Nobody Acts Like You Expect In This Story
First B Jackson
2022-03-27

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning, church. I'm thankful that you are here this morning. Let's worship God. Will you would you please stand up and let's let's feel God's presence in this place. Amen?

I'm thankful for the privilege that I have to be here worshiping the Lord with you. What is the purpose that we gather? The main reason that we gather together is to praise almighty God, our savior. We can definitely do it at home. We can do it walking and snorkeling, but it's beautiful when we we gather together and we feel the fellowship of our brothers and sisters.

Let's worship as the Lord is right here in this presence. Amen? Amen. I

have I have a couple of announcements this morning. One of them is I left my stand up base at home, and glad I had a backup when I got here. But Monday nights at First B is happening. Florine, do you know anything about Monday nights at First B? I usually turn and ask Carl.

Nick is gonna preach.

Nick is gonna be presenting the message. Florine will be leading the band and we will have meal music and a message tomorrow night, Monday night. Many of our activities, like Awana, is canceled for spring break. We're not gonna have Awana because it is spring break right now. So Monday nights at first be yes.

Awana, no. We also don't have a high school youth group meeting or middle school youth group meeting during spring break, and we are not having high school Sunday school class today. So, when it's time time for the kids to go, middle school, high school, y'all just stay in here and the kids can go downstairs. I wanna let's see. The bondurantfellowship.org.

So, there's an if gathering in Bondurant at the Heart to Heart Ranch, May six and seven. If you want to know more information about that, you can ask Natalie, how I would imagine. Yes, probably. Better catch her today at spring break. But really, all you need to know is probably already right there on the screen for right now because May six and seven is when it's happening.

Just make a plan to be there. It's a ladies conference, Heart to Heart Ranch, May six and seven. The end of announcements, are there any other announcements I've forgotten? I've got that one. I'm gonna invite the Gibsons up if they'd come up then.

And we're gonna do Endsley Evans. Baby dedication right now. I'll hand off. So, Josh and Leah have been coming for quite a while and been a part of the capital C Church for a lot longer than that but they have a great small group that meets in their home every other Tuesday. Right?

That's correct. Yeah. Yeah. And they are raising these girls up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And so we just want to stand before the church and ask your help with that.

So I don't have a script that I go by, but what I'm asking is that we as a church would help to bring up Inslee Evan in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Bible says to train up a child in the way that they should go and when they're old, won't depart from it. That's Proverbs twenty two six. It's not Psalm twenty two six. If you wanna get big kick, I accidentally quoted Psalm twenty two six up here one time, and it says, I am a worm and not a man.

Not appropriate for baby dedication. But I was gonna give you all a chance if you'd like to say something. You don't have to. You you're good. Alright.

Anything? No. I mean, just elaborating on what you said. It definitely takes a village, and, you know, when the people that we go to church with, we can still do that. We wondered about that.

It's alright. I'll stand over here to do this. Can we just pray for you, Endsley? God almighty, I thank you for this baby girl, and I thank you for mama and daddy, and I thank you for her sisters. And I pray, Lord, that you would bless this child and that you your blessing would rest on her life, that she would not have to struggle through, that she'd be able to learn from the example of others, good and bad, and avoid them.

In Jesus name, Lord, we ask your blessing on Inslee Evan and on Josh and Leah and on her two beautiful sisters. God, help us help others, to follow after you. Would you use us in a way, Lord, that is winsome and attractive and brings those who are far from you at this moment closer and closer to you. Jesus, we ask your name. In your name, that you'd bless.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. It was worth a try. Would you stand with us?

Thank you all, Gibson. I'm gonna cry. Go ahead.

I just wanna say one more time. If you are in town tomorrow, please come to Monday nights. I love when I when I see the tables full and people gather together in fellowship and, praising God. Let me say one more time. Forgive me.

Please come to Monday night. I love Monday night. Oh, praise you, God. Thank you for giving us the privilege to be here this morning. Lord, help us to understand the will that comes from you, Lord.

Help us to be obedient to your will. Help us to understand the call that you place in our hearts, in our lives, Lord, to be called children of God. And that comes with the responsibility to share the good news, the gospel, Lord. May we get trained well here. May we praise your name.

And as soon as we leave these walls that we represent you in this community or wherever we are, Lord, please use us in your mighty plan. We we are thankful for what you've done for us on the cross. Thank you for the salvation. And would you please plan that desire in us that we can share with others so so many can be saved

Amen.

Through your holy name. That's why, Jesus, you you die for our sins so many can be saved through the plan that you provide through Jesus Christ. I I'm thankful for the privilege we have to worship, but, Lord, let's just not be here. May we be pro may we be proclaiming your good news in this community as we serve you, Lord, day by day. In your precious name, I pray, amen.

Amen. Amen. I like that. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever's believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Amen?

Amen. And I think we all know this beautiful Bible verse, but may we apply it in our lives, and may we understand that beautiful call that comes from Jesus. And and the song says, mighty to save. Everyone needs compassion, a love that's never failing. Who can do that?

Only Jesus. Amen. Only Jesus. Amen. Oh, amen.

As you can see, love to praise God through music, but maybe not just emotions. May we understand what Jesus did for us. Amen? He is mighty to save. If he can if if he saved me, believe in me.

If he saved me, he can save anybody because I know what how my life was. Messy. Very messy. And when when I when I understand what Jesus did for me, he he changed. He he did the may I say this?

A little click in my in my brain. And and I have peace in my heart knowing that I belong to him. Amen? Amen. I am called his child.

Amen.

Isn't that awesome? So may we understand that beautiful love that comes from God, from Jesus, and then proclaim that beautiful love, share that beautiful love, and so others can be saved. Amen. We're gonna sing this one a little bit different. A kind of like a country style.

Was pastor raised the idea. Let's sing that chorus one more time without the instruments. Amen. You guys sing beautiful. It's amazing to hear the church singing.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. We're it's time Carl usually leads in and kinda hands over to me. It's the worship through giving or offering time of the service. I'm just going to pray.

If y'all would pray with me, I'd appreciate it. There are ways, different ways to give online but there will be plates that pass by too. Lord God almighty, we're thankful to be here this morning. We're thankful for for spring. Straight up.

Lord, I'm thankful for the turning of the seasons and I'm thankful for new life, new hope in Jesus. Lord God almighty, would you use these people that are gathered here in your name this morning? Would you use them to accomplish your will here on earth as it is in heaven? I know of several groups of people lord that are leaving out this weekend and they are putting their time into these plates, metaphorically, Lord. They're putting their time and their resources, their vacationing, Lord, but with a purpose.

They're going to build something somewhere for you. And we know, Lord, that nothing that we do for the Lord led by your spirit, Lord, nothing that we do for the Lord is ever in vain. I pray that you would bless each of their endeavors, that it would grow, that your word would be extended further than currently is the case. In Jesus' name, Lord, we pray to be a part of the advance of the gospel. Lord, would you use us?

And these resources, Lord, would you put these to good use doing whatever it is that you want to do with them? May your will be done. We pray, Lord, that your will be done in your way amongst us and through us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

And it's time for children's church downstairs but again, there's no high school or middle school group this Sunday. Alright. Well, this morning, last week, I was in the Harmony of the Gospels and I told you that next time we get together and we're in that harmony, we'd be going into the parable of the four soils. I ask you, I just kind of sat it in your lap and said, start cultivating the soil bit. I hope this helps.

I hope that this message helps today. We've been in the New Testament for almost the whole time that I've been here. I don't do a lot of Old Testament sermons but I'm going do the whole book of Jonah today. Now, if you have been reading, first be in the Bible. If you've been reading this week and first B in the Bible, Luke seven has 49 verses, okay?

Luke eight has 56 verses. Luke nine has 62 verses. Luke ten forty two and Luke eleven fifty four. So, every day this week, if you are with us on that first be in the Bible, you've already read more verses than the book of Jonah but it's amazing and we stop at that dead blasted fish every time. That's the thing.

If I ask you about the book of Jonah, people say, oh yeah, the fish. Porfavore. That's the reason I'm doing the whole thing, alright? So, here we go. The whole enchilada.

I did it in ESB this time, the English standard version. Usually, I use NASB, the New American Standard for the New Testament because the translation of the Greek in the New American Standard sounds like I talk. That's the reason I do it that way. It sounds like something we all recognize. It also begins with the connecting tissue that the Greek does and so it helps me when I'm up here explicating.

But ESV does a really good job with the Old Testament. So introductory matters. Jonah is not what we usually hear. It's not just that fish and it's an unusual book in that most of the prophets, it starts off. It says, in the year such and such, the word of the Lord came to the prophet blank and he said, God said to the prophet, right?

What it is that was to be told and then, I think everybody else except for Jonah, I think everywhere, every other one of the prophets then goes and delivers the message just like God said it faithfully. Even Jeremiah, he had to do it for forty years. He delivers this message faithfully exactly as God has said it and if the people don't receive it or tear it up or burn it or throw it in the river, then God says, this is the message and he gives them the same message again and they go, this book is not about the message that God is delivering through Jonah. It's about Jonah and it's not a good reflection on Jonah. He is know, oh, he ran.

I remember he ran. He got caught by the fish because he ran. It's not just that. It's the it's the attitude of his heart. He tells flatly why he ran.

A lot of people figure it was fear. It's not fear. He tells us exactly why he ran. And I hope that as we go through it, it'll help today. So there are four kinda three or four main kinda characters throughout this, and none of them act like you think they ought to.

So prophet of the Lord, what's he supposed to act like? He's supposed to be a righteous guy that carries and faithfully delivers the message God gives him and he doesn't. The sailors on the boat, we know sailors, everybody knows sailors. You just expect for sailors to be a certain way. I mean, cuss is like a sailor is a term, right?

It's a term for a reason because that's a stereotype that we're expecting. But these sailors don't act like we're expecting them to act. There's an evil king. Oh, the fact that we call him an evil king means he's going to act a certain way, and he doesn't. This book is satire.

I believe it's true, don't get me wrong, it's true, but it has a great lesson if we'll pay attention to it. So, here we go. I'm going go through the whole thing. Hopefully, rather quickly. Jonah's only mentioned one other time that I know of in the Old Testament.

So, in the New Testament, Jesus mentions, no sign will be given except for the sign of Jonah. We covered that last week and he said, the sign of Jonah being he was in the belly of that sea monster for three days and three nights and I'm going to be in the belly of the earth. So, that was the sign of Jonah but the more I thought about it, I thought, this really fits right here. So, Jonah is mentioned in second Kings 14 and he's mentioned there as going to Jeroboam. If you know anything about the kings of the Old Testament kings of Israel and Judah, Jeroboam the second was one of the worst kings ever.

Some people would list him as the worst king ever. He's terrible. He's a bad dude and the economy is going pretty good during his time. Actually, really really well. He's surrounded by riches and Jonah goes to Jeroboam and says, God's favor is with you.

It's with you. Was that true? Well, Amos, the prophet, also comes to Jeroboam the second and he says, that is not true. God's favor is not with you. Just because you have these things and just because you're doing alright militarily, doesn't mean God's favor is with you.

Don't trust in that. You're going to be overthrown. God's justice is against you because you're oppressing the poor and other things too. But so Jonah delivers a message and it's not good. It's a false prophecy.

Amos comes and kinda neglect or rejects that message that Jonah had given. Are you all with me? Am I boring you already? I I didn't expect that. Alright.

Just making sure. Introductory matters. That's it. Now, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. We know that's the way prophet books start off But instead of saying the message, it says, arise, Jonah, and go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it for their evil has come up before me.

He knows that Nineveh is evil. God knows that Nineveh is evil. Nobody has to tell him that. Arise, go to Nineveh that great city and call out against it for their evil has come up before me but usually, the prophet of the Lord, he might say, me, really? Usually, he might say that but then he goes and faithfully delivers a message.

This one says, but but Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish. Nineveh's east, he goes as far west as he can go. Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship that was going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and he went down into it to go with them to Tarshish.

No doubt about it. That is not Nineveh. Away from the presence of the Lord, okay? Away from the presence of the Lord. Where can you go to get away from the presence of the Lord?

Jonah ought to know better. Right? He ought to know better. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea. And there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up.

And then the mariners, the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his small g God. What can they do? Nothing. Nothing. The mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God.

I think that actually is stereotypical of sailors that they are superstitious, and they've got lots of things that they do to ensure safe passage or catch a fish or whatever. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it up for them. So anything heavy they threw overboard and they were doing what they do. But Jonah had gone down in the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. Lazy joker.

Golly. He just irritates me. Jonah irritates me. And he irritates me because I'm probably like him if I admit it, right? Jonah, I paid my fare.

Let them do what they do. Flee in the presence of the Lord here. So, the captain came down and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Lax? Dude, what do you mean, you sleeper?

Arise and call out to your God. Oh, I'm running for my God. Notice that the captain has a small G God too. I think that's interesting. Everybody else is doing what they can do, Jonah.

Wake up and do what you can do. Perhaps, the God, that one of yours will give a thought to us that we may not perish because it looks like certain doom right here, right now and they said to one another, come, let us cast lots. This is not that abnormal for Old Testament. In fact, the last time we see casting of lots within the church is in Acts one when they're replacing Judas. Do you remember that?

They're replacing Judas and they say, okay, this guy is good and this guy is good. They both been with us a long time. Both are equal candidates. God, you decide and they cast lots and a lot fell to justice until they made it right. So, when we are looking to casting lots and we go, why would they do just a game of chance?

Well, that's all they had. That's all they had. They did not have the Holy Spirit. Acts two is where the Holy Spirit comes in and then we're told not to do that anymore, right? We kind of we have the Holy Spirit.

If we will listen, the Holy Spirit doesn't speak out of both sides of his mouth. If we'll listen, we will be unified. Come, let us cast lots that we may lots that we may know who on whose account this evil has come upon us. So, they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. And then they said to him, tell us on whose account the evil has come upon us.

Jonah, what's your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And what people are you are and of what people are you? Now, what is he?

All we know of him is that he's a prophet. Where do you come from? Israel. What's your country, Israel? What what are people are you?

And he said to him, I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, capital G. Who made the sea in the dry land. Now, if God made the sea in the dry land and he thought he was going to get on a boat to get away from him, that's that's silly, isn't it? Then the man were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done?

Why? Why would you do that? If your God had given you a message to carry to someone else, isn't that an honor? Isn't that a privilege? Isn't that an amazing thing?

What is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he told them, he, you know, dead to rights. They had him. The lot fell on him. He had to explain himself and he just said, yeah, I'm a Hebrew.

I'm running from God. He gave me a message to deliver. Well, where are you supposed to go? Not Tarshish. Then, they said to him, what what shall we do to you?

So that the sea may quiet down for us. They were looking out for their own livelihood and their their own selves but what should we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us? It is your fault, Jonah, and and indeed it was. For the sea grew more and more tempestuous and he said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Now, it's assisted suicide.

Really? Throw me into the sea. Woe is me. I don't want to do this. Pick me up, hurl me into the sea, and then the sea will quiet down for you.

For I know it's because of me that this great tempest has come upon you and he's right. That is what was happening. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land. They didn't wanna kill him. They didn't want to murder this guy or help him kill himself.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, For the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them and therefore, they called out to the capital l lord. This is someone that Jonah knew and they didn't know and just in his, yeah, you got me. I'm a Hebrew. I serve the Lord God almighty. Made the Lord, made the sea.

Reluctantly honest with them about it and God moved in their hearts and they called on his name. These sailors, rough as a cop. Right? Therefore, they called out to lord, oh Lord, let us not perish for this messenger's life and lay not on us innocent blood for you, oh Lord, have done as it pleased you. Who are we to argue with you?

That's funny because Jonah didn't want to go. Ain't that strange? Nobody's acting like you expect him to in this story. So, they picked up Jonah and they hurled him into the sea. As they're praying, don't let his blood be on us.

And the sea ceased from its raging. They were saved. Then, the men feared the Lord exceedingly. So, not just where they, the simple first prayer to the Lord, then, they actually took on actually believing and the fear of the Lord's beginning of wisdom. They feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and they made vows to him.

Jonah's missionary journey is going pretty good. He's got fruit and he went the opposite way from the way that God told him, right? Amen. God's word is true. When it said the word of the Lord came to Jonah at the very beginning.

God's word, we he will accomplish his will. He will accomplish his will. I would rather him accomplish his will through obedient servants than in spite of alright. I'm thinking in Spanish because there's so many people heading to Mexico. Nessio.

You know what the word means? Stubborn. Aggravatingly stubborn. Nesio. It's like a burro is Nesio.

Two people left. He's so stubborn. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. That's what it says. It's mega fish basically.

It's just a big fish. People have translated it as well and then people argue against it being a whale because whales eat blank and then on on on on on but it just says big fish. That's all it says. It's a big fish. The Lord appointed because God is in charge.

He appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. That's what Jesus was quoting from last week right there and it's an evil and adulterous generation that craves a sign. Oh, boy. And so no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea monster for three days and three nights, so will the son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

That is now where we're going to go from. Now, chapter one and chapter three are the story of the story of Jonah and the sailors and Jonah and the Ninevites but chapter two is Jonah and God. Jonah is speaking to God from the belly of the great fish. And in chapter four, it's gonna be a dialogue where Jonah is speaking to God and God is speaking to Jonah. But this one and three are the places that we spend most of our time.

Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God. From the belly of the fish saying, I cried out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me. That sounds like Psalm 86 actually. In the day of my trouble, I will call out and you will answer me. He knew the word.

Out of the belly of Sheol, I cried and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep into the heart of the season, the flood surrounded me and your waves and your billows passed over me. All of this is just a statement of fact so far and he said, I'm driven away from your sight in the deep yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. I'm going to trust in you, God. He's he's barely repenting.

Do you get that? Barely. He hadn't said anything right now that is anything like Psalm 51 or Psalm one thirty nine or forgive me, oh Lord, for I've sinned greatly against you and you alone. No. He doesn't say that.

The waters have closed in over me and to take my life. The deepest surrounding me. Weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains. And I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. And you brought me up.

You brought up my life from the pit, oh Lord, my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came to you and to your holy temple, those who pay regard to vain idols, forsake their hope of steadfast love. Think about that. That actually is kind of interesting too because those sailors on that ship have just had a conversion experience and they were paying right before this.

They were paying their respects to vain idols. It says that. And Jonah, stuck in the belly of the whale, great fish, whatever. Those who pay regard to vain idols, forsake their hope of steadfast love. He's the one who trusts in the living God, and he's in the belly of the fish.

Those guys have had a conversion experience and are exceedingly fearing the Lord now. This is this is awesome. God is working. He's working and Jonah is stuck in his old paradigm. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, I I will sacrifice to you and what I have vowed, I will pay.

I'm a prophet of the Lord. I gotta do it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

That is a absolute statement of truth. Salvation belongs to the Lord. He can say, he's mighty to say. He's ready to say. He has said humility is the way that he's gonna do it.

He resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. Jonah has been very proud. This is an almost repentant prayer. It's skirting the line. It seems very begrudged to me.

And then it says the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it the message that I tell you. So, Jonah arose and he went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. It was three days journey and breath.

Just walking across, it was three days. Jonah began to go into the city, go in a day's journey, and he called out. It's in in Hebrew, it's five words. In Hebrew, it's just a five word sermon. Now, if he's faithful to exactly what God has said, he he might be.

It doesn't say that he said exactly what God said it said he should say. Judging by Jonah's attitude in the beginning and Jonah's attitude in the end of this book, it seems like he shortened this message to the absolute shortest that it could be. It's a five word sermon. Oh, y'all pray for five word sermons. You look forward to a five word sermon, wouldn't you?

Yet, forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The the word overthrown there means overthrown, like can be militarily defeated, overthrown, but it also has another meaning. So yet forty days and Nineveh will be turned upside down, might be the way that we would say it. Yet forty days. It's just forty days from this proclamation until Nineveh is gonna be turned upside down, overthrown.

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They believed it. Now, when we think of an evil people and y'all are all thinking of different groups of evil people right now. When you think of em, you don't think there's any way possible that any of them could ever because they've set themselves against God and they're won't believe the Bible and they don't listen to his church and they don't do what he said. Well, these people were exceedingly evil and their evil did not escape God's notice and yet, they believed God.

They called for a fast and they put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The whole people group, a five word sermon. Yet, forty days and Nineveh shall be turned upside down, overthrown, and the people of Nineveh believe God. They call for a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. So, actually, as prophets go, Jonah is one of the most effective as far as numbers go.

Right? The word reached the king of Nineveh. What do you expect from an evil king? Kill Jonah and anybody who's changed their mind is what you expect. It says the word reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne.

He removed his robe as king. He removed his robe. He covered himself with sackcloth and he sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published throughout all of Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles. Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything, a national or a a citywide fast.

Let them not feed nor drink water but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them call out mightily to God, capital G. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. It was fear based.

It was based on they're gonna be overthrown that they saw how evil they had been but from the king all the way down to the least peasant turned and repented. And when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, that's repentance, right? I said, we're taking a turn in the gospels and a lot of what Jesus is going to talk about is repentance. Jonah, when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them and he did not do it. But this displeased Jonah exceedingly.

What? It made Jonah mad. He said, he was angry. It displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. Oh, I know a lot of missionaries and if anybody, I mean, anybody walks the aisle at church or anybody comes to accept Christ.

We're just ecstatic. If everybody had, goodness gracious. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, I said chapter one and three is is Jonah and the sailors and Jonah and Ninevites and the second chapter is Jonah's prayer, his first prayer. His first prayer was kind repentance kind of but this second prayer is really honest.

He prayed to the Lord and he said, oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my own country? That's why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious God and I knew that you are merciful and I knew that you are slow to anger and that you were abounding in steadfast love and I knew that you relented from disaster. I know you. I know how you are.

Therefore, now, oh Lord, please, take my life from me. Just kill me now. I can't live in a world where the Ninevites are good with you. I don't want it. I don't want anything to do with this.

Just kill me now. Therefore, now, oh Lord, please, take my life from me. For it's better for me to die than it is to live. I didn't want to do this. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry?

It's a great question. Do you do well to be angry? This reminds me of Cain and Abel. You know, Cain slays Abel and then God comes to Cain and says, are you are are you okay with being angry and upset about this? What is it?

Had you not done well, would not have not treated you exactly the same way? Okay. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? What are you so ticked off about? Jonah went out of the city and he sat to the east of the city and he made a little booth for himself there, a little lean to, tent kind of thing, and he sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city.

He's counting down the forty days. He's waiting. Well, they received the message in their sackcloth and ashes but forty days in this city is going to be overturned. Exasperated. Now, the Lord God appointed a plant.

Now, he appointed a big fish for Jonah. Now, he's appointed a plant for Jonah. Now, Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. It's it's a little miserable sitting in the sunshine, you know, up on the hill in Nineveh overlooking the city waiting for God to destroy him with brimstone and fire. And he says, it's just to save him from his discomfort.

So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. Things are going well for him now. Don't have to give that five word sermon anymore. The plant makes me happy. I'm comfortable.

But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. And when the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and he asked that he might die. Again, this guy's had the sailors throw him overboard one time. He's asking God to just kill me now, lord and now, that the plant that was shading him has died. He just says, he asked that he might die and said, it's better for me to die than it is to live.

But God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry? Do you do well to be angry for that plant? He was happy when the plant was covering him and he's upset when the plant's not covering him. It's all about his own comfort. And he said to God, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.

I want to deal with this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm tired of it. I don't want to have anything to do with this at all and he said, yes, I'm right to be angry. Angry enough to die.

And the Lord said, you pitied the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came up into being in a night, and it perished in a night. And should I not this is God speaking. This is a question. It's a question for him. It's a question for you.

It's a question for me. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than a 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left. And there are also a lot of cattle. If I overturn those people, those cows are gonna die. That's the question we're left with.

That's the end of the book of Jonah, right there. Now, if you're thinking, wow, that's that's not really about the fish, is it? It's not about that fish. It's about one of God's servants, just one of God's servants that has something to do and doesn't want to do it because of his preconceived notions about the people that are receiving the message. He hated the Ninevites.

He hated them at the beginning of the story. He hated them at the end of the story. He was not in any way like his God. He was not gravitating towards his idea of God. I don't think or maybe he was.

Maybe he had an an errant view of God but it doesn't say that. It says that I knew you were merciful and slow to anger and relenting from disaster. You know how he knew that? Because all of us deserve God's judgment, every single one of us. And if we should escape it, it will be by his mercy because he slowed anger, because he's relenting from disaster, because he's made a way, and we've accepted that way.

In this story, the sailors are saved by God. The Ninevites are saved by God. The evil king is saved by God and much cattle saved by God. God's word is true even if we don't understand it. God's word is true and what it says, forty days and yet, Nineveh will be overturned or turns upside down.

It was. It was upside down because of the relationship they now had with God. That's not what Jonah wanted. Jonah wanted him to be wiped off the Earth and he had a front row seat to it. Now, if I were to change up there and just put a blank and should I not pity blank, insert your own enemy group there, okay?

It might be Democrats for some of you. Might be Republicans for others of you. It could be any self identifying group that has pulled themselves out and said, we are a cohesive unit, and we stand opposed to everything you think, say, feel, and believe. Should God not pity that? Should God not pity that and everything that's related to those people.

If God has given us a message and he has, should we not be sharing it in the way we live our lives and engage with the society that he has sent us into. I think that's just the question for us and I'll let that sit in your lap for the rest of spring break. Would you all stand with me? I'm going invite the band back up. Nothing but the blood is what we're going to say.

Nothing but the blood. There is a way that seems right to man but the end, it's the path of destruction and then there is a way that is the way, the truth, and the life and Jesus is that way, that truth, and that life. May we be living out of his merciful, forgiving, loving, caring, kind, and generous spirit. Amen.

We're gonna sing nothing but the blood. What I like in the story, for me, a big takeaway. You notice when they were, on the ship and they all prayed to the small, gods? Nothing. So I like that it says, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

The way through the Jesus through Jesus Christ. Amen? Our almighty God, he is the only one in control. Amen. See you tomorrow on Monday night.

Amen. May God bless and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace and may you share that peace with everyone you come into contact with. Amen. Amen.