.799 But I mean, the Bay Area is like 7.88 million people. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.759 They've been digging, archaeologists, for years. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:27.600 It's like this incredible huge city with hundred-foot walls and you know, wide enough for three or four chariots to go by. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.399 But then there were all these adjoining communities. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:32.000 I mean, it's huge. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:37.120 It's the Shanghai, it's the New York City, it's the LA of its day. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.679 Took three days just to walk from one end of the suburbs to the other. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:52.879 Then Jonah began to go through the city, one day's walk, and he cried out and said, Yet 40 days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:53.919 So he's obeying. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:54.320 Okay? 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:59.039 He doesn't like them, but he's obeying, and he proclaims, Judgment is coming. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:05.039 You know, it says he, in even in the first day that he starts walking, there's a response. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.120 Notice that word, he began. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:15.120 We don't know how long or what he said, or maybe from being inside the fish, maybe he was like his skin was maybe all white or something. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.840 You know, Jesus talked about the sign of Jonah. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:19.360 There's all kind of speculation. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:34.000 Here's what we know a disobedient guy chooses to obey and is telling people, not that he doesn't like, he's telling people that he hates, that in 40 days, God's judgment is coming. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:36.000 So at least he obeys. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:38.639 Notice people's response. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.600 The people of Nineveh repent. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:54.480 Then the people of Nineveh, notice, believed in God, the one true God, and they called a fast, and they put on sackcloth, and from the greatest to the least of them. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:02.960 And when the word reached the king of Nineveh, he, circle it, arose from his throne and laid aside his robe. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.159 Now the reason I wanted you, there's a moment here. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:12.879 Okay, listen, God speaks to a prophet, he gets up and he acts and he does it. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:17.600 Second time, God speaks to him and Jonah arises. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.600 Third time, here's a king, he's on his throne. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.679 That's his position of authority. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:28.240 When he hears judgment is coming, he gets up from his throne. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:31.440 I'm the king, I'm in control, I've got it all down. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:35.919 And his message is I'm taking, I'm not the authority now. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.000 He laid aside his robes. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:40.639 He's taking the prestige, the power. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.519 He was the most powerful person on the earth. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.759 And this is an act of repentance. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:50.480 This is an act of, I'm going to humble myself before God. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:55.120 He takes off his outer robes, he covers himself with sackcloth. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:57.919 And you're going to see that repeated three different times. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:06.159 This is the Old Testament Near Eastern way to say, man, I am such big trouble, Pope. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:07.279 I need God. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.799 And so he takes off the robes, he puts on sackcloth. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.080 And notice then he sits on the ashes. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:22.080 This is a mental, emotional, and volitional, I have absolutely no hope. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:23.919 I bring nothing. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:27.279 Not my throne, not my robes, not my intellect. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:33.600 If there's not an intervention from this Yahweh God, the creator of all that there is, I'm done. 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:44.799 And then he acts, he issued a proclamation, said, In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and by his nobles, do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.360 Do not let them eat or drink water. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:51.120 But both man and beast must be covered with saffclock. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:54.080 He's just saying, We're done. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:55.759 He's at the end of himself. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.720 And by the way, don't just keep this out there. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:03.600 Think about what kind of indication happens in you? 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:09.519 What where has God taken you in your life where you've just, you know, this marriage is done. 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:12.799 I can't put up with this kid one more time. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:17.600 My parents are just, they, they are, they're so unresponsive. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:23.200 My boss, this, this, this health issue, I'm so done with this. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:32.480 What you're seeing is a king with great power and a city that you would never dream would be responsive, coming to the end of themselves. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:35.600 That's a very important place to be. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:43.279 And then notice after he makes that decree, here's what he tells everyone let men call on God. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:45.360 Underline the word earnestly. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:47.039 It's the opposite of Jonah. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:49.200 Jonah's gone through the motions. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:56.080 Ryan will teach next week, and what you'll learn is Jonah actually gets hacked off that God forgives him. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:58.559 That's for another story. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:09.759 But he says, call on God earnestly, and it's not just words, that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in their hands. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.559 And then the king basically is like this: who knows? 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:13.440 Right? 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:14.879 Who knows? 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:22.000 Perhaps God will turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we will not perish. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:25.840 Scene number one, Jonah obeys. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:28.799 Scene number two, Nineveh hears. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:31.679 Scene number three, they repent. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.559 Scene number four, God responds with mercy. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:52.240 When God underlined the word Saul, when God saw their deeds, that they had turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which he had declared that he would bring upon them, and he did not do so. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:57.279 One of the things I jotted in my notes, it's really worth pondering. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:06.000 God takes no delight in punishing the wicked. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:10.080 These are the most wicked people historically on the face of the earth. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:16.000 These are the people that run the sex trade of their day. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:26.399 This was a group of people that impaled people, that skinned them alive, that would go into whole towns and rape all the women and put a sword through pregnant women. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.639 I mean, atrocious, atrocious. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:31.440 Just the worst things you can think of. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:37.360 In view of all of that, God finds no delight in judging the wicked. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:39.200 His default emotion. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:43.919 The default emotion of this book and the message is mercy. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:48.480 He's merciful with a rebellious prophet who knows better. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:51.200 He's merciful with wicked, wicked people. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:57.600 Over the years, I've spent a lot of time and a lot of different people with all kinds of backgrounds. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:07.440 In one season, found myself going uh regularly to maximum security prisons with uh a man who taught me a lot about God. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:17.679 And uh part of his life was uh every month he would go to maximum security prison and he started dragging his young pastor. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:30.720 And if you've never been to one of those deals, and you know, these are these are murders and these are rapists, and there's no hope of ever getting out, and the the bars go and then you walk in, and about a nine by nine, it goes shh. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:33.039 Oh Lord. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:35.360 But John loved him. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:40.559 John said, Chip, you need to understand God loves these people. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:47.279 And we compare and we think their mistakes is far worse than ours, but our our God's heart is for mercy. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:17:02.000 And I had the privilege of being with John and watching people that I could have never even imagined wanting to hear about God cry like babies and experience forgiveness for things that they wish they had never done, but they did. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.880 And that's the picture that we have here. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.680 Don't miss the big message from Jonah's life. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:11.359 Notice the contrast between chapter one and chapter three. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:16.880 In chapter one, God commands him to go, and response is Jonas flees. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:20.559 In chapter three, God commands go, and Jonah goes. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:27.599 In chapter one, God warns the sailors with the storm, and in chapter three, he warns the city through Jonah. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:33.519 In chapter one, the storm actually stops the moment they respond. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.440 In chapter three, the wickedness stops. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:46.319 The response is the sailors repent, they start worshiping Yahweh on the boat, and they put their faith in the one true God. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:52.640 The city responds in repentance in chapter three, and they believe in the one true God. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:58.000 In chapter one, Jonah ends up in a fish and God delivers him. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:03.119 And in chapter three, Jonah ends up in a revival and God delivers his enemies. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:05.039 And don't miss this. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:11.119 Jonah disobeys in chapter one, and then he cries out for life. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:22.160 Jonah obeys in chapter three, and I just can't wait till next week because he is such a hypocrite, like I've seen in my own life. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:25.359 He cries out and says, I want to die. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.559 I would rather die than see my enemies receive the mercy of God. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:32.880 I think there's a couple big lessons. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.559 One from the Nineveh, and then one from Jonah. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:37.759 You ready? 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:44.319 Here's the lesson that I at least learned from this passage from the Nineveh. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:51.920 Receiving God's mercy requires faith, evidenced by repentance. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:54.960 Verse 5, it says they believed. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:05.599 In other words, God wants to be merciful to everyone, but it's available, but it's like having an ocean of water and being dying of thirst and going, no, I'm not gonna drink. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:06.400 I don't need that. 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:07.440 Well, guess what? 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:09.839 It can be available, but you don't get it. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:14.799 So, in order to receive God's mercy, you have to believe. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.960 And then, second, it's evidenced by repentance. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:20.640 Did you get those words? 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:30.640 The king says, Everyone must turn away, believe in God earnestly, turn from your wicked ways, turn from your violence. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:35.680 And then did you notice when God saw their deeds, did you hear those words? 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:41.039 God turned, God relented, God withheld. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.440 See, there's this, there's this whole big theme, this undercurrent about repentance. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:51.119 So let me just explain what repentance is, and repentance is not. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.839 If you're taking notes, you could write the word repentance. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:20:01.279 And what I want to tell you is that genuine repentance, it's a New Testament word, it's meta noia, meta with or change, mine. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:03.839 And so there's an intellectual part of repentance. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:13.200 In other words, you intellectually say, I'm going down this path, it's like I'm going down, you know, 101 south, and you realize, oh, this won't lead me. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.119 I'm supposed to be on 101 north. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.559 So you get over the overpass, and then you turn around and you go the other direction. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.319 That's a good picture of repentance. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:23.920 Well, that's an intellectual thing. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:26.240 Second, there's an emotional component. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.960 It's not just like Jonah, oh, yeah, I was supposed to talk to them about God. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.319 I don't really want to. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:36.559 He repented of it in his behavior, but his heart wasn't there. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.480 There's there's a heart, there's an emotion. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:45.359 Um that's there's a sense of sorrow. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:50.319 Um, and it's not like faking, oh, I'm really sorry I got caught. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:54.960 It's a sorrow where you realize you really damage the relationship. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:08.720 I I will I will just tell you, both in horizontal relationships with people and in my relationship with God, when I finally realize that sin, doing what's wrong, right, is not fundamentally a behavioral issue. 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:11.359 It's fundamentally a relational issue. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:23.119 Because if it's behavior, like, oh, I'm sorry I did that, you know, I I logged on one more time, I lusted one more time, I lied one more time, I stole one more time, I did work one more time, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:26.079 I'm really sorry, and play, you know, and then it's like push-repeat. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:27.200 No, no, no, no. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:35.680 Repentance is intellectually a change of mind, birthed out of a sense of a relational hurt. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:37.599 I hurt that person. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:42.000 It caused a divide between me and my God, and he loves me. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:49.839 And then there's a volitional part, and the volitional part is your behavior is followed by your mind and your heart. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:55.279 Um, I was sharing in the earlier service, uh, just kind of came to me on the fly. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.920 Of I was trying to think of a time. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:08.079 When I when I learned that sin damages a person, and if you get that, how it changes your behavior. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:10.880 Because is there anybody here that uh don't raise your hand? 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:14.480 This would be like wait, because if everyone was honest, every hand would go up. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.160 Uh so I'll just ask this. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:17.680 Keep your hands down, please. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:38.880 Um think think of that thing in your life that you struggle with, and then you try hard, and then you struggle with it, and then you try hard, and you struggle with it, and you try hard, and you know, for some it's anger, for some it's lust, for some it's money, for some it's shopping, for some it's eating, for some it's sex, you know, whatever, right? 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:40.000 We're human. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:48.559 And but but it's like, you know, it like gets old, like I mean, what what brings about change? 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:50.880 Obviously, it's God's grace and God's power. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:55.759 And I'll I'll try and make this a shorter story because I told it too long last time. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.599 Um I we were in a in a sea a tough season. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:03.519 I was in seminary, so I was going to school full-time with a full load. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:13.440 I was working full-time uh because Teresa needed to be home with our kids, and we had two eight-year-olds and a less than two-year-old who's now a pastor of this church. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.880 And uh, I mean, it was like intense. 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:19.680 I'm up like at 4, 4:30 and studying. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:21.759 I go to school, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:27.839 I come home, eat, uh, play with the kids, then work, you know, until 11, get up, the same thing. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:28.960 It was really intense. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:32.960 And my one sort of little moment was playing basketball. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:41.680 And so, like coming home sometimes, I could find a pickup game on an outdoor court, and I get lost, and I would play, and I, you know, didn't have a cell phone. 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:44.880 And if I did have a cell phone, I probably would have not called anyway. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:49.200 And Teresa, it always happened when she cooked a great meal and her love language is service. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:58.880 So she served me, and I'd show up late, we'd have an argument, and we just then she would look this way at night, I'd look this way at night, we wouldn't talk to each other for two days, and then we'd pretend it didn't happen. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:01.119 You know, great conflict resolution. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.480 Uh, we we hadn't been to enough counseling at that point. 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:17.599 And and you know, but what we were I know we were doing some counseling because we were learning these I feel messages about how to uh share your anger without attacking the person, because our lack of that was not good at all. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:23.759 And so I think she listened more than me, and I came home and uh you know the food's cold. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:31.119 And here's what you need to understand my rights, my time, I'm working, I'm going to school, I should be able to play as much as I want. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:32.640 It's my one little thing. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.079 Who cares if it's cold? 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:34.880 I don't get it. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:36.079 Why is she uptight? 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:37.680 You know, I don't show up at 5 30. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:39.519 Give me a break, lighten up, loosen up. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:42.720 This, you know, I'm resentful, I'm angry, and and she is well. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:55.680 And so I come in, and uh, there's candles on on the table, and kids have already eaten, I'm really late, and and she's really kind, and she says, I put it in the oven, and she, you know, I'm thinking, oh man, I'm in real. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.319 I wonder what's happening here. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:07.519 So she um she she does that, and and then I eat, and then she she tried one of these I feel messages. 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:13.599 She goes, I I just want you to know that I spent the day cooking this meal because I love you. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:28.799 And I feel like you don't love me when I spend this time doing this for you, and you seem to not care about me and not even call, and you do it, you know. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:33.039 And I looked in her eyes, and I'll never forget this. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:38.319 And I remember thinking, love and being late for supper? 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:41.599 This this this what this doesn't even compute. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:42.480 What? 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:44.079 I mean, we had a battle. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.519 I'm gonna do my thing, you do your thing, you're this rigid person. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:49.200 5 30, dinner, dinner, dinner. 00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:50.720 Give me a break. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:54.000 And all of a sudden, I repented. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.759 I repent, I saw it through a new lens. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:04.319 This wasn't a person loving me saying, I did this for you. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:12.240 And by the way, what we learned from, you know, your dad was an alcoholic, and I was an alcoholic, and what you've been through, and what I've been through, you're sensitive to rejection. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:16.400 Every time I do this, I'm dissing you and rejecting you. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:24.799 And when I looked into her eyes, watered up, I realized, oh my, this isn't about basketball, this isn't about when you eat supper. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:29.839 Oh, she feels like I don't love her. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:36.799 I recategorized a new mind map got placed inside my head. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:46.480 I was pierced to the heart, and I'm sure she might have a mildly different story, but I don't think I was late for dinner more than a handful of times in the next few years. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:49.680 Because what I what I realized was I love her. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:51.119 I love her. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.440 I would, I would never willfully do that. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:55.279 I thought it was about dinner. 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:56.880 Do you get it? 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:14.079 When when you start thinking about that thing that you can't get over, when you start thinking it's it's anger, it's this person, or it's the circumstance, and all that junk, and you realize that when you willfully sin, it's damaging the person, and and worse, it's damaging the heart of God. 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:18.640 When you get that, I will tell you, you'll be motivated to change. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:29.519 Because it's not like, okay, I crossed the line one more time, and Jesus says there's 1 John 1 9, if I confess my sin, he's faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me from unrighteousness. 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:30.559 So I'm really sorry. 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:33.920 Erased again, erased, again, erased. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.160 That's Jonah's stuff. 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:43.839 Repentance brings about transformation because it steeps something in your heart. 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:53.680 Receiving God's mercy requires faith, evidence by repentance, and here's the principle repentance is a prerequisite for progress. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:57.599 In any area of your life, repentance. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.160 You have to start thinking about it differently. 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:02.160 You have to look at it differently. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:04.240 You got to get a new set of categories. 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:07.200 It's not your addiction, that's not the issue. 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:11.440 It's not your job, it's not your circumstances, it's not this, it's not that. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:19.680 Repentance is pausing and saying, God, give me new eyes to see this through your lens. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:35.759 Allow me to emotionally digest what this is doing to me and other people, and then give me the grace to get on the exit ramp and do a U-turn and get on the Did you hear the song that we sang just before I got up? 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:41.519 I mean, obviously you were in the room, so you heard it, so that wasn't as but did you the little phrase? 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:44.079 I bet we sang it 45 times. 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:45.759 Your way is better. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:49.920 Your way is better, your way is better, your way is better. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:50.880 I got a question for you. 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:52.319 Do you believe that or not? 00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:55.359 You think resolving anger his way is better? 00:28:55.599 --> 00:29:00.400 You think having a healthy relationship with the opposite sex when you're single, his way is better? 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:06.079 Do you really believe that his way is better to manage your finances the way he says? 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:09.920 Do you believe that forgiving someone that his way is better? 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:25.519 Do you honestly believe, like unlike Jonah, that loving and caring and praying for the other political party, the racist on the other end, the person who's navigating the sex trade, a whole new set of lives? 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:27.519 What would it take? 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:31.279 What would it take for the people that down deep you hate? 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:39.759 The person that betrayed you, the person who walked out on you, the person that ripped you off, the man or the woman that's not paying their child support? 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:47.839 What would happen if you repented of, I'm a victim, poor me, or I'm gonna get them back? 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:54.799 And you just keep drinking that poison of unforgiveness, thinking that they're gonna die while you're drinking it. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:58.960 God says repentance is a prerequisite. 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:07.680 In fact, Jesus' very first message in Mark chapter 1, he's uh he introduces his message when he comes, the king has come. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:20.799 Now, after John, speaking of John the Baptist, had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, namely, I'm here. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.400 What's the response? 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:25.920 Repent and believe in the gospel. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:31.519 Change how you think about God, change how you think about there's a kingdom. 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:37.920 The world's kingdom is power, success, looks, sex, money. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:44.400 When you have more of that, then you can be your little king and you can sit on your little throne and you can call the shots thinking. 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:47.440 And he said, No, no, no, no. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:48.559 Repent. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:52.480 That path seems right to men, but it ends in death. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:57.599 There's a new path with a new king, and he'll give life that's really life. 00:30:57.839 --> 00:30:59.279 But you have to repent. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:23.200 After he had lived a perfect life and taught his disciples and was unfairly in a trial, convicted, beaten, crucified, then rose from the dead, and after walking around for 40 days with over 500 eyewitnesses, he ascended to the right hand of the Father. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:35.519 And the the church waited because he said, You know, you were walking around with me in Galilee and Judea, and I I taught you everything, but it's gonna get better. 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:37.119 It's gonna get way, way, way better. 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:40.880 Here's what I'm gonna do: I want you guys to hang out in Jerusalem. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:43.359 And what I'm gonna do is what I promised you. 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:57.279 Remember, remember that last night when we were hanging out, and I took you out to the grapevines and gave you a little story about abiding, and you know, we prayed, and but I said it's better because the Spirit of God's gonna come. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:03.759 And the Spirit of God will manifest the Father and the Son inside of you. 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:15.599 The moment you turn from your sin, repent, and believe, it will come into your life, and he'll seal you, and he'll live with you forever, and he'll manifest the very personality, the power, and the presence of Jesus. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:17.519 And so that happens. 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:18.960 It's called Pentecost. 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:36.319 And they're speaking in these other languages, and people from everywhere are hearing this good news about God, and when they get it, they go, Oh, so you mean that guy we killed, the guy that did the miracles, he was really God and he died for us, and there's good news, and we can have eternal life, and there's a whole different path. 00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:39.039 That was basically the sermon by Peter. 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:42.880 And here's the response to the sermon, Acts 2, 37, 38. 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:46.799 Now, when they heard this, what I just said, Peter said it way better. 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:57.680 They were pierced to the heart, and they said to Peter, to the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:03.359 And Peter said to them, underline it in your notes, repent. 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.920 Each of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:08.480 Why? 00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:14.960 For the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:18.240 That day, 3,000 people repented. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:26.799 And especially in that day, baptism over time, and we get the rest of the epistles and letters that describe it, it's this external act. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:37.759 But especially in those early days, as a person would trust in Jesus, to be baptized wasn't like, oh, you know, this is a nice religious thing, and it's an outward expression of reality. 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:39.119 All that is true. 00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:49.599 But when they were like, they got baptized then, because it was like, I've died to my old life, and the moment they got baptized, guess what? 00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:56.160 If you've been around any any Muslim believers, we do a lot of work in the Middle East. 00:33:56.400 --> 00:34:05.279 When they trust Christ, and then when they're baptized, they have a funeral for whoever did that because you are dead. 00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:06.799 You don't longer exist. 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:12.400 This wasn't a repentance, like, oh, I feel really sorry, and I hear I can pray a little prayer. 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:15.199 This is this is life, this is the king. 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:21.840 I'm turning from my sin, and I don't care what the consequence is, my new identity is a follower of Jesus. 00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:52.400 And so I would ask you, yes, for your salvation, but what do you need to have a change of mind about that have to do with a change of heart, that's genuine emotional sense of loss of someone you've hurt, and maybe it's the Lord, that will lead to a change of behavior that you say, God, I'm on, I got sackcloth on, I'm sitting on ashes. 00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:56.400 God, if I could have solved this, I would have solved it way earlier than now. 00:34:56.639 --> 00:34:58.400 I'm done, I'm broken. 00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:00.320 Hey, whatever it takes. 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:03.519 If I need to go to counseling, I'll go to counseling. 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:06.000 If I need to get in a 12-step group, I'll get in a 12-step group. 00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:13.519 If I need to apologize to my boss, I'll apologize to if I need to get a new set of friends, if I need to break up with my boyfriend, if I need whatever. 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:15.599 That's repentance. 00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:17.440 Because you sang. 00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:21.440 No, you may not mean it, or you may have not digested it. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:24.480 Your way's better. 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:39.280 Believing in God's goodness is at the core of every change you'll ever make that stops tweaking the little things in your life and causes you to shift. 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:44.480 To shift the alignment of your thoughts, your heart, and your life. 00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:49.920 The second lesson is from Jonah. 00:35:51.599 --> 00:36:00.880 From Jonah, we learn not about receiving God's grace, but extending God's mercy requires repentance and proclamation. 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:10.880 Remember, Jonah, Jonah, Jonah's life was going this way, away from God, so he he repented, at least in his behavior, not in his heart. 00:36:11.280 --> 00:36:13.760 So at least now he goes through the city. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:15.840 But but he did, that wasn't enough. 00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:19.119 He repented and then he proclaimed. 00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:28.000 He verbally said, and I'm not sure he said it with a lot of heart, in 40 days, there's judgment. 00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:33.519 And this great, merciful God, in fact, Jonah believes that God is so merciful. 00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:44.079 The reason he didn't want to go is he was afraid that if he shared about the great God, the Creator, that people actually might respond. 00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:47.360 And if they responded, that God is so merciful, he would forgive them. 00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:50.880 And he didn't want them forgiven, he wanted them to burn. 00:36:52.559 --> 00:37:00.559 But what we learned from him is that God's mercy requires that we repent and then we proclaim. 00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:06.800 The apostle Paul put it this way: for I am not, and put a box around the word ashamed. 00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:12.239 Because it takes courage where you and I live in this part of the country to not be ashamed. 00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:17.119 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. 00:37:17.360 --> 00:37:20.719 For it, the gospel is the dunamis, is the word. 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:22.079 We get our word dynamite. 00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:29.039 It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who circle the word, believes. 00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:31.519 There's an ocean of grace. 00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:33.440 There's thirsty people. 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:41.280 They need to know, someone has to proclaim there's an ocean of grace, there's forgiveness, there's love, there's a king, there's a different way to live. 00:37:42.719 --> 00:37:46.000 But you have to receive it, you have to believe. 00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:49.440 To the Jew first and also to the Greek. 00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:56.400 And one of my favorite verses in all the Bible is the power of God's word. 00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:13.840 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:15.679 I don't even understand it. 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:30.239 There, there is something that you, if you get the words of this book inspired by God, into your head and they make it into your heart, it will remap your brain. 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:32.480 It will change your life. 00:38:33.039 --> 00:38:34.800 It will, it will, it's powerful. 00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:36.159 It'll reveal things to you. 00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:45.119 I remember when I I didn't grow up reading the Bible, and I remember the very first Bible I had, and I remember I put it under my pillow. 00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:53.440 I'd been to a camp where I heard the gospel and I'd trusted Christ when I was 18, and I'd read it at night and read it in the morning, and then I hid it under my pillow. 00:38:53.519 --> 00:39:00.320 I don't think my parents would have been mad, but it was the era of the Jesus freaks, and I didn't want them to think I was a Jesus freak. 00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:05.199 But I remember reading it and thinking, how could anybody know these things about me? 00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:07.599 How could they know these private thoughts of lust? 00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:09.519 How could they know about all my insecurities? 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:11.039 How they could know about all these things. 00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:23.599 And I remember just reading at night and read in the morning and it had different people different ways, but I still remember like two weeks later, I just stopped miraculously cussing. 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:39.280 And I had a terrible, terrible mouth because out of my insecurity, and uh my wife thinks I'm tall, but to me, tall, six, eight and above is tall, and I'm short and middle size is you know, six four, six five, six, six, because that was my those were all my friends, basketball. 00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:49.119 And I thought, I'm this skinny little shrimpy, and so I just had my mouth, just I just tried to power up all the time. 00:39:49.920 --> 00:39:54.400 And God, as I read his word, he just I didn't know how it worked. 00:39:54.559 --> 00:39:55.519 It just went. 00:39:57.920 --> 00:39:59.440 Doesn't always happen that way. 00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:03.920 But here's the principle the power is in the message, not the messenger. 00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:20.639 Some of you are so concerned about sharing with someone or talking with someone or letting them know that, you know, if if you knew for sure someone was getting cancer a year from now that it will be lethal, and if they don't get treatment, they will die a year from now. 00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:23.840 Are you gonna go, well, gosh, I don't want to really turn them off. 00:40:24.079 --> 00:40:25.599 I'd rather have them die. 00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:36.000 I know they got cancer, I know it's I know it's lethal, and I know there's a cure, but I mean, like, who am I to infringe my thoughts about cancer, right? 00:40:37.920 --> 00:40:51.679 Now, we all have had people share things about Jesus in ways that are so repulsive and so come on strong and so judgmental and so just so unlike Jesus. 00:40:53.199 --> 00:41:12.880 But I but I think that pendulum has gotten so far that somehow we've forgotten if they don't get a warning, if they don't know about the new king, if they don't know about the new life, you being nice to them is nice. 00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:16.800 I mean that's a that's a really, really important start. 00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:23.039 But you know, just like man, we're we've become great friends 11 months and 29 days. 00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:28.000 I just wish I would have told you about the antidote because you died of cancer. 00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:31.440 God wants better for us. 00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:38.000 I uh remember learning this the a very hard way. 00:41:39.199 --> 00:42:08.719 And uh I was uh a basketball coach at the time, and there was a guy who lived next door who was like the big man on campus, and I'd graduated from school a year or two, and I was coaching and uh leading a little college ministry, and um I'd go up and he was a swimmer, like all American swimmer, but he liked basketball, and I got to know him, and he was like, you know, the most popular, powerful, you know that, you know, that person? 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:09.440 Let me say this. 00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:11.840 Is there anyone in your life that intimidates you? 00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:20.079 Like they're either like super smart, super beautiful, super powerful, or super something that you just think, you know, like I just I'm really intimidated by him. 00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:27.360 So I was obviously very intimidated by this guy, and he was living with his girlfriend right next door and uh off campus. 00:42:27.599 --> 00:42:38.320 And so I'm going, I'm doing Bible studies on campus with different guys, and um, you know, boy, watching, you know, young men come to know the Lord, and it was really, really exciting. 00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:43.119 And I'll never forget he walked across the yard one day and said, Hey, you, Chip. 00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:44.320 Yeah, yeah. 00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:47.440 He said, Uh, what's with you, man? 00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:49.039 I said, What do you mean what's with me? 00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:50.159 Why didn't you tell me? 00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:51.920 I said, Tell you what? 00:42:52.480 --> 00:42:53.760 He goes, You're kidding me? 00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:58.480 Like, you aren't you the guy that's doing the Bible studies and aren't you kind of leading this little ministry in your basketball coach? 00:42:58.559 --> 00:42:59.039 I said, Yeah. 00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:00.639 So why didn't you tell me? 00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:02.480 I said, tell you what? 00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:04.800 About Jesus. 00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:06.400 I said, why? 00:43:06.639 --> 00:43:34.400 He said, Well, you know, my my my girlfriend's folks are really old school and they go to church and they have no idea we're living together, and you know, we're getting kind of serious, and so we went to uh to visit them in separate bedrooms and the whole bit, and and then like you know, they had to get up and we went to this little white church with some little funky country preacher with the with twang and everything, and and he said that Jesus loves you and he's died for your sin and you need to repent and come to Jesus. 00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:37.679 And he goes, you know how he said it really, really turned me off. 00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:51.920 But I sat there and I realized I'd never heard that in my life, and I just found myself kneeling at the front of that little white country church, and I asked Christ to come into my life, and something big changed because the moment we got back, I turned to my girlfriend and said, I gotta sleep on the couch now. 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:52.960 And she said, Why? 00:43:53.280 --> 00:43:57.280 He said, Because I'm a follower of Jesus now, and you can't have it both ways. 00:43:57.599 --> 00:44:00.639 He said, So let me just ask you, why didn't you tell me? 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:04.159 And I can't remember what excuse I made. 00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:15.199 Today I would say, because I'm a wimpy, ashamed of the gospel, insecure marshmallow of a Christian. 00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:17.679 I don't know if I'd say it like that. 00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:21.760 You know why I didn't say anything? 00:44:22.239 --> 00:44:26.400 In my wildest dreams, I never dreamed that guy would be open to Jesus. 00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:34.239 Let alone from a country preacher with a tang who didn't say it nearly as culturally relevant as me. 00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:40.960 Let's bow our heads and pray for the people that are on our three by five cards. 00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:50.559 Because receiving mercy requires faith and repentance, but extending mercy requires repentance and proclamation. 00:44:58.800 --> 00:45:16.320 Lord, as all of us are uh making our way to your throne right now, based solely on the work of the Lord Jesus who blaze the trail and invites us to enter in boldly to the throne of Christ. 00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:26.159 I uh I ask that you would give us faith as we pray for those on our card. 00:45:27.199 --> 00:45:30.400 I ask that you would prepare them like you did the Nineveh. 00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:36.880 I ask that you give us courage and boldness to not be ashamed of your gospel. 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:42.159 And Lord, we don't need to be able to answer all the questions, the powers and the gospel. 00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:49.519 Lord, would you help us to love those who timidate us? 00:45:49.920 --> 00:45:56.800 Would you help us to love our enemies the way that Jonah loved his enemies very imperfectly? 00:45:57.679 --> 00:45:59.119 And still you used him. 00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:11.679 Let me give you just a minute to uh speak to your Heavenly Father about anything that you have since you need to repent of personally. 00:46:13.280 --> 00:46:15.280 Change your mind, change your heart. 00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:29.440 God, would you give us the grace to stop tweaking our life and shift for our good and for your glory? 00:46:32.159 --> 00:46:39.039 We'll give you just a moment or two to finish that intercessory time for those people on your card in faith believing. 00:46:41.599 --> 00:46:45.519 And then uh Robbie, you'll lead us in worship. 00:46:48.639 --> 00:46:50.960 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:55.599 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:46:55.760 --> 00:46:57.840 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:03.760 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.comslash card.