SPEAKER_02: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_02: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, that is good.
SPEAKER_01: That is the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: We don't just preach the gospel, we sing the gospel here, and that is the gospel that you brought us back to life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, you did not come to make bad people better or good.
SPEAKER_01: You came to make dead people alive.
SPEAKER_01: That'll be borne out.
SPEAKER_01: And so we we we forsake everything that used to be a part of our life that no longer glorifies you.
SPEAKER_01: All you've come to do is to get glory for our life.
SPEAKER_01: This is from our life.
SPEAKER_01: This is why we stand amazed in the presence of Jesus and we wonder how he could love us.
SPEAKER_01: Sinners condemned, unclean.
SPEAKER_01: Without condemnation, there is no wonder in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, restore to us the wonder that we've forfeited through comfort-based preaching instead of consequential preaching.
SPEAKER_01: Restore the wonder of the gospel to us today, from your word, God, and by your spirit, I pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to the Old Testament book of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest today and you're visiting, we're going through the book of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: We go through books of the Bible, do a New Testament book and then an Old Testament book.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're going through the book of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: And we are, I'll start reading at the end of chapter one, verse 17, and I'll just read like 11 verses, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I want to talk to you this morning about the glory of disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: The glory of disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want you to listen carefully.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't want you to confuse what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to glorify disobedience, but I'm trying to establish the fact that God is not waiting for your permission or your participation to glorify himself in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to glorify disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just trying to establish the fact that God is not waiting for your permission or your participation to glorify himself in your life.
SPEAKER_01: The reason you were breathing, as you said in this room, is not because somebody invited you to church or it's Memorial Day weekend and you thought, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna get my party on tonight and tomorrow, so I better go check the God box and be okay with that.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're in this room because you were created to live a life that glorifies God, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so when I talk about the glory of disobedience, hopefully that'll be sense as we get further into the text.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me let me start with some introductory thoughts, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh here's one about the book of Jonah, because here's here's my lay all my cards on the table.
SPEAKER_01: I think that we've been taught a cultural narrative about Jonah and not a biblical narrative.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh and that'll become apparent as we get into the text.
SPEAKER_01: But here's some introductory thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, we've consumed Jonah upon our comfort theology.
SPEAKER_01: Our comfort theology.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: It started when you were a little kid and went to Sunday school and you saw pictures like this on the wall, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean, our comfort theology?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you see pictures of uh of Jonah and and the big fish.
SPEAKER_01: The picture's coming, bear with me.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, not the big fish back there, but another one.
SPEAKER_01: Uh right here.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jonah's inside the well and he's got a candle lit and he's praying.
SPEAKER_01: Hello?
SPEAKER_01: And then you meet an atheist when you go to college in your philosophy class, and he says, I don't believe in the Bible, I believe it's all uh a narrative, an allegorical thing, and you cannot defend the faith because you're like, No, Jonah lit a candle and prayed to Jesus, and Jesus saved him.
SPEAKER_01: Or how about this?
SPEAKER_01: It gets it gets worse, actually.
SPEAKER_01: Uh that that's bad.
SPEAKER_01: But Jonah's naked in this picture, and he's got a fire going, and he's cooking a fish inside the fish.
SPEAKER_01: That has to violate some Old Testament law.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_01: It's like cooking a baby goat and some other milk, something's off there, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But this is what we and you taught this and you just grew up, and then and then this is probably one of my favorite.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jonah, we'll get to this next week.
SPEAKER_01: He gets to the shore and he just kind of surfs the whale to the shore and jumps out and says, Thanks for the ride.
SPEAKER_01: This was the first Uber right here.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: So when I say that we've consumed Jonah upon our comfort theology, this is what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: It started when you were little and you went to Sunday school class.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't go to church much as a kid.
SPEAKER_01: I remember going one time when I was about eight, uh, and I looked over on the wall and there was a picture, and Jonah had a candle lit and was reading the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And as an eight-year-old, I just thought, I don't think there's enough oxygen in there to sustain that flame.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure how this happens.
SPEAKER_01: And it caused me to look at the Bible and you people like you were kind of goofy, not very intellectual.
SPEAKER_01: This kind of huggy, touchy, feely.
SPEAKER_01: Let's all just close our eyes and pretend that we're not really saying this.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a second introductory thought.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Jonah was not recorded as it was happening.
SPEAKER_01: Jonah wasn't in there with a legal pad, the pen, kind of going, I'm in the well now, bear down in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the first part of the passage we're gonna read is a couple descriptive verses, and then there's this long psalm of Thanksgiving from verses two to verses nine that describes after the fact what Jonah went through.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a third introductory thought.
SPEAKER_01: You have to pick your miracle today.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: You gotta pick your miracle.
SPEAKER_01: Either he lived three days in the belly of a great fish, or he died and was resurrected.
SPEAKER_01: Both are miracles, but you gotta pick your miracle.
SPEAKER_01: You you you can't try to hold on to the tension of both of them.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So let me just read Jonah chapter one, starting in verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: It ended now the last chapter, if you weren't here last week, we ended how Jonah's ran, he's on the run from God.
SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord came to him.
SPEAKER_01: God said, Go to Nineveh and preach to the Nineveh, a bunch of pagans.
SPEAKER_01: And Jonah thought, those people don't deserve mercy.
SPEAKER_01: And so he went down, got on a ship, bought a ticket, really rent it out the whole ship, went the exact opposite direction, and God said, Hello, you're disobeying, and there, unlike in our culture, there is a consequence for disobedience in God's culture.
SPEAKER_01: And so God sends a great storm, uh almost like a javelin thrower.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says he hurled this great storm at the ship.
SPEAKER_01: And basically that they cast lots.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Hey, who's got the bad juju on them?
SPEAKER_01: And Jonah said, It's me.
SPEAKER_01: What do we do with you?
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Throw me overboard.
SPEAKER_01: And so they threw him overboard into the in the into the Mediterranean Sea.
SPEAKER_01: And God sends this is where we pick up the story right here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jonah chapter 1, verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me.
SPEAKER_01: And out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice, and you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me.
SPEAKER_01: All of your waves of your billows passed over me.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.
SPEAKER_01: The waters closed in over me to take my life, and the deep surrounded me.
SPEAKER_01: Weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains.
SPEAKER_01: I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.
SPEAKER_01: Yet you brought me up, you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God, when my life was fainting away.
SPEAKER_01: I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple.
SPEAKER_01: Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
SPEAKER_01: But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed.
SPEAKER_01: I will pay.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation belongs to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I just want to point out uh four things from the text this morning.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is simply this that a sovereign God does everything for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: A sovereign God does everything for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: There's no wasted movement with God, okay?
SPEAKER_01: He appoints a great fish to do his will, and and Jonah is there for three days and three nights.
SPEAKER_01: You should hear that and kind of go, that sounds familiar.
SPEAKER_01: I told you back on Easter that there's this three-day pattern in the Bible and that good things tend to happen on the third day.
SPEAKER_01: This is uh uh the cultural understanding of the day back then was because God comes to us in in familiar ways.
SPEAKER_01: Uh He God doesn't take excuse from the culture, but God says, Hey, I know how you think.
SPEAKER_01: And and the cultural understanding in the day back then was it takes three days to go from the underworld to the land of the living.
SPEAKER_01: But the story of Jonah is a story of death, resurrection, and proclamation.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: The story of Jonah is a story of death, resurrection, and proclamation.
SPEAKER_01: And the prophetic purpose of the book of Jonah is to be a sign of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which is why in the New Testament Jesus says to people who are wanting Jesus to show off and kind of keep doing miracles, he said, No sign will be given except the sign of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what what does Jesus mean?
SPEAKER_01: Actually, he says that in Matthew 12.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he he says, No sign's gonna be given except the sign of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that seems kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh what's he talking about?
SPEAKER_01: A little bit of context, Matthew chapter 12.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to turn there.
SPEAKER_01: I'll read a section to it to you in just a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but but in Matthew chapter 12, a couple things happen.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, Jesus, the guy has a withered hand, and Jesus goes over and and and prays for him and heals the guy's hand.
SPEAKER_01: And the Pharisees who had all the uh the power but no authority, they were like, Oh my gosh, how does this happen?
SPEAKER_01: There's no way he can do that.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus also comes next up on the scene, and there's a kid there who is mute, he can't talk, and he's deaf, he can't hear.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Well, can you can you heal this kid?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, Absolutely, I can.
SPEAKER_01: And he does.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, when you see people who have special needs, they do not need your pity, they need your prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Because the same God that did that in the New Testament has the capacity to do that today.
SPEAKER_01: He's just looking for people that have the capacity to believe him, what he's capable of.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is the context.
SPEAKER_01: These two things, miracles have happened.
SPEAKER_01: And then the Pharisees come to Jesus and they're like, hey, dance, monkey, keep doing stuff.
SPEAKER_01: We think this is great.
SPEAKER_01: Prove to us that you really are God and have this power.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12, starting verse 38.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.
SPEAKER_01: But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, when it says in verse 40, for just as, just as is the Greek word hosper, and it means exactly like in the same manner.
SPEAKER_01: So you have a problem.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Jonah, if you got Jonah that's in there lighting candles and cooking fish, then you got Jesus in the tomb who's lighting candles and cooking fish.
SPEAKER_01: And you don't want that because there is no resurrection, there's no redemption.
SPEAKER_01: It really goes, this cultural motif that we've kind of swallowed our entire life goes deeper than you think.
SPEAKER_01: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man eat three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.
SPEAKER_01: For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I mean when I say the story of Jonah is one of death, resurrection, and proclamation, because this is a foreshadowing of what's going to happen with the life of Jesus: death, burial, resurrection, proclamation.
SPEAKER_01: After the resurrection, it wasn't after the cross, man.
SPEAKER_01: After the cross, the disciples hid in fear.
SPEAKER_01: It was after the resurrection that they get up and they're like, oh my gosh, this is really true.
SPEAKER_01: We have a message to proclaim to the nations, and this is what they do, okay?
SPEAKER_01: The Pharisees want more signs, more signs.
SPEAKER_01: We'll believe if you just keep doing more magic tricks, David Blaine.
SPEAKER_01: But they've already seen, they don't believe the signs they've already seen, and they're not going to believe the sign of Jonah when Jesus does what Jonah did and rises from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: You should ask yourself this question: Is there something you're wanting and waiting for God to do to kind of prove Himself?
SPEAKER_01: Like I have friends that attend this church.
SPEAKER_01: They sit kind of back over here.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they're here today, but they are diehard Dallas Cowboy fans.
SPEAKER_01: And for them, proof of God's existence is that the Cowboys are gonna win the Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_01: They are gonna die as atheists, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That is never going to happen, but they hold out every year.
SPEAKER_01: Like I saw them a couple seconds ago, and they're like, hey, this is our year.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, this sounds familiar.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you might want to get a not quarterback, but I digress.
SPEAKER_01: So the first thing, hey, a sovereign God, think about this.
SPEAKER_01: When you say sovereign, a sovereign God does everything for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, sovereign?
SPEAKER_01: That's a big word.
SPEAKER_01: You probably don't hear that if you live in Bryan, Texas very much.
SPEAKER_01: But a sovereign God means that God is all powerful and he acts with all authority and he asks no one for permission.
SPEAKER_01: And the world is better because of that reality.
SPEAKER_01: He's not like a SWAT team kicking down the door, getting you by the neck, kind of going, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: No, one of the ways God demonstrates his sovereignty, look at me, is he creates a desire in you that you by nature have never had.
SPEAKER_01: You just, that's one of the signs.
SPEAKER_01: You're just kind of like, Whew.
SPEAKER_01: I think I kind of want to do things differently here.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing you want you see in the text.
SPEAKER_01: It's never too late to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out.
SPEAKER_01: And this is where his psalm of thanksgiving really starts in the latter part of verse 2, all the way to verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: He's looking back after the fact that he's going, This is how it went down, people.
SPEAKER_01: I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me, out of the belly of Sheol, I cried, and you heard my voice.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you say I say it's never too late to pray.
SPEAKER_01: When you believe that, when you really believe it's never too late to pray, you will find yourself praying from some pretty unusual places.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I asked this question at lunch today.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what's the weirdest place you ever offered up a prayer to God?
SPEAKER_01: Where were you?
SPEAKER_01: What is the weirdest place you've ever prayed from?
SPEAKER_01: Now, I uh I I ask this question every once in a while.
SPEAKER_01: It's not like I have a list of questions I carry around, but I just get in conversations.
SPEAKER_01: Like I was talking to God one time, uh, and I prayed before my meal.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Do you always pray?
SPEAKER_01: I said, I try to pray before meals just as an expression of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Oh, I respect that.
SPEAKER_01: And I could tell by the way he said it, it was like, I respect that.
SPEAKER_01: Keep it over there.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, What about you?
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever pray?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, He's kind of like jelly roll.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I only talk to God when I need a favor.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Where's the weirdest place you've ever prayed for God?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, He looked down and looked back up and he said, Seriously?
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, ooh, let's crank down.
SPEAKER_01: We're about to wow, set the hook on this big fish.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, what's the weirdest place?
SPEAKER_01: He said, The clinic.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, The clinic.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, with my girlfriend, you're not talking about the health clinic, are you?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, No, I'm not, and launched us into a great conversation.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey man, let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, the Bible says that like in the 130th Psalm, I said, if I told you something to the Bible, would that be meaningful?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, It depends.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I love your honesty.
SPEAKER_01: I know that you think because of what you and your girlfriend decided to do, that God's somehow mad at you and he's gonna get you.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Dude, I I mean, come on, dude.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, I I know what happens at the clinic, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I don't need a lesson from you, but look, this is the thing you need to understand about God.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Well, how do you know so much about God?
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm gonna take my belt off with you right here, boy.
SPEAKER_01: So as I finished my club sandwich, I said, Well, actually, I said I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, So what?
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, to what do I appeal now?
SPEAKER_01: So, like a good Pharisee, I said, actually, I said, Did you go to college?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Yeah, I went to college.
SPEAKER_01: What did you go to college for?
SPEAKER_01: I was a speech communication major.
SPEAKER_01: Right there with fashion merchandising.
SPEAKER_01: Uh old Navy's hiring kids.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: And then it came to me out of the blue.
SPEAKER_01: I said, actually, after college, I went to grad school and I have a master's degree in theology.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Okay.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'm not gonna beat you up with the Bible, I'm just gonna tell you this one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 130 by verse 3 and 4 says this of God, if you, oh Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand?
SPEAKER_01: But with you there is forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: There is forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: This is not the unforgivable sin.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Well, I know there's one unforgivable sin.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You know what it is?
SPEAKER_01: You probably never committed it.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Yeah, this feels like that.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of Jesus and on the authority of God's word, this is not the unforgivable sin.
SPEAKER_01: You can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not only him, but anybody in this room, if you fall under the umbrella of that, you not only can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: If you've asked for forgiveness, you're a Christian, you are forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Quit walking around like a second-class citizen.
SPEAKER_01: It's never too late to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful who you ask that question to you because you get some crazy answers.
SPEAKER_01: I asked a friend of mine that one time and he said, Oh, I was I was uh laying beside my girlfriend, and tears are coming out of my eyes into my hair because I was like, God, I don't want to do this anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And he just prayed and said, God, if I ever get started down this road, I want you to kill me.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yeah, I didn't pray that prayer when I was in college, but anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and about he said about two weeks later, I was at a party and things started, you know, going the wrong direction.
SPEAKER_01: And and I started preparing for what was fixed to happen and clear as the bell, the Holy Spirit said, You remember your prayer?
SPEAKER_01: Because I do.
SPEAKER_01: See, do you believe in a God that not just punishes sin, but punishes sinners?
SPEAKER_01: See, because the church in America has kind of adopted this view of God, like, oh, God punishes sin.
SPEAKER_01: God punishes sinners.
SPEAKER_01: Not because he's an alcoholic stepdad that flies off the handle, no, but because God hates what sin does to you and you've lost the faculty to understand what sin does to you.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's when I say it's never too late to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it means.
SPEAKER_01: Now, now he's in the belly of the fish, and he says, and he says, Oh Lord, I I out of the belly of Sheol I cried.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some people point to the fact that, well, he prayed for the belly of a fish, and so this proves he was alive.
SPEAKER_01: And I get that.
SPEAKER_01: That that that that sounds logical, but let me just offer up this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I would just point to the to Luke chapter 16, the story of the rich man Lazarus.
SPEAKER_01: There's a there's two people in the story.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not familiar with it, you don't have to turn there.
SPEAKER_01: There's two people in the story, they both die.
SPEAKER_01: One of them goes to Abraham's bosom, which is uh a reference to heaven, and one goes to Hades, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Hades is not hell, it's it's kind of like the waiting room where you're just getting uh uh just getting warmed up, so to speak.
SPEAKER_01: Uh pardon the pun.
SPEAKER_01: Uh here's what did I lose you there?
SPEAKER_01: I started that sentence and I thought there's no way to finish this where it doesn't sound punished.
SPEAKER_01: Uh my apologies, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh Luke chapter 16, verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what the Bible says, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Again, a lot of people point and say the theologian people go, well, you know, he prayed for the belly of the uh of the fish.
SPEAKER_01: He also prayed from the belly of Sheol.
SPEAKER_01: Sheol is uh the place of the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: This is why I believe Jonah died and was resurrected, which is equally miraculous.
SPEAKER_01: But then Luke chapter 16, and here's what I want you to understand that when people are in Sheol, they're not alive, but they are conscious, okay?
SPEAKER_01: They're existing.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I mean they're that they died, but they're they're aware of what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: And this bears it out.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 16, verse 22, the rich man also died and was buried.
SPEAKER_01: And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and he saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus by his side, and he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in the water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you should ask yourself, the Bible says in verse 23, in Hades.
SPEAKER_01: What is Hades?
SPEAKER_01: Hades is the Greek translation.
SPEAKER_01: Hades is not the seventh grade.
SPEAKER_01: It's not.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Sheol.
SPEAKER_01: And Sheol and Hades both refer to the place of the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Hades is a place of temporary punishment for the wicked while they await the final judgment.
SPEAKER_01: So no one's in hell, they're going to get judged at the great white throne judgment unbelievers are, and then they're sent to what the Bible refers to as the lake of fire.
SPEAKER_01: But in the meantime, they're being punished.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I want you to understand people in Sheol, people in Hades are conscious.
SPEAKER_01: And otherwise, how do they know they're being punished?
SPEAKER_01: The rich man in Luke 16, he's conscious.
SPEAKER_01: He's already died, but he's in Sheol, and he's conscious because he's aware that he's being punished.
SPEAKER_01: I think the same thing is true of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: People are like, well, he prays from the belly of the fish, yeah, and from the belly of Sheol.
SPEAKER_01: Sheol is a place of the dead.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: You say, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01: Think of it like this: without no consequence, excuse me, there is no consequence without consciousness.
SPEAKER_01: There is no consequence without consciousness.
SPEAKER_01: I believe Jonah is conscious of what is happening, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But he's already died.
SPEAKER_01: He's in the place of the dead, just like the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me bring it down to where we live, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Let me repeat this.
SPEAKER_01: There's no real consequence where there is no consciousness, all right?
SPEAKER_01: Think of it this way.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been really mad at somebody?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like really torqued up.
SPEAKER_01: Their name comes up and you go from zero to 60 in about 0.2 seconds.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever felt that way about somebody, not that you do now, you followed Matthew 18, you're a Christian, you went to them and said, I'm offended, let's make peace.
SPEAKER_01: But let's just say there was a time you were like, I mean, this person would grind your gears and you're like, if you've ever had that feeling towards somebody, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, good, a room full of grudge holders.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let's take it to the next level.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, where there is no, there is no consequence where there is no con uh consciousness, okay?
SPEAKER_01: If these people aren't conscious, if they're not alive in Hades and Sheol, after dying, they're just, hey, you are experiencing the consequences of your unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: If there's no consciousness, then how can there be any consequence for their unbelief?
SPEAKER_01: See, I'm just what I'm saying to you is I believe that when the Bible says from the belly of Sheol, that Jonah has already died.
SPEAKER_01: But God says, Hey, I'm not done with you, bro.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's in the place of the belly of Sheol, just like the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a sense of consciousness.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever had this toward somebody?
SPEAKER_01: And here's what really grinds your gears: they don't know it, they're not conscious of it.
SPEAKER_01: And so every time you see them, they're free and winsome and happy and joyful.
SPEAKER_01: And you think to yourself, if you knew how I felt about you, you wouldn't walk in the same building with me.
SPEAKER_01: And they're over there just, hey, ho, hoo, hi, and other people are loving them while you're hating them.
SPEAKER_01: You know what drives you crazy?
SPEAKER_01: There's no consciousness on their part.
SPEAKER_01: They're not aware of how you feel.
SPEAKER_01: So your feelings have no bearing on them, no consequence for them.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, hey, because this principle is true, this is what is going on in the book of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So again, without consciousness, there is no consequence.
SPEAKER_01: I think he's conscious, I think he's fully uh.
SPEAKER_01: Uh able to say, hey, from the belly of Sheol, I'm crying out here.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing: there is a consequence for disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: There is a consequence for disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we live in a culture where we we find it hard to discipline our own children.
SPEAKER_01: I say this in counseling all the time, and people look at me and I go, hey, listen, one guy asked me a while back, he said, Where'd you get this from?
SPEAKER_01: I said, My own parenting.
SPEAKER_01: I said to my oldest when she was going to college, now, by the grace of God, you've heard horror stories about preachers' kids, right?
SPEAKER_01: By the grace of God, my kids, my two girls took after their mother.
SPEAKER_01: They're good kids.
SPEAKER_01: But I said to my oldest before she went off to college, now listen, if you get up here and you get off the reservation and you just you don't listen to your mom and dad and you go crazy, I will let you live in the world that you prefer to live in.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: If you don't listen to us, you don't submit to our rules, you don't live the life that we expect you to live, I will let you live in the world where the only person you have to submit to is yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You'll be all on your own.
SPEAKER_01: You'll pay for college tuition, you'll pay for room and board, you'll pay for rent, you'll get a job and buy your own meals.
SPEAKER_01: And she didn't say, Oh, Dad, why would you do that?
SPEAKER_01: You know what she said?
SPEAKER_01: Dad, I would never do that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you would.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to know your mom and dad believe in discipline.
SPEAKER_01: So you get up here, I ain't gonna finance your stupidity.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Baylor is not Jerusalem on the brasses.
SPEAKER_01: There's real sinners there.
SPEAKER_01: She was there about a week and she called and said, I met some, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you are like, I'm glad you're not my parent.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you would be better if your parents loved you enough to say, you don't want to listen to us, you don't want to submit to our rules.
SPEAKER_01: You can live in the world that you you really live in.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna stop playing, dress up, and make-believe.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, when my second one got ready to go to Alabama to her college, I said the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: And she said the same thing back to me.
SPEAKER_01: She was offended.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Dad, I would never do that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you would, but I want you to know if you ever get to the point where the only person you listen to is you, I'm gonna let you live in that world.
SPEAKER_01: Like the space shuttle.
SPEAKER_01: I will disconnect and drift back.
SPEAKER_01: Not away, but step back.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I love my children enough to let them feel the consequences of their sin.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And so, why?
SPEAKER_01: Because if your kids don't understand your consequences, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: They'll never understand God's consequences.
SPEAKER_01: There's a consequence for disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: You can pick your sin, but you can't pick your consequence.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter one, we see this downward progression of Jonah's disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: He goes down to Joppa, then he goes down into the ship, then he goes down into the inner part of the ship, and he lays down.
SPEAKER_01: And here in chapter two, Jonah is sinking down into the sea.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the reality: God only wants from your life the one thing you were created to give him, and that's glory.
SPEAKER_01: He wants the one thing, and he's going to be glorified in your obedience, or he'll be glorified in your disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: How is God glorified in your disobedience?
SPEAKER_01: As an example of what not to do.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that Jonah sees this as God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas.
SPEAKER_01: What kind of God pitches people overboard?
SPEAKER_01: I thought the sailors threw him overboard.
SPEAKER_01: Remember?
SPEAKER_01: They did they cast lots and they said, Hey man, you got the bad juju on you.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta go.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Throw me overboard.
SPEAKER_01: And here Jonah has such a the right theology of God, which most of us don't.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, my God would never throw anybody overboard.
SPEAKER_01: Sure he would.
SPEAKER_01: Jonah says, For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what God knows that we don't.
SPEAKER_01: When you don't have conviction, you need consequences to turn your heart back to God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Jonah's a classic example of a progression that takes place when we sin.
SPEAKER_01: It goes like this.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, it starts with the deceitfulness of sin.
SPEAKER_01: The deceitfulness of sin.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say this: you're deceived by sin before you act sinfully.
SPEAKER_01: You are deceived by sin before you act sinfully.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Sin deceives you, students, before it modifies your behavior.
SPEAKER_01: It deceives you in how you think up here.
SPEAKER_01: You go all back to the garden.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the serpent said to Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, God's afraid that you'll be like him, knowing good and evil, deciding right and wrong.
SPEAKER_01: You get to be the locus of control and decide what's right and what's wrong for you.
SPEAKER_01: That is the that's the same thing that's been happening since the garden.
SPEAKER_01: So the deceitfulness of sin, here's how you know you've been deceived.
SPEAKER_01: Things that were once wrong are now justified and even celebrated.
SPEAKER_01: That's the deceitfulness of sin.
SPEAKER_01: The second step in this process is rationalization.
SPEAKER_01: Rationalization.
SPEAKER_01: It sounds, I hear it all the time.
SPEAKER_01: It sounds like this we love each other.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna get married one day.
SPEAKER_01: It's legal in 21 states.
SPEAKER_01: Or my favorite recently, hey bro, do you know it's like 2025?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, somebody said that to me right over there in my office.
SPEAKER_01: When I said, your problem is not that your wife doesn't submit to all your ideas, your problem is your sin nature.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have anxiety, you have disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: You feel anxious because you're violating God's law.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, What's with God's law?
SPEAKER_01: I keep bringing up God's law.
SPEAKER_01: When you transgress, David in the Old Testament, he said, When I kept silent about my sins, my bones waxed old.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I mean, I really tell your bones waxed.
SPEAKER_01: I just I said, I'm not like a simpleton, I'm just telling you that God has a law, that it's not just forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: God has requirements he puts on people, and you violate those.
SPEAKER_01: And so if God's really real, he's probably never going to let you be at ease while you violate his law.
SPEAKER_01: To which he said, bro, it's 2025.
SPEAKER_01: You should drop all this God's law stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, When you think about God, what do you think of?
SPEAKER_01: And guess what he said?
SPEAKER_01: Love.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I know the Bible says God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, he is a God of love.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what God loves more than anything?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, No, himself.
SPEAKER_01: If God loves you more than he loves himself, that makes God an idolater.
SPEAKER_01: God does not live in violation of the greatest commandment.
SPEAKER_01: God loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_01: And he folded his arm and said, I don't know about you, man.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Okay, I'm I'm I'm just telling you.
SPEAKER_01: This is rationalization.
SPEAKER_01: Rationalization here, rationalization is the permission I give myself to do things I once had the courage to believe were wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: Rationalization, this is my definition.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you a famous person's definition in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Rationalization is the permission I give myself to do things I once had the courage to believe were wrong.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't mature.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I just kind of outgrew that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was in high school, I believed all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I just kind of outgrew it.
SPEAKER_01: You did not mature.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get, don't get it twisted, sister.
SPEAKER_01: You were deceived.
SPEAKER_01: Ayn Rand says this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one's emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Rationalization is a second step in the process.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, hardness of heart.
SPEAKER_01: Hardness of heart, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: You can no longer feel things you used to.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself, can you still hear the voice of God?
SPEAKER_01: Feel the voice of God?
SPEAKER_01: Can you feel when you do wrong?
SPEAKER_01: Are you so sensitive to the Holy Spirit that when you disobey, it's like the game operation, you touch the side, your turn's over.
SPEAKER_01: My kids were so super competitive with one of mine, especially.
SPEAKER_01: We would play that, you touch, I actually grab the tweezers out of your hand, your turn's over.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't grab the tweezers out of your hand.
SPEAKER_01: He just looks and says, Have you learned all you need to learn?
SPEAKER_01: Because you keep touching the side, there's going to be a consequence for this.
SPEAKER_01: Hardness of heart, and then finally a seared conscience.
SPEAKER_01: You can no longer feel the pain of sin or the joy of obedience.
SPEAKER_01: A seared conscience.
SPEAKER_01: You can no longer feel the pain of sin or the joy of obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last thing from the text.
SPEAKER_01: This entire chapter two, or in the chapter one, chapter two is a picture of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: From the last part of verse six, hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: He goes down to the land.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he says, weeds wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountain.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think there's any weeds or roots or mountains inside the fish, but I digress.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.
SPEAKER_01: Finality.
SPEAKER_01: Next sentence, yet you brought up my life from the pit.
SPEAKER_01: Oh Lord my God, you brought up my life from the pit.
SPEAKER_01: When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple.
SPEAKER_01: Those who pray, those who pay regard to vain idols, forsake their hope of steadfast love.
SPEAKER_01: But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed, I will pay.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation belongs to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Here's where the title comes into play.
SPEAKER_01: Again, God is going to be glorified in your obedience or in your disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: He glorifies himself in throwing Jonah into the sea and letting him experience the wages of sin.
SPEAKER_01: And then he glorifies himself by raising him from the dead as an act of mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you've all heard the term behavior modification.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever heard that term?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: This is an example.
SPEAKER_01: Some people think this is behavior, what I call behavior manipulation.
SPEAKER_01: There's behavior modification.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, modify your behavior to manage people's impression of you.
SPEAKER_01: Behavior manipulation is what Christians do.
SPEAKER_01: Christians think, hey, I'm gonna do the right thing, I'm gonna behave, and I'm gonna manipulate God to bless me.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing: the heart of God is so good, you don't have to manipulate Him.
SPEAKER_01: Can you feel parents when your kids are trying to manipulate you to get something that they want?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, wicked little wayward kids.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: We would say to ours, my kids would come, hey dad, well, now go come to the front door.
SPEAKER_01: Just come to the front door.
SPEAKER_01: Stop checking the back door and see if it's unlocked so you can sneak into your father's heart.
SPEAKER_01: Come through the front door.
SPEAKER_01: We went to the Taste of Texas.
SPEAKER_01: Both of them are in town a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: Went to Taste of Texas, they came through the front door.
SPEAKER_01: The waiter came over, they didn't pick up the menu.
SPEAKER_01: The waiter came over.
SPEAKER_01: I want the six-ounce uh fillet, and I don't want the baked potato, I want baked potato soup.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, That's an upcharge.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: I stopped on the way and gave plasma.
SPEAKER_01: And so they have never asked me how much it cost.
SPEAKER_01: Never, never.
SPEAKER_01: My oldest one in town, I said, Hey, actually, somebody gives me a gift card for Christmas every year.
SPEAKER_01: And this is this is what you students don't understand, your kids don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much goodness in the heart of your mom and dad for you.
SPEAKER_01: They just need to know they can trust you with it.
SPEAKER_01: You won't consume it upon your lust.
SPEAKER_01: I got that.
SPEAKER_01: I thought I'm gonna wait till both my girls are in town.
SPEAKER_01: One was in Birmingham, one's in living in Dallas.
SPEAKER_01: They both happen to be in town.
SPEAKER_01: I texted my oldest one and said, Hey, you're gonna be in town next week.
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to go taste of Texas for dinner?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God, all caps.
SPEAKER_01: Them girls turned in, I swear they got a curly tail in their pants.
SPEAKER_01: They turned into hogs.
SPEAKER_01: They were just going to town on the south bar, the meat came, sparks were flying.
SPEAKER_01: And then here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Once you understand the goodness of God's heart and how he's favorably disposed towards you, you stop trying to manipulate God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I put a 20 in the box at church, wink, wink, did you get that?
SPEAKER_01: Take it out and take it back.
SPEAKER_01: If that's how you think, don't ever do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's so transactional, not relational.
SPEAKER_01: After those two little piglets of mine scarf down that meal, the guy comes around the dessert tray.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, nah, no.
SPEAKER_01: And one of them said, Yeah, I'll have the creme brulee.
SPEAKER_01: They both love creme brulee.
SPEAKER_01: It's about that big.
SPEAKER_01: You got a little caramel, they fire it, the little hardened caram on top.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, they'll split one.
SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
SPEAKER_01: The other one said, and I'll have one too.
SPEAKER_01: And I kind of looked and they didn't make eye contact with me, so I give them the fatherly shame.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: And they scraped the bowl and pushed the bowl back and said, I'll have some of that cinnamon coffee.
SPEAKER_01: And in my mind, the tote board is just running.
SPEAKER_01: Look, they don't even think about it.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that they don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Look, they think my mom and my dad have so much goodness in them that they just want to pour it out on me.
SPEAKER_01: About two years ago, my uh future son-in-law was in town.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they were married yet, and we went.
SPEAKER_01: And he opened up the menu and he looked at me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, It's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Take your cues from Sophie.
SPEAKER_01: He said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I said, watch her order.
SPEAKER_01: Menu.
SPEAKER_01: I hadn't picked it up.
SPEAKER_01: Back then, it's I want the six out into the bacon wrap filet.
SPEAKER_01: Now she's 21.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, I don't need the bacon, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: We walk out to the car.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Mr.
SPEAKER_01: McClellan, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: That was incredible.
SPEAKER_01: It's very expensive, but it was incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01: My girls are walking on the arm around each other.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I gotta unstamp my pants on the way home.
SPEAKER_01: And I just pulled him to me and I said, Now, by the way, when you marry her, I want her to get treated the same way.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Wow, ha.
SPEAKER_01: Change your major, son.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I say this is a picture of salvation, again, you're not modifying, you're not manipulating God with your behavior.
SPEAKER_01: I've been good, so you'll be good.
SPEAKER_01: God's wanted to be good to you all along.
SPEAKER_01: Get over yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 6b.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yet you brought me up my life from a pit, oh Lord my God.
SPEAKER_01: Everything Jonah does is in response to what God has already done, which is why Ephesians summarizes our salvation experience with these words from Ephesians chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked.
SPEAKER_01: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: By grace you have been saved.
SPEAKER_01: Jonah's words here are words of gratitude, not accomplishment.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I uh verse 9, he said, But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay.
SPEAKER_01: I with you, I, but I with the voice of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: Men, do you still have a voice of thanksgiving in you?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: An old man said to me one time, I never forgot it, he said, son, your understanding of your salvation is on display when you sing.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Pen, I gotta write that down.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, he said, your understanding of your salvation is on display when you sing.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you not just sing, but when you're worshiping in church, what you're saying to the people around you is that you're still moved by your salvation experience in the way you worship God.
SPEAKER_01: If you worship everybody, then then then you're kind of conscious of them.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and I was like, Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice what I have vowed.
SPEAKER_01: He made a vow.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pay.
SPEAKER_01: Wow, salvation belongs to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Because of God's mercy, Jonas says, I now live with a voice of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna preach to the Ninevites with a voice of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: You got a you got a long email from me a couple days ago at the very end.
SPEAKER_01: I pasted a song, I pasted a song in there and I said, get ready to ride this glory train when it comes to town.
SPEAKER_01: When we sang this morning, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned, unclean.
SPEAKER_01: I'd I heard, oh gosh, some lonesome dove.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, boys, you gotta choke it down, just keep going.
SPEAKER_01: I just felt myself like, whoo, whoo, whoo.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I still have a heart of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: My heart's not jaded, my heart's not cynical.
SPEAKER_01: And I work at a church.
SPEAKER_01: I should be the most jaded, cynical person you know, but I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: I have a heart of thanksgiving, it overflows.
SPEAKER_01: So when something comes along and says, Hey, here's a new way to express your gratitude to God.
SPEAKER_01: Hot dang, I'm on it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Dan DeHans said this, and I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: He said, The highest motive in heaven and earth for obedience is love resulting from gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: The highest motive, and this is the life of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: And he's still, you'll see in a couple weeks, he's a pouting baby.
SPEAKER_01: He ain't perfect.
SPEAKER_01: He's not like, oh man, God, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be perfect the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_01: But he does have this, he has this deep sense of gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: The highest motive in heaven and earth for obedience is love resulting from gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: You should probably ask yourself today if you have this gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: Is it stirring up in you, or do you have to kind of crank it up and manufacture it?
SPEAKER_01: Or is it just like this glorious, effusive, overflowing fountain that's always seeking?
SPEAKER_01: That's why when you come to worship me and you're like, man, I don't care what we sing or say today, just my heart of Thanksgiving, I'm gonna crank this bad boy like a weed eater and just let it go.
SPEAKER_01: Wham ba.
SPEAKER_01: Because it is it is always on go.
SPEAKER_01: My conscience isn't seared, the heart's not hard.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not some passive, porn addicted man who won't come after my woman the way she's supposed to be pursued.
SPEAKER_01: I'm coming hard after her, coming hard after my God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm pursuing my kids.
SPEAKER_01: I want them to experience the goodness of all that's in my heart, so they'll be curious about all the goodness that's in God's heart.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, be over us in these moments.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we understand why the Bible says that of your greatness, who can tell?
SPEAKER_01: It's so overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01: You have so much goodness, and here's our problem, God.
SPEAKER_01: This is why we sin.
SPEAKER_01: We think our good ideas, the goodness in our heart, the puny, teeny tiny minuscule, couldn't find it with a microscope and a head start.
SPEAKER_01: That little teeny tiny goodness that we think are good ideas.
SPEAKER_01: We think it's better, more satisfying, more juicy than the goodness of our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_01: Deliver us, God, from that folly, from that illusion.
SPEAKER_01: Unamen to that smallness and open us up to the bigness and the wideness of your mercy and the greatness of your heart, the greatness of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is what we were created for.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what causes us to live lives that bring you glory.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, be glorified in our obedience this week, not in our disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: Be glorified in our obedience, we ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest, let me say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_01: You're always welcome.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions of anything you saw, this is applies to everybody.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, to use language you're familiar with with in the church culture, this is our invitation.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, some of our pastors be available down front.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to help you process any questions you have.
SPEAKER_01: Pray with you if you've got something going on.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we we believe in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We're always praying about things.
SPEAKER_01: I pray with people in the HEB produce section.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for people in weird places.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because some people say, Hey, would you would you pray for me?
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I'm gonna remember it.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just saying, let's pray right now.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so that's what we'll do.
SPEAKER_01: If you see people praying for folks, it's not because they're in trouble or whatever, it's just, hey man, I got something weighing heavy on me.
SPEAKER_01: Would you join me in praying about this?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guests, uh, thank you for having the courage to explore a new church.
SPEAKER_01: You're always welcome here.
SPEAKER_01: Your questions are welcome here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but all we ask of you today, your text word welcome, that number on the screen, lets us know you were here.
SPEAKER_01: We'll shoot you back a text.
SPEAKER_01: We just want to help you in your spiritual journey, answer any questions you may have, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We've always got things going on in life of our church.
SPEAKER_01: We make you aware of that by way of our video announcements.
SPEAKER_01: So check out the screen, see what's coming up.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's happening at Graham Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our summer book groups are a chance to digest a great book and connect with other women.
SPEAKER_00: Groups will meet all over town throughout the summer.
SPEAKER_00: Pick the book or location that works for you, order the book, and join in the dialogue and connection.
SPEAKER_00: Our next men's breakfast is Tuesday, June 3rd in the student building.
SPEAKER_00: Plan to join us for a hearty breakfast and meaningful connection.
SPEAKER_00: Our speaker will be Chuck Adair.
SPEAKER_00: After hitting rock bottom, Chuck personally experienced God's incredible grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Today, he passionately shares that life-changing goodness, serving as a teaching pastor, and discipling others transitioning from prison to community.
SPEAKER_00: We will be collecting food from a Brothers Keeper Outreach Center through June 15th.
SPEAKER_00: December months are a crucial time as their food supplies often window leading into this time of year.
SPEAKER_00: This is an opportunity for us to live out our core value of blessing to local community.
SPEAKER_00: Please drop off your canned goods and non-perishable food items at the mission center in the lobby.
SPEAKER_00: For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors or elders at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said to me this morning, uh, somebody dropped off like a wall of food.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever you are, may your tribe increase.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, somebody said, Hey, you have enough?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Not at all.
SPEAKER_01: We haven't we don't have a theology of lack, we have a theology of abundance, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We've got a lot of food here.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, there it's a it's a my brother's keeper is down on Bissinet Beeachnut, uh, down in a part of town where there's a lot of need.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so they don't just hand out food indiscriminately.
SPEAKER_01: People get counseling, they get prayer, they get financial counseling.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so we want they have a big box truck.
SPEAKER_01: We want to just load that bad boy up.
SPEAKER_01: And so this week, uh, we'll our office will be closed tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so Wade Burgess can get his swerve on.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh we'll open the rest of the week, Tuesday through Thursday.
SPEAKER_01: We'll close on Fridays.
SPEAKER_01: You can come during the week if you're like, hey, I don't want to keep this in my house.
SPEAKER_01: Just say, hey, just pull up right there.
SPEAKER_01: We'll unload it.
SPEAKER_01: We'll bring it in here for you.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: We want to just pile up as much as we can and be a blessing uh to a ministry here in our city.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Last thing, our new devotionals are out today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, these are for June, July, and August.
SPEAKER_01: If you know what is a devotional, it's just a little, it has a little Bible version, it's a half page reading.
SPEAKER_01: This is a day, here's another day.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great tool to kind of get your day started or ended on a spiritual note.
SPEAKER_01: These are free.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as you're dismissed, come get one.
SPEAKER_01: All right, start your day on the right note.
SPEAKER_01: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing, so stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: Your God is in the business of bringing people back to life.
SPEAKER_01: That's what happened to you.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't accomplish anything, you didn't achieve anything by praying some prayer.
SPEAKER_01: You responded to your regenerated heart and the goodness of your father.
SPEAKER_01: Don't stop responding.
SPEAKER_01: Depart and keep responding to the glory of God and the satisfaction of his people.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.